On EBAY, Martian Patrol For Sale!

I don't have a MPC Martian Patrol kit on EBAY.

This is somebody else.

Mine must have came from the same color batch. All the plastic parts were like mine, green fins, yellow nose cone and gray adapter.

You can check out the auction HERE

The Buy It Now price is only $99.95!

Free shipping - What a deal!

If this seller gets half that, mine will be on EBAY tomorrow.

9/21/10 Update:

The kit didn't sell at $99.95 - big surprise. The item has been relisted.

MPC Martian Patrol Part 15 FINISHED!

In keeping with the Martian theme, I left off any NASA or USA decals.

The model had already been flown twice last Saturday at the NEFAR launch in Bunnell, FL.

You can see the launch post HERE

If you ever fly one of these, just keep telling yourself:

"C6-3s, C6-3s, C6-3s!"

Anyone else hungry for eggs?

MPC Martian Patrol Part 14 Decals

Here's the assembled model just prior to the decals.

About those decals - I didn't get the same ones illustrated on the box, not a big deal.

MPC actually had a good idea back then. They supplied generic decals without any direction as to where they should be placed except for the box illustration. The builder could be a little creative.

You would think the roll patterns would fit the body tubes in the same kit they came with. The roll decals didn't match up when wrapped around the body. I thought it was strange that a "Martian" rocket would have USA, NASA and USAF decals, oh well!

The lower wrap was close when rolled around the lower 30mm body tube.

The upper wrap was another story. The four inverted "Y" shaped pieces were the same width as the 30mm roll pattern. I'd have to cut and adjust three of the "Y"s to make an even fit around the 25mm tube.

A simple "3 fin" marking guide was made out of paper and taped to the upper tube. Above the pencil marks, the three separate "Y" pieces were slid in place with the edge of the paper wrap used as a height guide.

The white area on the decal wasn't opaque, some of the red showed through giving it a pink tint.

MPC Martian Patrol Build Part 13 Assembly

Whenever possible, I won't glue parts together until after painting. It just saves time and gives cleaner color separations.

Here I left off the (red) upper body tube and painted the nose cone and lower body tube as one unit. The shoulders of the adapter and nose cone were taped together and sprayed.

Presently I've been using Rustoleum Painter's Touch 2X Coverage spray paints when finishing rockets.

This silver color is actually WalMart Colorplace Aluminum. It's the best cheap silver color I've found for about $1.00 a can.

I let the lower body tube dry for two days before sliding on the fin can.

Metallic paints easily show scratches, mars and fingerprints. I was concerned that the upper ring of the fin can assembly could scratch the aluminum paint when sliding it up from the rear of the body tube to it's final glued position.

There was molded ridges on the inside surface of the rings. I shaved those down with a sharp knife and smoothed the inside of the rings with 400 grit sandpaper.

Thick CA was applied to the inside of the lower ring only. Before starting the slide up, I made sure the engine hook notch was in the right position. This should be a straight slide on with no turning. The fin can was carefully slid up the body until the lower ring was set against the engine mount centering ring.

In the end I did have a few scratches on the aluminum paint, but hardly noticeable.

MPC Martian Patrol Build Part 12 Odds and Ends

The center Trim Weights were set into a small pool of epoxy on the top side center indents.

More epoxy was spread on the back of the saucer caps and post.

The caps were pressed into the center of the weights and into the foam saucer. Excess epoxy was wiped off.

Here's the shock cord mount glued inside the body tube.

The instructions suggest mounting it 1" down from the top. That's plenty of clearance considering the adapter shoulder (with glued on base) is only 5/16" long - very short.

MPC Martian Patrol Build Part 11 Saucer Mounts

The saucer mounts are glued into four small holes on the back, flat side of the saucer.

TIP: Never use Super Glue on Styrofoam. It will eat a hole in the foam.

I decided to go with 15 minute Epoxy.

A small amount was mixed up. I dipped a toothpick into the mix and stuck the tip into the mount holes.

A little more epoxy was applied to the flat back side of the mount pieces.

The were simply pressed into the epoxy filled holes.

MPC Martian Patrol Build Part 10 UFO Saucer

Here's how one of the UFO saucers looked coming right out of the box. It looks to be the same type of Styrofoam used in the cheap foam drinking cups. The center indent is for the lead weight and plastic retention cap.

The mold was clean except for the edges. All it took was a little trimming with a razor blade and light sanding with some 400 grit sandpaper.

MPC Martian Patrol Build Part 9 Shock Cord Mount

Here's another MPC feature, simple but effective.

Maybe this was their version of Estes "tea bag" shock cord mount. It's nothing more than a piece of card stock around 7/8 " wide x 1 1/4" long .

3 holes were pre-punched and the round elastic shock cord is knotted and laced through it. If the cord was laced correctly, it would glue in place and be very flat against the inside body tube wall. Starlight Rocketry uses this type of mount today.

These remind me of the old Centuri sticky back shock cord fasteners. The exposed silver side was flame retardant and had reinforcement strands running through it.

The only disadvantage to the Centuri mount was they could come loose after a few months. You always had to check them before launch and press them back in place if needed.
It may have "fastened easily" but it wasn't permanent!

MPC Martian Patrol Build Part 8 Parachute

The MPC parachutes were a bit different.

Like most models back then, you were supplied with six shroud lines, all were tied to the screw eye. Take a look at the reinforcements, these were the first I remember seeing in this style.

The printed plastic sheet has an oval printed in each corner. The supplied tape strips certainly didn't fit over that shape.

Like in an Estes or Centuri kit, you did a small shroud line loop on the underside, but these were folded in a "V"at the small hole and the lower half went underneath the sheet canopy. Considering the age of the kit, the tape strips seemed to stick pretty well.

All six lines were loads of fun to tie to the snap swivel. I taped it down to hold it steady. (The snap swivel was not provided in the kit, I usually add one if it wasn't included.)

MPC Martian Patrol Part 7 Paint Plan

Take a look at the box cover art. I usually don't paint the model like the catalog pictures. But on some repros or clones I will, in tribute to the original.

This art shows from the top down:

The nose cone in silver, the upper body tube in red, lower body tube silver and the fin can red. I was not given the same decals as shown in the cover art.

I had to plan ahead on this one to fill and paint the lower body tube before gluing on the fin can. You could never fill the body tube seams once the fin can was in place.

There is another concern. After the lower tube is painted, how can you slide the fin can over the paint without scratching the silver paint?

There is raised ridges inside the upper and lower fin rings to give a tighter fit around the body tube. I went ahead and trimmed those ridges off the upper ring so there wouldn't be any binding and scratching of the silver paint when the fin can is slid on from the rear. Any low scratches from the lower ring won't be seen, they would be covered by the ring itself.

TIP: Silver, aluminum, gold and chrome paints take longer to dry than other colors. They will also show fingerprints, mars and scratches easily.

Sometimes before I start a build I'll plan the painting order before anything is glued together.

MPC Martian Patrol Part 6 Paint Prep

I started to prep the parts for their final color.

Here's the body tubes after seam filling, gray primer and sanding.

These reminded me of the old Competition Model Rockets (CMR) tubing. The CMR tubes seemed to have a wrinkled white outer layer. The larger tube had a much rougher surface.

The round saucer caps and square saucer mounts were set on scrap cardboard for a white undercoat spray. The square mounts were set on masking tape with the sticky side up. The round caps were just punched into the cardboard.

The fin can was to be undercoated white, the final color is gloss red.

Again I used masking tape set on a dowel with the sticky side out for use as a painting wand. Both of the inside surfaces of the fin rings were covered with masking tape.

MPC Martian Patrol Build Part 5 Engine Mount

This build is a little out of order, I have to backtrack a bit. I like to prep the parts before building, that's why I took the time to notch the lower fin ring and glue up the fin can.


The motor mount was the first thing assembled in the instructions. There is nothing out of the ordinary except for the laminated centering rings and black coupler or what MPC called the spacer tube.

You are supplied with four centering rings, two are glued together to make a thicker ring. In some of today's Quest kits, you only get two thin rings. I wish Quest would supply you with another set of extra rings so they can be laminated like this.


Once glued together, the centering rings took a bit of sanding to get a good fit over the engine tube.




That black "spacer tube" coupler wasn't fish paper like you might expect. It's a thin black outside layer over a brown coupler. If you were to sand it too much, you'd go through it into the inside brown coupler.

Notice the thin engine hook. It's spring steel and won't bend out every time you remove an engine. It always springs right back.

MPC Martian Patrol Build Part 4 Nose Cone

There were some posts today on TRF about the Martian Patrol nose cone.

It is an old MPC design and was carried over to the early Quest kits, most notably on the Evader model.

The long adapter isn't currently available but the small nose cone cap is, on the Quest website. It is #PNC-15.

Custom Rockets sells a plastic nose cone that is close to this design, but fits a BT-20 body tube. It is # PC-20A. The sides of the adapter are smooth, no ridges.

MPC Martian Patrol Build Part 3 Fin Can

I decided to assemble the fins and rings then spray it red as one unit. It'd be impossible to mask and paint it after it was glued to the body tube.

Here the fin is slid into the lower plastic ring.

You can't snap the fins into slots on the ring. There are ridges on the root edge of the fins that slide into the raised "geared teeth" on the rings.

This is the finished fin unit.

I slid everything in place dry - no glue, and checked for alignment. Small drops of thin CA were placed at all the joints and allowed to run into the seams.

The short launch lugs are slid into the teeth. With this fin can design, the lugs can't be centered between two fins. However, it does allow for either three or four fin placement.

The fins are thin plastic, you can see the vertical molded ribs could add strength.

To be honest, I always thought this was an ugly fin can design. But it would help a first time builder to get four fins in alignment.

MPC Martian Patrol Build Part 2 Fin Can

The engine mount was first up.

The instructions showed a molded notch in the lower ring to allow movement of the engine hook. There wasn't a notch in the ring.

I cut in a notch using one of my square diamond needle files.

Here's the notch, cut and ready for assembly.

To assure good adhesion, I had to remove any of the molding release from the plastic parts.

All the plastic parts got a bath in water and a little dish washing soap.

MPC Martian Patrol Build Part 1

Here's all the parts laid out.

I couldn't quite figure out the color picks on the plastic parts. Green fin parts, gray adapter and a yellow nose cone. If the model were left unpainted, it would be one ugly rocket!

There was some interesting parts included in the MPC kits.

Included was enough fiberglass insulation (MPC Recovery Wadding) for one flight.

Two lead washer weights glue into the center recesses of the Styrofoam saucers. This center weight helps them "hover".

Hoo Boy - fibreglass insulation and lead in a rocket kit. How did I ever survive my teen years!

A countdown card was printed on card stock, separate from the instruction sheets. This way you could take it to the launch with you. The NAR Safety Code is printed on the other side.

Three small, yellow stick-on address labels are included. They are almost too small to write in an entire street address line.

You are supplied with two sets (four in total) of engine mount centering rings. A single ring by itself is structurally too thin. You glue two of them together for a strong two-ply laminate ring.

MPC Martian Patrol Pre-Build Background

The MPC Martian Patrol was part of the 1970 MPC kit lineup. Retail price was $3.00. The MPC kits came boxed and shrink wrapped.

This was the strangest of eight rocket kits in the Astro Line Series. The Astro Line kits had no balsa parts and advertised easy assembly, true flight performance and durability.

What set this model apart from anything else at the time were the dual Styrofoam saucers attached to the snap-together plastic fin unit. This style of fin can was still seen in the early Quest catalogs.

This catalog page courtesy of Sky High Hobbies. They still list some of the old MPC kits at:
http://www.skyhighhobbies.com/