Paul:
It sounds like you want to open the recordset in the query designer?
OpenRecordset, opens a result set of a query or SQL statement in memory,
where you can read or write (dependent on how it is opened,) against the
data in the recordset and database in general.
If you've successfully created a query definition and set its SQL and want
to open it in the user interface in the query designer, then you use a
different statement i.e. DoCmd.OpenQuery
If I've missed your point, then please supply more information and repost.