I waited until the model was painted and decaled before tying on the parachutes.The instructions have you permanently tie the parachute to the upper section in Step 22, before finishing. Even though you can disconnected the snap swivel and line, the shock cord and parachute would still be tied to the line loop on the end of the third stage.
That parachute would have gotten in the way with all the masking and painting going on.
The picture at the right shows how the upper section should hang from the 18" parachute. The tower is up, the coupler end would hit the ground first on recovery.
In Step 22, Part C, you cut a 13" long piece of shroud line. That is tied to the snap swivel and shock cord.In the picture at the left, the distance from the hook to the end of the coupler is 13".
NOTE: To allow for knots, you should make this line a few inches longer. At the recommended 13", it won't be long enough.
The rubber shock cord connecting knot would end up between the coupler and main body tube.
With the line at just 13", you'd end up with a doubled shock cord between the coupler and body tube. It would be hard to slide the coupler into the lower half.
Time spent on build: :15
Total time on build so far: 60:30
Very well done. I'm getting ready to purchase an Estes Saturn V myself. This model at a little over 3 feet is more managable for motors than the AirFix Dragon or Apogee at 5 feet. Do you agree? How did yours fly?
ReplyDeleteHi Charles,
DeleteI have built two of the Apogee Saturn Vs and probably 6 of the more recent Estes kits. The Apogee kit is much like the Estes with the vacu-form wraps, just bigger. The Estes version is still big but more (size) manageable than the larger Apogee or Sirius kits. I have't built the Sirius kit.
I've launched Saturn Vs years ago with D12-3 engines, no Sat V launches recently. The one I built on the blog was sold to a collector. Saturn V launches with a D12 were always low and slow, then the hang time waiting for the parachutes to open before it hits the ground.
The Airfix would be a plastic model conversion, right? PMC launches are usually hit or miss, many have stability problems. You can only add so much nose weight before the altitude is compromised.