Vintage Estes Mars Lander Build
 

I decided to start on one of my original Mars Lander kits. This kit is in good condition considering how old these kits are. The box was open and the parts inside were bagged still. The decal is in good condition and the only things I will change out will be the rubber bands...thanks Carl..., new Estes rubber shock cord and new tape disks for the parachute. This should be a fun build, but will take awhile since I will be busy in the next few weeks. I am also completing an old Guillows SE5-A biplane.

Dang thats a lot of parts :o

It goes together quicker than you'd think, especially since you have good painting weather most of the time to paint sub assemblies, if you choose to go that route. I had to wait on good weather, along with thinking through several options to modify it in order to have access to the rubber bands after they rot. I think I could build a second one in stock configuration pretty quickly weather permitting for paint. Right now, I feel like I'm living in Seattle...rain every day. :rolleyes:

I saw yours and it looks really nice, hope mine comes out that nice. I am thinking about using Tamiya Fine Surface white primer on the wraps so I don't fill the details.

Thanks. It turned out better than I thought it would. I'm tempted to build a second one and only fly the one that looks the ugliest. :p

I am currently working on the below project, so I will try to trade off time with my Mars Lander. Zep, when you say sub assemblies, are you talking about painting the landing gear separate? Is there anything else I have to paint separate?

The image is blocked here at work. I'll have to look again when I get home.

Yes, I painted the legs seperately. You need to paint the nozzle beforehand also because it recesses into the decent stage's bottom shroud. Everything else can be painted at once, but you will need to mask off the landing legs and nozzle if you assemble first.

I painted the decent/ascent stages before assembly so that I wouldn't have to fool with masking off the landing legs (and nozzle if it's glued on). I painted the antennae and RCS covers separately because I wanted some color. The lander has an awful lot of unbroken white surface area if you don't add a little bit of color detail. I carefully scraped some paint away to give the glue a place to hold them on the lander. If you plan to leave them white, just glue them on during the build. That's all I can think of right now. I'll have to look at the lander itself, or look over the plans to see if there is anything I forgot.

That's a cute little SE-5 - looks nicely done.

Weather forecast for the Seattle area for the next week is sunny and dry. :)

Yes, quite! Nice to see some folks still know how to do that kind of construction. Most of the folks I fly with prefer the ARF R/C route. Just forget about rubber-powered; they would stick a brushless motor, servos and a battery in and off they'd go!
I still prefer old school.
Back to the thread.......
Isn't the Crossbow a good bit smaller than the Satellite Interceptor?
Allen

We really don't need your rain anymore. Please take it back!

Wrong thread....this one is about the Mars Lander. :p