Estes Mini Mars Lander Build #0881, Finished

This was a fun one, even with the flaky decals.
I'm curious how it will recover with the streamer.

Semroc Snake Jumper Build, Background

The Semroc Snake Jumper was a Goony based on the old Centuri Evel Knievel Sky Cycle rocket.
The instructions are interesting - CLICK HERE 
Check out the rear "positioning disk" and shock cord mount that attached to the engine mount.
The model also had die-cut card stock fins, cut from the same material as the centering rings.

The Centuri kit was available from 1975-78. It probably would have had better sales if the Snake River jump was successful.

The Centuri kit was 1.3" diameter, the Semroc Groonie is 1.8". Semroc called them a Groonie as they were grown up Goonys. Centuri used 13mm engines, the Semroc version uses 18mm.



Carl McLawhorn at Semroc based his designs on the original Estes Goony drawings that were changed into flying brooms and rabbits before production. The original Goony drawings remind you of the old CarToons magazine art.

The Semroc Snake Jumper is 1" shorter and stubbier compared to the Centuri Sky Cycle. The decals reflect the original kit except the face of the "pilot" decal is angrier.

Upcoming Estes Releases -

On TRF, Turbofireball posted this:

My local hobby shop showed me this info today regarding new Estes kits:
EST-0865 Mini Mean Machine Model Rocket Kit (Skill Level 1) $14.99 
EST-1250 Interceptor Model Rocket Kit (Skill Level 2) (Re-Issue) $29.99 
EST-1329 Multi-Roc Model Rocket Kit (Skill Level 3) $22.99 
EST-1969 Saturn V Model Rocket Kit w/Bonus (Skill Level 4) $89.99 
EST-7255 Little Joe I Model Rocket Kit (Skill Level 3) $32.99 
EST-7276 Checkmate 2-Stage Model Rocket Kit (Skill Level 1) $12.99 
EST-7277 Galaxy Glow Model Rocket Kit (Skill Level E2X) $14.99 

"They did not have info yet on what months they would be released, although they expected to receive Little Joe 1's shortly, since Estes now shows them available. The info also confirms Dean Fox's #1969 for the Saturn V. The big surprise was the Interceptor, as that kit didn't make it to the 2018 catalog."


All of these were shown in the 2018 print catalog, but some not  available yet.
The big news is the re-release of the Interceptor!
Here's a link to the blog build: CLICK HERE

Estes Mini Mars Lander Build #0881, Part 15, Old Decals

The remaining decals got a shot of clear acrylic. This will make a film over the decals and hopefully hold them together.

On the left is the decal that broke apart with no way to repair it. I took the easy way out.

I cut the damaged area off the decal that goes on the opposite side. This makes it look like it was intentional, well sort of.

Here's another place where the decal broke up. Like before, the broken line was scraped off.






An orange Sharpie filled in the broken area in the "A".
This was a gamble, black usually works on black print, colors rarely match up. I lucked out on this one.




I used the back of my X-Acto knife to scrape the paint off the engine hook. Use the back of the blade, it'll flake the paint off without dulling the sharp side.

First Man Movie - Abort!

I'd been looking forward to the new movie - First Man.
There is a new theater about five miles away, The Epic.
I drove over last night for the 10:10 p.m. show. I figured there would be smaller crowds.

I went up to the ticket desk. I asked about the Senior Discount, there isn't one. I did get to pick a seats, there was only one other paying customer. I picked out my seat on the screen.

I gave him my debit card, he rang up the total. $15.00! Fifteen Dollars for a movie? The last time I saw a movie there it was $10.00, even that seemed high.

I told the employee to cancel the charge. You wonder why there was only one paid ticket. I'll wait for it to run on Netflix. I'm not cheap, I watch my money and will walk away when something seems overpriced.

I walked across the parking lot to the yogurt store. You fill your own cup with yogurt, like how you'd  get a Slurpee at a 7/11. I didn't get much, just a little late night treat. They weighed the yogurt. $3.15 for yogurt? Sheesh! Well, I did pay for that.

Estes Mini Mars Lander Build #0881, Part 14, Old Decals

These decals are 30 years old. They could either transfer easily or break up because they are brittle.
Normally I'd test the soak and transfer time on an image that wouldn't be used on the kit. There were no extras to test on.

I figured I'd try the small three dot decals that go on the legs. If these black ink decals didn't work I could always print up some new black dots. These went on the model with no problems.

The nose cone wrap decals are wide, I didn't want to take a chance of them not going on easily. They were cut in half. The edges will be butted together and lines matched.






Things were okay until the body tube decals were used.
This one broke up and couldn't be repaired.
I'll show a work around in the next post.

Q-Jets Arrive!

These came in the mail on October 16, just in time for last Saturdays N.E.F.A.R. launch.

Now I have to wait until the N.E.F.A.R. Bunnell Blast, November 10 & 11.