Carbon fiber doesn't bond to epoxy as well as I would like.

The scale is a bit bigger at 1/39.6th scale. A BT-101 body tube.

__________________
"I'm a sandman. I've never killed anyone. I terminate runners when their time is up." Logan from "Logan's Run"

http://sandmandecals.com/

How about Styrene rod and Tenax 7R then ?
Dowels are fine by me.
Anything other than metal rod and WELDING is fine.

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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

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Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
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thats a nice size!

yep, I had problems with bonding CF rod when i cloned a 1/100th Saturn 1B. I ended up using gorilla glue.

for the tiny sized rods I was using Tenax and styrene distorted, some folks posting on my build thread had better luck w/ 1/70th towers.

__________________
David Stribling
NAR 18402 SR
But it is rocket science!
Get yer Barrowmans here

I scratch built two 1/100 scale towers using styrene and Tenax 7R without any issues. However, I went with the same size styrene rod that the originals had. True 1/100 scale would be awfully thin for just about any material.

For large models, aluminum tubing might work. I use hollow aluminum arrow shafts for 1/4" launch lugs and they hold good with epoxy after scuffing the gluing surface up with some coarse sandpaper.

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I love sanding.

Subscribed!

Greg

Let me get everything together on this and I'll start a new thread.

__________________
"I'm a sandman. I've never killed anyone. I terminate runners when their time is up." Logan from "Logan's Run"

http://sandmandecals.com/

I've had no problems with CF rods being glued with cyanoacrylate adhesives. Very easy to do and work with, especially with the accelerator.
Worked fantastically on my restoration of a rough 1/70 scale S1-B given to me by a friend.
Took all day to build the tower, but that's beside the point...


Allen

There may be another solution: If someone with an un-built Centuri Little Joe II would let you make RTV rubber molds off the original capsule and escape tower parts, you could cast polyurethane resin (Alumilite, Por-A-Kast, PolyTek, etc.) duplicates of the parts; epoxy (and polyurethane, of course) glues bond well with the resin. You could cast epoxy resin "secondary masters" of the parts, so that you could return the original parts to their owner (the mold-making process doesn't harm styrene, ABS, or other plastic "masters") and make new RTV rubber molds off the "secondary masters" as needed. Also, here is a link to the "Resin Casting for Rocketeers" primer that I wrote back in the late 1990s: http://www.ninfinger.org/models/rms...resin_cast.html

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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
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NAR #54895 SR

the other missing factor is the body tube. the 1/45th used an odd tube that is not sold anywhere. the tube is very close to being the same OD as the Estes Mercury Atlas. If somebody made that tube, you could clone two hard-to-find kits. I guess the other solution is roll your own, or make a balsa tube.

__________________
David Stribling
NAR 18402 SR
But it is rocket science!
Get yer Barrowmans here

Did it use what Estes calls BT-101? (I've never had a Centuri Little Joe II kit.) Another way around the problem might be to use corrugated Plastruct or Evergreen sheet styrene for the skin of the corrugated booster section, and making the Service Module portion out of flat sheet styrene (using flat ring "formers" [and styrene rod "stringers" if desired] to internally brace the tubes). Using an internal "stuffer tube" would keep the hot ejection charge gas away from the plastic. Or...the Service Module could be made of convolutely-wound kraft paper, with the Service Module panel lines located so as to hide the "convolute line" on the tube.

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR