For me it was the Estes Mercury Redstone, Kit #K-41.
To see the instructions, go to JimZs - CLICK HERE
"Although it requires care and precision in construction . . ."
This was a true Skill Level 5 model.
Estes is bringing back the Centuri version of the Mercury Redstone.
The body is 2" diameter, the capsule and tower are plastic.
I'm looking forward to getting two kits, one to build as a standard Mercury Redstone, the other will end up being a Little Joe I.
In the Estes K-41 kit -
The fins were FIVE pieces, all hand cut (no laser cutting then) and formed from balsa.
Enlarge the picture to see the the work involved.
Can you imagine trying to fill the wood grain?
The tower was nearly impossible to construct with the "dowels" I got in my kit. It looked like they were heat pressed into a thin piece of mahogany.
I tried to cut and separate them from the sheet but the half-round sides didn't match up!
"Twirl sanding" easily broke the dowels.
Just ran across this post while building a vintage K-41. I'm building the fins and escape tower from original parts exactly as the instructions say, just to see how much fun it is. Build thread is here: https://www.oldrocketforum.com/showthread.php?t=19188
ReplyDeleteHi Paul,
DeleteI did see your build on YORF. Great work! I also built an original K-41 Mercury Redstone when I was in my early teens. A few years back I assembled the Dr. Zooch MR. It had the same type of tower and capsule, but the fins were simpler like the more recent Estes MR fins.