Semroc Saturn IB Build Thread

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One small note, I live in "dial up hell"

Not any more the fat man got satellite internet!!!
Our company's new owner is great to work for and
I can expense my $125 a month sat. internet!!!
This is great!!!

Ron,

Any progress lately?

On the S IB, unfortunately no... But I did get it out the other day and
sorted through it and have plans to start working on it again. My goal is
to finish up all started on rockets and repairs before starting any new ones. ;)

I fondled my Delta IV Heavy too.

Shade how is your project going?
fred

VVVEEERRRYYY Slowly.

BTW: anyone hear from Ron Lemke (Shade) lately?

Shade who???

Okay, Life in the last year to say the least has been hectic. Last March
my company was purchased by a much larger company. This has been
outstanding for almost all involved. Our previous holding company was
treating us like a red headed step kid. The new company has been a
blessing. I know you almost never hear that but this time it is true.

Also our new owners are highly respected and trusted in our industry, as
a result we have set new production, sales and profit records this past year,
I ain't had time to do much of anything rocket related. Things are just now
slowing down to a dull roar. The 4th and 1st quarter I spent most of my time
designing and helping launch a completely new product line for one of my
main 3 customers.

Not to mention Soccer for my eldest son, Karate for my youngest son,
trying to keep the wife happy :rolleyes: yeah right... Hunting! Robbie my
then 11 year old got his first Buck last fall, and Lyme disease on the same
trip, we caught it right away and he has made a full recovery. December
was lost to replacing a bent rod in my 2007 New Holland Tractor. Early Spring
was helping the Road Commisioner clear trees our of a road way. Nothing like
lots of free fire wood a 1/2 a mile from the farm!!! Got 2 new steers, and
enjoying the first one!!!

You can read about that one here (what a "bleeping" nighmare):
https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums...ating/188532-tc40da-oil-change-nightmare.html

Tonight, I just was finishing up repairs on our New Holland 105A - 72 inch
tiller that the wife did a great job destroying the oil and grease seals on this
year... :rolleyes: Don't worry I have $125 dollar order from Semroc showing
up in a day or two... I have to charge for labor, don't I??!!

Kids have been off school for the last week plus so we dug up some rockets
and flew into the 40 acre field across from us on 2 different days. The field
still has not been planted, we have been very wet this spring. Only lost 1
and a half rockets... My Estes CC Express, I modified to fly on 24mm E's and
lost it in the clouds on an E9-6. Never saw it again, oh well that is part of
the sport isn't it, I think I have flown it a dozen plus times.

The half a rocket was flown on a single D12-5 it was one of my scratch
builds. https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?t=6035
It had built it with one of Semroc's EB-60 baffles on deployment I heard an
unusually loud pop and the nose cone baffle, and chute all drifted away
very very very far away. The airframe made a nice tumble recover and
other than a little cleaning will fly again soon.

I did email Carl at Semroc and they do not recomend EB-60 with 24mm
engines. But he still offered to replace the missing components!!! WOW!!!
Between companies like Semroc and Flis Kits, they make this hobby/sport so
much more enjoyable!!! So I am building a new baffle for it and will post
pictures of the new baffle on that thread later.

Hope to be updating this thread more in the near future. :cool:
 
Not any more the fat man got satellite internet!!!
Our company's new owner is great to work for and
I can expense my $125 a month sat. internet!!!
This is great!!!



On the S IB, unfortunately no... But I did get it out the other day and
sorted through it and have plans to start working on it again. My goal is
to finish up all started on rockets and repairs before starting any new ones. ;)

I fondled my Delta IV Heavy too.



VVVEEERRRYYY Slowly.



Shade who???

Okay, Life in the last year to say the least has been hectic. Last March
my company was purchased by a much larger company. This has been
outstanding for almost all involved. Our previous holding company was
treating us like a red headed step kid. The new company has been a
blessing. I know you almost never hear that but this time it is true.

Also our new owners are highly respected and trusted in our industry, as
a result we have set new production, sales and profit records this past year,
I ain't had time to do much of anything rocket related. Things are just now
slowing down to a dull roar. The 4th and 1st quarter I spent most of my time
designing and helping launch a completely new product line for one of my
main 3 customers.

Not to mention Soccer for my eldest son, Karate for my youngest son,
trying to keep the wife happy :rolleyes: yeah right... Hunting! Robbie my
then 11 year old got his first Buck last fall, and Lyme disease on the same
trip, we caught it right away and he has made a full recovery. December
was lost to replacing a bent rod in my 2007 New Holland Tractor. Early Spring
was helping the Road Commisioner clear trees our of a road way. Nothing like
lots of free fire wood a 1/2 a mile from the farm!!! Got 2 new steers, and
enjoying the first one!!!

You can read about that one here (what a "bleeping" nighmare):
https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums...ating/188532-tc40da-oil-change-nightmare.html

Tonight, I just was finishing up repairs on our New Holland 105A - 72 inch
tiller that the wife did a great job destroying the oil and grease seals on this
year... :rolleyes: Don't worry I have $125 dollar order from Semroc showing
up in a day or two... I have to charge for labor, don't I??!!

Kids have been off school for the last week plus so we dug up some rockets
and flew into the 40 acre field across from us on 2 different days. The field
still has not been planted, we have been very wet this spring. Only lost 1
and a half rockets... My Estes CC Express, I modified to fly on 24mm E's and
lost it in the clouds on an E9-6. Never saw it again, oh well that is part of
the sport isn't it, I think I have flown it a dozen plus times.

The half a rocket was flown on a single D12-5 it was one of my scratch
builds. https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?t=6035
It had built it with one of Semroc's EB-60 baffles on deployment I heard an
unusually loud pop and the nose cone baffle, and chute all drifted away
very very very far away. The airframe made a nice tumble recover and
other than a little cleaning will fly again soon.

I did email Carl at Semroc and they do not recomend EB-60 with 24mm
engines. But he still offered to replace the missing components!!! WOW!!!
Between companies like Semroc and Flis Kits, they make this hobby/sport so
much more enjoyable!!! So I am building a new baffle for it and will post
pictures of the new baffle on that thread later.

Hope to be updating this thread more in the near future. :cool:

You sir are a busy man :) Sounds like mostly going right so thats great.
Cheers
fred
 
I was looking at the Semroc Apollo Capsule directions last night and reading
about sanding the dowels to size. I was thinking making the escape tower
lattice work out of steel (drill rod) would be sweet. Weld or braze the joints
and it should be more durable than a wooden one.

Has anyone done that?

What do you think?
 
I was looking at the Semroc Apollo Capsule directions last night and reading
about sanding the dowels to size. I was thinking making the escape tower
lattice work out of steel (drill rod) would be sweet. Weld or braze the joints
and it should be more durable than a wooden one.

Has anyone done that?

What do you think?

Hey Ron,
Just a thought bud but would that turn your rocket into a potential steel tipped dart if the recovery system failled?
Cheers
fred
 
Hey Ron,
Just a thought bud but would that turn your rocket into a potential steel tipped dart if the recovery system failled?
Cheers
fred

I was thinking for display only, I have never had luck with escape towers
surviving landings. So for actual launches I tend to uses plain NC's. I know
the scale guys are gasping in horror. Rates up their with Marilyn's falsies... :surprised:

BTW, actually getting a little work done on it tonight.

pictures to follow.
 
Well, Fred you got me thinking some more...

Scary...

Anyway the kit comes with 1/12" (0.083" buy in reality more like 0.093")
dowel material and the distructions suggest you hand sand it down to 0.058"
and 0.041" for the tower struts. As great as the Semroc kits are, all I am
thinking to myself at this point is, "Are they <<<bleep>>> nuts." (Sorry the
sailor gene was kicking in again.)

I do not have that kinda patience. I tried to turn stroke with sand paper,
turn and stroke with sand paper, turn and stroke with sand paper, turn and
stroke with sand paper, turn and stroke with sand paper, turn and stroke
with sand paper and I was still getting some flats... :mad:

So I gotta figure something else out at this point. I turn around and look at
my lathe (metal cutting) and try to think how I can make the less of a
nightmare and still stay safely with wood, that's your fault Fred, j/k.

Then it dawns on me to use my cordless drill. So I chucked up about 1/2" of
dowel in the chuck of the drill and turned it on, the speed switch was in the
slowest position, and as the dowel was spinning I used the sand paper folded
over the dowel and pinched between my fingers and drew the paper down
the dowel from the chuck to the free end.

Progress was much faster and I got a very smooth and round dowel. The
laser cut feeler gauge is a little off, the dowel fit into it with no appreciable
pressure when the dowel was 0.066" I was using my Starrett caliper to
measure the dowel and confirmed the caliper was accurate with a micrometer.

You have enough material so the loss of 1/2" is not an issue. Also stopping
every 3-5 passes and checking the diameter and several locations is
important as you can quickly develop a taper to the dowel. But adjusting
speed of your stroke and/or pressure you can work out any taper. I started
with 150 grit paper and finished with 220. I also moved the RPM up to the
second out of 3 speeds. I will get RPM values and some pictures in the
morning.

Also made some distance on the built up fins.

The fat man needs some sleep.
 
Well, Fred you got me thinking some more...

Scary...

Anyway the kit comes with 1/12" (0.083" buy in reality more like 0.093")
dowel material and the distructions suggest you hand sand it down to 0.058"
and 0.041" for the tower struts. As great as the Semroc kits are, all I am
thinking to myself at this point is, "Are they <<<bleep>>> nuts." (Sorry the
sailor gene was kicking in again.)

I do not have that kinda patience. I tried to turn stroke with sand paper,
turn and stroke with sand paper, turn and stroke with sand paper, turn and
stroke with sand paper, turn and stroke with sand paper, turn and stroke
with sand paper and I was still getting some flats... :mad:

So I gotta figure something else out at this point. I turn around and look at
my lathe (metal cutting) and try to think how I can make the less of a
nightmare and still stay safely with wood, that's your fault Fred, j/k.

Then it dawns on me to use my cordless drill. So I chucked up about 1/2" of
dowel in the chuck of the drill and turned it on, the speed switch was in the
slowest position, and as the dowel was spinning I used the sand paper folded
over the dowel and pinched between my fingers and drew the paper down
the dowel from the chuck to the free end.

Progress was much faster and I got a very smooth and round dowel. The
laser cut feeler gauge is a little off, the dowel fit into it with no appreciable
pressure when the dowel was 0.066" I was using my Starrett caliper to
measure the dowel and confirmed the caliper was accurate with a micrometer.

You have enough material so the loss of 1/2" is not an issue. Also stopping
every 3-5 passes and checking the diameter and several locations is
important as you can quickly develop a taper to the dowel. But adjusting
speed of your stroke and/or pressure you can work out any taper. I started
with 150 grit paper and finished with 220. I also moved the RPM up to the
second out of 3 speeds. I will get RPM values and some pictures in the
morning.

Also made some distance on the built up fins.

The fat man needs some sleep.

Sounds like you got it nailled Ron:) I dont really give a care about being exact on scale. I applaud those who are but I like the TLAR system:)
Cheers
fred
 
Starting to look like a Sat IB...

I have 3 of the 8 built up fins completed.

Sat IB 11 06 12-4.jpg
 
Starting to look like a Sat IB...

I have 3 of the 8 built up fins completed.

Yes sir l;ooks like a sat 1b to me:) Have you considerred building with modin oldie tower? I belive its resin and a little tougher then your standard wooden one? Me I just build several wood ones and let the chips fly where they may :)
Cheers
fred
 
I think the Moldin Oldie's tower is for the Estes 1/100 scale version.

I've been thinking about buying a few (along with the Saturn V engine skirts) to retrofit my already built Saturn V and Saturn 1B so I'm less concerned about flying them.

That way I can have a pristine Saturn 1B and Saturn V built for display (with no cats or inquistive kids to 'modify' them) and yet have good looking flyers too.

FC
 
I think the Moldin Oldie's tower is for the Estes 1/100 scale version.

I've been thinking about buying a few (along with the Saturn V engine skirts) to retrofit my already built Saturn V and Saturn 1B so I'm less concerned about flying them.

That way I can have a pristine Saturn 1B and Saturn V built for display (with no cats or inquistive kids to 'modify' them) and yet have good looking flyers too.

FC

I beleive you're right about the tower. darn I have heard and seen some cool [pictures of it.
Cheers
fred
 
I took some foam core, 3M Spray adhesive, glued the supplied template down
to the foam core and then glues a layer of wax paper over the template.

One solid flat templat now that will securely hold the pins for fixturing the
dowel in place.

Tonight's project to get a good start on the tower... :rolleyes:

101_4299.jpg
 
Last edited:
I have to figure out how to minimize the crappy pictures I am taking
the washout is bad... I am not a photographer by any means...

But making progress, I would still be out there but the Tornado Sirens went
off and I came in to see what was going on... Nothing radar is clear???

101_4301.JPG
 
If you're using a point and shoot, turn off the flash and look for a symbol on the settings menu that looks like a little tulip - use that for closeup detail photos.

G.D.
 
Tonight's project to get a good start on the tower... :rolleyes:

I can tell you one thing after working on this tonight, this thing ain't
never gonna fly!!! I have a Semroc Little Joe kit too, with the same
Apollo capsule. That one is getting built differently for actual flights.
 
I can tell you one thing after working on this tonight, this thing ain't
never gonna fly!!! I have a Semroc Little Joe kit too, with the same
Apollo capsule. That one is getting built differently for actual flights.

Making some progess, have all the stock wood dowels sanded down to size.
I snapped one fortunately I have thousands of cotton tipped applicators that
use the same size and type of wood so I just snapped off the cotton tip and
used it.

gdiscenza thanks for the camera tip, it worked well now I have to learn to
hold the camera steady, LOL

As you can see I built the tower on the printed plans v. the jig they show I
believe this is easier. But it is personal preference. I kept the side
perpendicular to the board by using a 1-2-3 block as I was pinning them.

Tonight I hope to get the next step done.

I also learned that CA glue sticks to wax paper, well... :eek:

Semroc Apollo Escape Tower - 3.jpg
 
Your tower is looking great - I found it quite satisfying in the end to have built it the hard way (more-or-less true to the original Gene Street plan of 1967); I'd encourage you to fly it, at least once, the capsule comes down very soft with its separate chute. Just have a large area, since it can drift pretty far.
 
Your tower is looking great - I found it quite satisfying in the end to have built it the hard way (more-or-less true to the original Gene Street plan of 1967); I'd encourage you to fly it, at least once, the capsule comes down very soft with its separate chute. Just have a large area, since it can drift pretty far.

Thanks, not much getting done Hunter Safety class this weekend with the 12
year old. I am taking the class with him. Interesting, not boring at all like I
expected. Very pleasantly surprised.
 
Okay, you can all get a good laugh out of this one... Yes 4 years and I am dredging up this
thread, because.... yup I am still working on it... I made a promise to myself to finish all my
rockets before I start another one. What I have left to do is, finish this one, a Semroc Laser-X
and some minor mod to my LOC V-2 rocket. So tonight after cleaning up the shop putting
away everything from the week, completing the honey do's. I did get the old Saturn IB out
and finished gluing up the built up fins and reviewing the instructions. I did put a coat of paint
on the capsule last week. Problem there is that the paper in 4 years has yellowed. Oh well
I will like just paint the whole thing. Maybe purchase another Semroc capsule and see if I can
make a decal out of the paper.

Fred and Carl, I am back at it... LOL...

Carl I see you have really gone hard into the kits. I still have your Delta IV-Heavy I think that
one is next.
 
Okay, you can all get a good laugh out of this one... Yes 4 years and I am dredging up this
thread, because.... yup I am still working on it... I made a promise to myself to finish all my
rockets before I start another one. What I have left to do is, finish this one, a Semroc Laser-X
and some minor mod to my LOC V-2 rocket. So tonight after cleaning up the shop putting
away everything from the week, completing the honey do's. I did get the old Saturn IB out
and finished gluing up the built up fins and reviewing the instructions. I did put a coat of paint
on the capsule last week. Problem there is that the paper in 4 years has yellowed. Oh well
I will like just paint the whole thing. Maybe purchase another Semroc capsule and see if I can
make a decal out of the paper.

Fred and Carl, I am back at it... LOL...

Carl I see you have really gone hard into the kits. I still have your Delta IV-Heavy I think that
one is next.

You don't have to feel bad at all! I started mine in 2006 and that's also when I stopped :eek: : Build thread...
 
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