10-25-2005, 05:19 PM
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BARCLONE Rocketry
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Mobile, Alabama
Posts: 5,357
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Originally Posted by A Fish Named Wallyum
I picked this up a few years ago, but I've only recently decided to start it. Anyone build one of these in the past? How durable is the satellite section during flight? Would I be better off allowing it to be removed before flight? Anything I should be on the lookout for during the build? I built the K-41 Mercury Redstone back in 1978, so the fins on this project are going to be a major league blast from the past. (I've got a nose cone from an original K-41 kit, so that will also get built this winter. These fins will be practice.)  |
I bought one back in '90, but never built it. Still got the transition out in a shop... somewhere...
The instructions say to remove the Explorer 1 probe for flight; the kit has an injection-molded plastic rendition with some nozzle detail, so it was intended to be displayable separately. My thoughts would be to build a second Explorer using a dowel, and permanently attaching it into the top boost canister. Keep the plastic version safe...
Those fins were the main reason I never finished building mine. They're laminated balsa, and the balsa in the kit was of less-than-optimum quality to begin with. Reminded me of what used to come in Carl Goldberg model aircraft kits of the late '60s and '70s -- raunchy crumbly over-dried stuff with an orange-ish tint to it. Warped badly when you touch it with glue, even ACC...
These really needed to be vacu-formed plastic skins over a balsa core, to achieve the wedge-shaped leading edges of the prototype... |