"Friendship 7" 50th Anniversary Dr. Zooch Mercury Atlas build...

[luke strawwalker]

Well, we're about 6 weeks out from the 50th anniversary of John Glenn's historic launch of the Friendship 7, America's first manned orbital mission. SO, what better way to relive the glory days of the space program than to commemorate that achievement with the build of a Mercury Atlas 6 stack, of the Mercury Spacecraft #13 and the Atlas 109-D booster...

Dr. Zooch is releasing a 50th Anniversary addition, so what a perfect time to build one!

So, let's take a look at what you get...

Here's the box art...

Here's the inventory of the parts...

A BT-60 main Atlas body tube, a T-50 spacecraft adapter tube, a T-20 motor mount tube, a T-5 tube (for the booster engine bells/sockets for the Flamefins), a T-3 tube (for the Flamefins themselves), a balsa weighted conical transition (upper end of the LOX tank of the Atlas), balsa nosecone (core of the Friendship 7 capsule), a baggie with 4 small centering rings (for the Flamefins), three fiberboard 20/60 centering rings (two notched), a sheet of corrugated mylar (for the Atlas booster section corrugations), kitbag with the tower parts, a couple sheets of balsa fin stock, a wood dowel, trash bag chute, kitbag with screw-eye and recovery parts, sticky rings, chute string, bulletproof thread recovery cord, humorous instructions, and a printed cardstock wrap sheet.

More later!
OL JR

[sodmeister]

I personally look forward to another of your exellent builds !

I love watching ,learning and seeing how others tackle their kits.

And besides ,you post plenty of pictures during the walk.



Sincerely

Paul T

[hornet driver]

Look forward to seeing some more of your work--always impressed !! Seems from the background you already have a deap rooted intrest in the Atlas.

[NJRick]

Luke....I can't wait to see your build of this rocket...you always do such a great job!!! I got this rocket as a Christmas present from my kids....it looks like another great Dr. Zooch kit!!

[NJRick]

Luke....in your picture of the parts...is that your Saturn 5 custom build in the background? that is going to be sweet too when you get her completed!

I am working on Wes's Skylab Saturn 5 right now...I was really pleased with his Saturn 5 kit...once you add the cable tunnels and ullage motors etc....it just really comes to life. I tried your suggestion of using an epoxy on the F-1 engines....came out OK, but not great....I had never worked with an epoxy before and I think I was using too much of the putty....but it was really a great suggestion to use that to make the turbine exhaust. the F-1's really look neat on the kit!

Can't wait to see your Atlas Mercury!

[luke strawwalker]

Luke....in your picture of the parts...is that your Saturn 5 custom build in the background? that is going to be sweet too when you get her completed!

I am working on Wes's Skylab Saturn 5 right now...I was really pleased with his Saturn 5 kit...once you add the cable tunnels and ullage motors etc....it just really comes to life. I tried your suggestion of using an epoxy on the F-1 engines....came out OK, but not great....I had never worked with an epoxy before and I think I was using too much of the putty....but it was really a great suggestion to use that to make the turbine exhaust. the F-1's really look neat on the kit!

Can't wait to see your Atlas Mercury!

Thanks Rick and for the kind words everybody... I appreciate it!

Yes, that's my scratchie BT-80 Saturn V, with the BT-60 "Saturn I-F" standing beside it... I got to the fins, got tangled up with Rocksim, then mulling over motor choices/arrangements (cluster) and then real life sorta sidetracked me and I haven't worked on it in a couple months... Hope to get back on it fairly soon... Those little paper F-1 engines are calling to me! LOL

This looks like it'll be a fun kit. The details really make ALL the Zooch kits come alive... really ANY rocket... I didn't plan to dive as deep into the details on my scratch Saturn as I did, then when I started looking at the various models on the web, and looking at the NARTS Saturn V blueprints I have, I started thinking "I can add that-- that would be cool" and just went kinda nuts with it... kinda fun actually-- I see why rivet counters become rivet counters... LOL

The Mercury capsule on this one is the same size as the one on the "Freedom 7" Mercury Redstone (the BT-50 version, not to be confused with the regular BT-60 sized Dr. Zooch Mercury Redstone). I've built one before and the hardest part was the tower, which I expect to be only slightly easier this time (if I'm lucky). But it comes out looking pretty sweet.

The Atlas itself is, of course, based on the BT-60 tube, so the build is identical to the Dr. Zooch Atlas-Agena... only sans the Agena...

More tomorrow...

Later! OL JR

PS. I've got the Zooch Skylab too, just haven't gotten around to building it yet...

[luke strawwalker]

Look forward to seeing some more of your work--always impressed !! Seems from the background you already have a deap rooted intrest in the Atlas.

The Atlas is, IMHO, probably THE coolest rocket ever built. The balloon tank design was just absolutely brilliant, and the stage-and-a-half concept as well... I think basically it was ahead of its time. It's really a shame that the idea never was carried on with newer vehicles... after Atlas II that was the end of the balloon tanks (well, except for Centaur, and even those are only 'semi-balloon' tanks anymore IIRC-- maybe more properly called "semi-rigid").

I mean, the Saturn V and IB were powerful, and Titan III and IV were neat, and shuttle was interesting, but Atlas... well, it's just plain cool...

Later! OL JR

[luke strawwalker]

SO, lets get down to this build...

We start off by modifying the notched centering rings. Cut the ring mod guides from the wrap sheet very carefully with a sharp hobby knife. These get glued with white glue to the notched centering rings, aligned very carefully, and set aside to dry. Later we'll notch the centering rings using a sharp hobby knife, according to the instructions. These notches will hold the "booster engine spoof tubes".

Next, we cut some "poly-coated Popielium" string off the parachute shroud line bundle according to the instructions. These bits of string get glued to the ends of the engine spoof tubes. The spoof tubes themselves are from the BT-5 tube in the kit, which you have to cut in half. I applied a tiny daub of white glue to the end of the string and the end of the tube, and then clamped the end of the thread about 3/32 inch up from the bottom edge of the tube with smooth-jawed hemostat clamps. Set these aside to dry.

Once the thread is securely glued to the end of the tubes, I applied a decent layer of white glue to the bottom 3/8 inch of each tube, and then carefully wrap the string around the tube, with about 3/32 inch (little less than 1/16) between each wrap-- these are the engine bell "hat bands" which strengthen the outboard booster engine nozzles on the real Atlas. I apply a little more white glue on top, and then going around the nozzle the same direction I wound the string, rub the glue into the string and onto the tube, securing everything in place. If the wraps aren't evenly spaced, go ahead and space them evenly now, using a fingernail or the back of the hobby knife blade-- the more evenly spaced and smooth they are, the better the rocket will look later on. You'll probably have to hold the end of the string down for a few seconds until the glue tacks up a bit to keep it laying flat and the hatbands wound tightly around the "nozzle" (tube). Once you're satisfied and everything's pretty well tacked itself in place, set them aside to dry.

Next, we glue the two notched centering rings to the BT-20 motor tube. Put a vertical line down the tube with your angle (or doorjamb method if you're still doing it that way-- and for pity's sake, get some cheap aluminum angle at the hardware store next time you're in there! LOL). The centering rings have a small "index notch" you cut in the back of the ring according to the ring mod guides you glued over the ring... (of course by this time you should also have carefully cut out the two 'half moons' on either side of each ring-- if you haven't done that, do it now before gluing the rings up!). One ring is marked "upper" and the other "lower"... they go on basically with the "upper" notched ring in the middle, and the "lower" one on bottom. CAREFULLY align the "index notches" (centered between the large "half moon" notches next to the motor tube) with the reference line you drew on the motor tube. The rings have to be indexed as close to perfectly as possible with this line, or the rocket will roll in flight later on, since the motor spoof tube alignment is determined by the half moon notches in the rings, and the Flamefins go into the engine spoof tubes for flight-- and the spoof tubes are aligned to the motor tube by the rings, and you want everything parallel and aligned. Glue the rings on with a dab of white glue, and once you're comfortable that everything is aligned properly, fillet the rings with more white glue.

Next, the spoof tubes are glued on. I actually jumped steps a bit and went ahead and installed the motor hook first per the instructions. Cut the reinforcement band, glue it in place with white glue, install the motor hook, put a drop of CA on the upper end/tube slit to harden the motor tube a bit, wrap tape around the motor hook, and then glue in the motor block in the front of the tube ahead of the motor hook. Check the alignment and fit of the spoof tubes in the centering ring "half moon" notches, and do a little fine sanding or filing to get a good fit... I found that I had to widen the notches slightly on mine, and sanded the front notch on one side and the back ring notch on the other side to correct for a tiny misalignment in the rings... To check the alignment, hold the spoof tube in the half moon notches with one finger, and while looking past the tubes at a fairly dark background, carefully roll the motor tube to bring the visible edges of the spoof tube and the motor tube together... the spoof tube edge should completely "eclipse" or hide the edge of the motor tube... any misalignment will be visible as a small wedge-shaped bit of the motor tube still visible. A tiny bit of sanding is all that's usually needed to bring everything into virtually perfect alignment if you got the centering rings "keyed" to the reference line on the motor tube correctly. Once you're satisfied with the fit, go ahead and glue the spoof tubes to the rings, using white glue, and the fillet them. They are supposed to overhang the back of the rear centering ring by 9/16 inch, but I gave them a little bit more, because looking at the Atlas-Agena I did last year, I think they look a little better a bit further aft (and I remember from the Atlas-Agena having to fiddle with the upper end of the spoof tubes a bit because they were hitting the insides of the fairings when it was time to glue them on).

Fillet everything and set it aside to dry.

More Later! OL JR

[RocketT.Coyote]

Also have the Mercury Atlas kit. The Skylab flies well btw.

[NJRick]

looking good Luke!! I have your atlas agena build thread too....I have to say, that is one interesting engine mount!! gotta give credit to the Mercury astronauts..I mean... Friendship 7 would probably fit in the back of my wife's Grand Caravan....what did the Mercury guys say? you didn't enter a Mercury capsule....you put it on like a jacket.

I went back to Pennsylvania today, picked up my folks and went to visit my brother. Drove past the old Johnsville Naval Air Development Center (NADC)...its closed now, but back in the Mercury & Gemini days, that was where the centrifuge was located for the G tests...these guys would fly up and jump in that thing and practice pulling 11 G's....the centrifuge cockpit or gondola is now outside on the side of a jogging path with a small sign on it...the NADC is now the site of housing complex and senior living facility...lots of people walk or jog by that gondola and I bet have no idea what it was. Kinda cool to think that John Glenn, Al Shepard and Gus Grissom and all were walking around about a mile from where I grew up. Just a little Mercury info for your build thread. Keep up the good work!

[NJRick]

My Skylab is about 75% complete...I can't wait to take her to the pad!

Also have the Mercury Atlas kit. The Skylab flies well btw.

[luke strawwalker]

Neat story Rick... that's cool... Seems like there should at least be a historical marker or something...

Good luck with the Skylab!

OL JR

[luke strawwalker]

SO, back to the build...

The next step is to make the balsa strips that will serve as the fairings on the sides of the Atlas booster. Cut two strips off one of the balsa sheets in the kit 4 inches long by 9/16 inch wide. Cut two more 2-5/16 inchs long by 9/16 inch wide. Coat one side of one of the long ones and one of the short ones with wood glue, in a thin, even layer, and then press the two long ones and two short ones together. Wiggle them around a bit to ensure the glue is evenly spread, and then clamp them lightly with clothespins or small clamps, and set them aside to dry.

When dry, remove the clamps and sand the edges of the strips lightly to ensure they're all level and smooth...

Next, per the instructions, mark the strip 1/2 inch from one end, and the center of the strip at the very end. Then, using a sharp hobby knife and straightedge, trim the corners off to make the strips into an even point.

Now, using 220 grit sandpaper, invert the strip so that the line you drew across the end of the strip 1/2 inch from the end is resting line-side down on the sandpaper, and tilt it up to about a 10 degree angle and gently sand away the top layers of balsa until the strip comes to a shallow point on the triangular end. The angle you sand at should be flat enough that the point of the triangle lies flat on the sandpaper all the way back to the line across between the edges of the triangle... Correct the angle if needed and sand a bit until it's all even and smooth. Now, using the sandpaper carefully, round over the sides of the strip on the top side edges, along the entire length of the strip. The top corners should be rounded off, and the bottom corners left square. Basically you want to round them over to make a sorta flattened inverted "U" shape. Carefully extend this rounding over along the crisp sanded-in edges along the triangular tapered part down to the point itself... sand carefully to keep it all smooth and even. The finished product should look something like these...

Now, grab your 220 grit sandpaper and wrap it around the BT-60 body tube. Wrap the paper tightly so it conforms to the curvature of the tube very closely (don't use a whole sheet-- just a piece about 3x4-5 inches is ideal). Now, CAREFULLY sand the balsa fairings you just made UP AND DOWN the length of the sandpaper to curve the bottom side so it conforms to the body tube... BE SURE YOU KEEP THEM ALIGNED VERTICALLY ALONG THE LENGTH OF THE TUBE AS YOU CAN! You want them to match the curve of the tube, but you also want them to lay straight on the tube when you're ready to glue them on... it's not TERRIBLY difficult but it requires you be aware of your sanding position and motions... and consciously making straight-line movements and keeping the tube and fairing parallel with each other... I find that sometimes the edges want to stay a bit higher, so wrapping the sandpaper around your fingertip and sanding the CENTER of the underside of the fairing often helps to remove a bit more material, allowing the outside edges to snuggle down tight against the tube-- just don't carve the Grand Canyon in there-- you just want to minimize the gap at the edges, not create a huge void in the center of the strip where it should be gluing tightly to the side of the body tube...

Now we're finished with the fairings...

Later! OL JR

[luke strawwalker]

SO, now we're ready to start bringing the booster together...

First we have to notch the BT-60 for the motor mount, as per the instructions. Use the marking tool on the wrap sheet, sort of a "bullseye", and center the tube over it, and carefully transfer the four arrow marks to the tube to indicate where the cuts should be made. Using an angle, make four vertical lines on the tube along these arrow marks. Next, connect the two adjacent lines 1-5/8 inch up from the bottom of the tube, defining the "rectangle" of material that will be cut out of the wall of the tube, to allow the spoof engine tubes sticking out the side of the motor mount to clear main body tube. Use a sharp hobby knife to carefully cut these away. Test fit the motor mount in the body tube DRY-- NO GLUE, to ensure that everything slides together properly and smoothly and to find the best fit. I found rotating the motor mount resulted in a slightly better fit for some reason... I also had to sand the frontmost centering ring a bit too to slide into the tube a bit easier at the top of the notch cuts on the main body tube. When you're satisfied with the fit, apply white glue inside the body tube aft end and insert the motor mount, and push it forwards until the spoof engine tubes seat against the bottom of the cut notches...

Now we'll glue on the pod fairing covers. Since the motor hook is centered between the nozzles, and should look better on the pad on the "back" of the rocket, a quick check in my "Rockets of the World" book showed that the longer fairing should be on the right hand side with the "front" of the booster toward you (considering the side with the LOX line to be the "front"... the capsule window and hatch should be aligned with the long fairing in this position). Anyway, so with the motor hook down, I put the long fairing on the right hand side of the rocket, and the short fairing on the left hand side. I grabbed an angle out of the toolbox and extended a line on either side of the "spoof engine tubes" sticking out the sides of the motor mounts so I could align the fairings vertically. Test fit everything, outline the forward tips lightly with a pencil (to ensure you don't mix them up as to which fairing goes on which side if you're trying to keep the motor hook in "back") and then apply a healthy even layer of white glue to the tube, and then press the fairings in place, aligning them vertically with the rocket body tube, with the flat end against the top ends of the "spoof tubes". Slap some rubber bands on there to keep everything tight while the glue dries.

Next, we'll cut the aft booster engine fairings from the wrap sheet... again using a sharp hobby knife, a straightedge on the long straight sections, and a steady hand on the short straight and curved parts... set them aside. You'll also need to cut the "heat shield templates" out of the wrap sheet-- they're these little 'fingernail clipping' looking dilly-oh's... and glue them down in the corner of the balsa sheet we've been whittling parts off of. These will be assembled later into the tapered aft booster engine nacelle fairings.

Now, I'm gonna jump around a bit... we're at that part of the build where following the instructions usually means you do one thing and wait hours to overnight before you can do the next step, so it just makes sense to do a little "parallel development" (in NASA parlance) here to speed up the process a bit. While the glue is drying on the fingernail bits, I started working on the capsule. First we cut the "Friendship 7" (or whatever your favorite Mercury mission was... there's even a "generic capsule" that could serve as Deke's "Delta 7" that he never got to fly because he was grounded with a heart arrhythmia... at any rate, cut the capsule wrap of your choice from the wrap sheet, curl it around and glue it up into a conical shape. Be aware that there is no glue tabs marked on the wraps, so be sure you cut a little extra on the edges, or conversely you can also cut a small strip off the edge of the wrap sheet and use it for a butt-splice connection, connecting the two edges of the capsule wrap into a conical piece. Clamp it securely and set it aside to dry.

Cut the small recovery compartment cylinder strip from the sheet, carefully roll it into a circle, and glue the ends together. Once dry, grab the balsa capsule core (nosecone) from the kit and carefully test fit the cylindrical recovery section on the upper end... if it doesn't fit, carefully sand the balsa down a bit until it fits smoothly. The capsule "bell" wrap should be try by now-- test fit it as well. When everything fits smoothly, apply white glue to the conical part of the balsa nosecone, and slide the capsule "bell" over it, tugging and pressing it gently but snugly down into place. Test fit the recovery cylinder again, and if everything's cool, apply a thin layer of white glue to the balsa cone, align the seam in the paper recovery compartment with the seam in the lower "bell", and gently slide the cylinder over the top of the nosecone, and press it down gently til it seats on the lower section of the capsule. Gingerly remove any glue that seeps out without smearing it and making a mess. Apply some wood filler (I used white glue myself) to the top of the balsa capsule (to cover the raggedy end grain of the balsa cone) and set it aside to dry. Your capsule should now look something like this...

Now, cut the small antenna canister from the wrap sheet-- it's a small conical part. Gingerly apply glue to the tab, roll it to shape, and glue the ends together to form a tiny truncated cone. This is where the smooth-jawed hemostats REALLY come in handy! Clamp it up and set it aside to dry... Cut the TINY nose fairing from the wrap sheet-- it's the tiny "Pac-Man" looking thing kinda off to one side by itself near the antenna can you cut out before... (don't confuse it with the three conical LES tower nozzles set to one side nearby!) Cut the "lil' Pac Man" out and gingerly roll it over a pencil point to put a little curl in it, apply a daub of white glue to the tiny little glue tab, and roll it to it's conical shape, and clamp it together to dry with a hemostat, and set them aside to dry...

Later! OL JR

[luke strawwalker]

Well, now that the "fingernail clippings" for the aft ends of the motor spoof tube booster fairings are done, we can cut them out with a hobby knife and stack sand them to identical shape. Test fit them on the spoof tubes to ensure the curvature and depth are correct.

The antenna canister parts are dry and out of the clamps, and ready to be glued together.

After pre-curling the booster engine paper fairings, we test fit everything together to see exactly where everything's going to end up being put. The fairings can be slid forward or back a bit as needed, so we need to "mock up" everything into the positions that we want them to be in. I put an "S" on the "fingernail" and paper fairing going on the short balsa strip side (the "left" side of the rocket) and an "L" on the parts for the long strip side (the "right" side). This way I can custom fit the parts and ensure they mate up again when it's time to glue everything together. I had to do a little 'deepening' of the spoof tube notch in the "fingernails" with a half-moon microfile... and finished up with a bit of 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel.

Here's the finished bulkhead (fingernail) in place on the spoof tube... nearly a perfect fit!

Here's the test fit between the paper fairing skin, the fairing bulkhead, and the spoof tube... test fit EVERYTHING and see how it all fits together before you glue anything...

Later! OL JR

[NJRick]

Luke....its looking good!! great build thread!

[luke strawwalker]

Another shot of the test fitting of the paper fairing skins over the fairing bulkhead fingernails and the spoof tubes...

The antenna canister is glued together. I added three TINY little "tabs" to the top rim of the canister to help strengthen the joint to the canister cap. To do this, I cut a strip of paper about 1/16 inch wide and an inch long off the top edge of the wrap sheet with the hobby knife, and cut three small "glue tabs" from it about 3/16 inch long. I then applied a small daub of white glue to one end, and using the hemostats, inserted them into the small end of the antenna can, and pressed them into place with another hemostat. These were dry in about five minutes (because they're SO small and it's SUCH a small amount of glue being used). Bend them inwards at the rim of the can so they're nearly flat, just slightly standing up above the rim of the can. Then, apply a bead of white glue around the rim of the can and the top surface of the strips, and then carefully place and center the antenna can nosecap in place, press it a bit to seat it, ensure it's centered, and set it aside to dry...

Now that the test fitting is done on the fairings, we can glue in the bulkhead fingernails in the proper locations according to the test fit we just did and also glue in the three small reinforcement balsa struts... these are cut from the balsa we've been using to make the fairing parts. These are glued in to keep the fairing sides straight and prevent them "bowing outward" when glued into place. Fillet the main fairing bulkhead and then glue the three small strips into each fairing and set it all aside to dry.

The capsule gets a daub of wood filler on the top grain of the balsa cone, allowed to dry, then sanded flat with 220 grit. Then, paint it flat black with Testor's paint...

Later! OL JR

[thobin]

It does look good! Iv never built a Zooch I think its time to fix that.

TA

[luke strawwalker]

It dose look good! Iv never built a Zooch I think its time to fix that.

TA

Thanks... Zooch kits are pretty neat... real skill builders (you learn a lot of new stuff doing them). The price is VERY hard to beat as well!

Later! OL JR

[luke strawwalker]

Well, let's see...

Put some white glue in the antenna can and glued it on the top of the capsule, aligning the seams on the antenna can and cap with the seams on the recovery section and bell section of the capsule (so all the seams will be "on back")...

Rubbed a layer of spot putty on the transition to fill it (I had already applied a layer of ultra-thin CA to it and sanded it down with 220 grit). After that dried, I sanded the spot putty down nearly to bare wood and taped the shoulders for priming, and taped the cone to a paint stick.

Four coats of primer later she's sitting on the washer to dry overnight...

The booster engine fairings were glued on to the balsa fairings... one didn't quite want to stay put despite using a double glue joint to help speed the setup time, so I had to clamp it... used a bamboo skewer on one side and a strip of thin balsa, bearing on the balsa fairings at the front and on the balsa "fingernail" inside the fairing at the rear, which is glued to the booster engine "spoof tube"-- this way the balsa keeps the clamp from over-squashing the paper fairing, and keeps everything in a straight line as the glue dries...

The finished fairings, after giving them a light filleting with white glue...

More later! OL JR

[luke strawwalker]

Remember what I said earlier about having to "jump around" a bit... well, here we go... time to start on the TOWER!!!

Now, realize the capsule fits on a BT-50 tube... so this thing is SMALL... but it CAN be done, and if *I* can do it with my farmer's smashed-up, cut-up "twinky fingered" meathooks, then others can probably do a LOT better... BUT it does require you to screw up your patience level a bit (yeah I suffer from an appalling lack of patience as well...) and just bear down and git'er dun...

Dr. Zooch realizes in his infinite ant-wisdom (his ant-munificence is boundless so I'm told... er, wait, maybe that's the megalomaniacal space ant-villian Small O. Drax... can't recall ) that not EVERYBODY wants to practice hemorroid surgery on gnats to prepare for doing this tower, so he includes a cheap-n-dirty "squirming hatch blower" method using a printed paper wrap tower that can be glued on top of the rocket... if you want to take the easy way out...

For the rest of us "steely-eyed missile men" we get to go blind putting hair thin wires on matchsticks... Seriously, I've done one of these before, on the BT-50 "Freedom 7" Mercury Redstone, so it's not THAT big a deal...

SO, first grab the tower kitbag out of the box... it's a tiny dime bag ziplock with some "matchsticks", a bit of wood dowel, half a toothpick, and some hair-thin steel wires in it... Grab the matchsticks and dowel bit and keep 'em where you can find 'em... leave the rest in the bag back in the box.

The "matchsticks" start off square... now the Mercury escape tower didn't have square tubing legs, so you gotta start by rounding them off. Easiest way I've found is to hold one end, grab a bit of 220 grit (if you have one of those "sanding bows" that hold a strip of sandpaper between the ends sorta spring loaded like a miniature hacksaw blade, that's ideal-- I don't have this toy, so I simply hold a piece of 220 pinched between my fingers in such a way as to emulate this handy tool... which allows the sandpaper to "curl" over the stick while I sand it, emulating the 'spring loaded' sanding bow tool). Sand over each corner about half the length of the stick rounding the corners off, turning the stick between your fingers to the next corner once you've rounded off the last one. Once one half of the stick is round, flip it end for end and do the other half... GO EASY, LET THE PAPER DO THE WORK, and TAKE YOUR TIME... it won't take but about 5 minutes per stick to do and they'll come out virtually cylindrical when you're done. Once they're rounded over, you can lay the sandpaper down flat on the workbench and, putting a finger on either end of the stick, sand it in a rolling motion at an angle to the paper, to get them even rounder... they don't have to be TOTALLY round or PERFECTLY round-- don't try that or you'll make them TOO THIN and weak... just get rid of those gnarly corners so it looks right!!

After you've got your tower legs-to-be rounded off nicely, set them aside and grab the bit-o-dowel... it'll probably be cut off at a bit of an angle and not perfectly square on one or both ends... inspect it and then holding it upright on end, sand it in circular motions against the 220 grit your holding down on the workbench... flip and repeat as needed. Don't worry about getting it 100% spot on square-- "close enough" is close enough-- just make sure you sand it FLAT and don't round the thing over... I found that doing a little sanding around the circumference of the cylinder sides all the way around, and dressing the ends slightly, really improved the appearance...

Next, grab the wrap sheet and your steel ruler, and measure out a strip 3/32 inch wide by 6 inches long. Use your sharp hobby knife to cut this strip off the edge of the wrap sheet... it's not marked, you just cut a nice, straight, perfectly even (well, as perfect as you can get it) strip off the side of the cardstock. Cut the strip into (2) two inch long strips, and (2) one inch long strips. Apply a thin layer of white glue to the backs of these strips, one at a time, and roll them around the dowel. The two inch strips go on each end, one flush with the end (the upper one) and the other recessed about 1/16 inch from the end of the dowel on the bottom end. The 2 inch strips will overlap themselves and make a double-thick ring-- this is correct. The one inch strips get wrapped around the dowel about 1/3 of the way between the top and bottom ones, evenly spaced. The 1 inch ones do not overlap themselves, but the ends basically butt together. These are the thinner mid-rings on the launch escape rocket motor. Here's what the finished product should look like, standing upright.

Next, you'll see a TINY triangle printed on the wrap sheet... CAREFULLY cut it out and glue it to some of the balsa strip you've been cutting parts out of... This will be the "former" for the tower in later steps.

Later! OL JR

[luke strawwalker]

SO, after cutting out the teeny tiny triangle and grabbing some wax paper from the kitchen, I started trying to do the tower legs per the instructions. A few minutes of foul-ups and cussing soon reminded me why I hate that teeny tiny triangle, as it gave me NO END of fits when I did the "Freedom 7 Mercury Redstone" in the same scale... it finally came together well, but it was a hard journey! The instructions call for you to cut the tiny triangle from the balsa, trim the corners off to make tiny flats, and then CA glue the thing upright to a pair of the matchstick tower legs at the points, setting the thing on wax paper to dry... problem is, the CA doesn't want to dry-- it wants to soak into the wood... then you put more CA, and it STILL doesn't want to dry-- it wants to puddle on the wax paper, and if and when it DOES dry it wants to leave crusty crap all over the tower legs... Once the two legs are cured to the triangle, the thing is to be flipped over and the last leg CA'd to the remaining flattened point of the triangle, then the whole 'tripod' assembly glued to the little dowel LES tower rocket motor...

SO, after a couple failed attempts with CA and the triangle, I started looking around for an alternative. Here's what I came up with. It's not like the instructions, and it's not been "evaluated or approved by Dr. Zooch Rockets, its parent company, or any of its affiliates" so I'm just throwing this out there because it worked for me and seems easier than the "teeny-tiny triangle" method in the instructions... so proceed at yer own risk! Took me a little experimentation to arrive at a method that would work, but it makes the whole process more accurate and easier IMHO...

First, after a quick search of the supplies box, I turned up a long piece of wood dowel the same diameter as the tiny escape rocket motor made from the bit-o-doweling and paper hatbands. This forms the basis of the "jig" that we'll make to hold the legs together temporarily while we glue them to the escape rocket motor. Start by cutting a piece about 1.5 inches long off the long dowel... this is plenty long for the jig... Then roll a strip of printer paper around the spare dowel, and mark the overlap.

Remove it and measure the circumference of the dowel, which in this case was 25 millimeters... divide that by 3 (8.33 mm) and measure out and mark the paper strip for three evenly spaced tower legs. Re-wrap the paper around the spare dowel, and mark the leg placement marks onto the dowel.

I used a foot of brass angle I picked up at the hobby shop for marking lines down the length of very small tubes (and dowels) and made the lines go the length of the doweling.

Next, using a small hobby file (or 220 grit folded in half if you don't have a small hobby file) sand a notch into the wood dowel at a slight angle, about 1/16 inch deep or so, tapering back to the surface of the dowel about halfway back... these notches allow the tower leg "matchsticks" to drop down into the jig dowel a bit, which serves two purposes: 1) it helps keep them aligned properly and evenly spaced in an equilateral triangle pattern, and 2) it points them slightly inward at the top ends, which allows them slightly clamp the back end of the escape rocket motor piece when we glue it together, ensuring everything stays put and gets a good, straight, solid bond.

Next, we measure each of the tower leg matchsticks and mark them at precisely 1 centimeter in length-- you can use any measurement, so long as they are ALL IDENTICAL... 1 cm works very well though.

More to come! OL JR

[luke strawwalker]

Next, we'll apply a strip of gift wrapping tape to the tower legs, one by one... stay behind the 1 centimeter mark on the leg-- the legs will overhang the end of the jig by 1 centimeter. It's also helpful to give a couple or three wraps of transparent tape around the dowel about where the ends of the tower legs will contact the jig... this helps "shim them up" a bit so they ride down into the grooves we sanded into the jig earlier...

Now, take the legs with the strip of tape, press them gently into the slots in the jig, and MAKE SURE THEY ARE ALL EXACTLY 1 CENTIMETER from the leg ends to the jig dowel end... this will ensure that the legs are all at the same level, and therefore the escape rocket motor will be glued on straight.

Now, apply some wood glue to the ends of the legs, and to the escape rocket motor, and put it together. A quick check of "Rockets of the World" shows that one leg of the escape tower aligns with the window in the capsule, so with a little checking, you can align the seams of the escape rocket motor hatband so that they align with the seams in the capsule wraps so they are all "on the back" of the rocket and out of sight... Once the first layer of glue has dried, go ahead and 'fillet' the joints again and spread the glue around a bit... it's such a TINY amount of glue that a little extra strength never hurts... and of course it'll shrink down quite a bit as it dries...

The three hair-thin wires in the LES kitbag are clamped in hemostats and painted with Testor's Flat Red in preparation for their use in the build. Set them aside to dry.

Here's the dry tower legs, ready to cut the tape and free them from the jig, its job is now done... the clear tape cuts easily with the hobby knife and a little gentle work removes the tape from the legs, freeing the tower so it's ready to glue on the capsule...

Later! OL JR

[luke strawwalker]

Here's the completed tower rocket motor and legs removed from the jig dowel... we'll get back to this part of the build in a minute...

Next, while the glue is drying on the tower legs, we can get the ribbed mylar from the kit to do the corrugated band around the booster section of the Atlas...

We cut two pieces from it 1-1/8 inches "tall" by the distance around the circumference of the main BT-60 body tube, between the two booster engine fairings on the sides of the rocket... the wrap has to be custom fitted for each side, holding the mylar in place and gently 'creasing' it with a fingernail or pencil to give a cutting line. Remove the mylar and cut it to the proper circumference, test fit it, and then cut the proper "slant" into it to make it trapezoidal shape, since the fairings are slightly conical...

Next apply a decent layer of white glue to the area where the corrugated mylar wraps will go, and put them in place, ensuring they're positioned properly... clean up any excess glue and make sure the wraps are firmly seated against the tube (but don't crush them!)

While the wraps dry on the booster, we can go back to work on the tower... Now, the instructions call for CA... I don't have much luck with CA and the stuff has a lot of drawbacks, ESPECIALLY because it tends to make paper transparent and do nasty things, which is NOT what you want to happen to your beautiful new Friendship 7 capsule! SO, I elected to use double-glue joints using white glue, since the wood is being bonded to the paper "antenna canister" on top of the capsule... Apply a thin, fairly broad (considering the size of the spot you're gluing is about maybe 1/8 inch in diameter!) spot on the antenna canister... put three of these glue spots on the canister evenly spaced around the canister... there are little red 'hash marks' to assist you in placing the tower legs on the antenna can, but of course I didn't think about them aligning the leg with the window (as on the real Mercury escape tower) when I glued the antenna can onto the capsule-- I instead focused on lining all the seams up so they're "on back" out of sight... No biggie-- the marks are off by half, so I just colored over them with a pencil to hide them (which is what you use to color all the exposed paper edges of the capsule build anyway) and then put the glue spots evenly spaced between them... Then I applied and spread a miniscule dob of glue to each tower leg, and let it dry... make sure it's evenly spread, and when it thickens up, invert the tower with the legs up in the air, so the glue "sags" toward the rocket motor just a tiny bit-- this will make a tighter fit since the antenna can is actually conical in shape and not cylindrical... Once this first part of the double-glue joint is dry, apply a second THIN layer of glue to the legs, and then carefully install the tower legs on the capsule... BE SURE you "clock" the tower properly with one leg aligned with the window, and that the seams on the motor can should align roughly with the capsule wrap seams and be hidden if you put everything together right... Keep the tower leg ends up about halfway up the sides of the antenna can, or perhaps just a touch less... DO NOT push the tower down until the legs are against the top of the capsule itself! (We'll install small inverted "V" leg ends in this spot later!) The double-glue joints REALLY help you with this step, because basically you can press the tower legs against the antenna can and hold them for about 30 seconds, and the tower will stay put... Turn the capsule slowly between your fingers with it resting on the tabletop, while watching the top of the tower-- it shouldn't wobble or look crooked... the glue is still soft enough for some gentle alignment. Once you're satisfied that it's straight, set it aside to dry. If you REALLY want precise alignment of the tower, once the glue had dried about five minutes, put the capsule in a piece of scrap BT-50 and roll it on the table-- any tower misalignment will be readily visible, and more 'gentle persuasion' can usually coax the tower into near-perfect alignment... (something you cannot do with CA once it 'locks up')...

Later! OL JR

[luke strawwalker]

While the glue is drying on the tower, cut the three LES rocket nozzles from the wrap sheet, pre-curl them around the tip of a ballpoint pen, and then with a tiny daub of white glue, glue them up and clamp them to dry with smooth-jawed hemostats...

Once dry, remove the hemostats and roll the nozzles over the tip of a ballpoint pen to round them out nicely and set them aside...

Next cut the capsule top/tower base ring from the wrap sheet and gently pre-curl it over a sharpie, apply a tiny dot of white glue to the end, and glue it up, clamp it and set it aside to dry. It's probably easiest to color the back with a pencil before gluing it up to darken the underside so it's not so visible when glued to the top of the capsule, but I did it after it was dry-- either way works with sufficient care...

Round over the end of the oxygen line to emulate the bend going into the rocket body... flatten the other end on sandpaper. I cut mine a bit to a closer scale length (4-3/8 inch roughly) and once I was satisfied with the rounded end, set it aside for later...

Next, we cut the vernier nozzle mounts... These are sorta 'diamond shaped' protrusions centered between the booster engine fairings on the "front" and "back" of the rocket, just above the corrugated booster section... I preferred to cut them out of basswood since it whittles more smoothly and is much less noticeable grain... cut two 'blanks' a half inch long by 3/8 inch wide, then trim them down to the tiny "Dracula's coffin" shape as shown, then gently whittle them down with the hobby knife to make the elongated diamond shape. Set them aside for later...

Later! OL JR

[luke strawwalker]

Here's the vernier mount on the "front" of the rocket-- beside the double-glue joint for the LOX line...

Here's the vernier on the 'back' of the rocket...

There's a short cable tunnel running from the 'back' vernier... made from a strip of cardstock cut from the edge of the wrap sheet...

There's a much longer cable tunnel that runs from the vernier on the 'front' of the rocket, so long in fact it continues up the conical forward section of the LOX tank (the balsa transition). Here's the section glued down to the rocket body tube itself...

Finally I installed the LOX line... the rounded end goes forward, and the flat end should be about halfway between the bottom of the corrugated booster section ending about halfway down the smooth section below it, but above the bottom of the rocket (in scale it should be about 27 inches or so below the bottom of the corrugations).

More later, but it'll probably be tomorrow night at the earliest... gotta check cows tomorrow!

Later! OL JR

[skybuster]

Looks awesome! It's nice to see a company producing scale models of historical rockets again. Estes used to produce them for years, but looks as if they've only kept the Saturn V. Kudos to Dr.Zooch for bringing them back!

[luke strawwalker]

Looks awesome! It's nice to see a company producing scale models of historical rockets again. Estes used to produce them for years, but looks as if they've only kept the Saturn V. Kudos to Dr.Zooch for bringing them back!

Thanks! The Dr. Zooch kits are great... they can go together pretty easily if you want a basic "sport rocket" that gets flown a lot, or you can take it to the max and do extra careful work on them and get really nice semi-scale rockets that look gorgeous and fly really well too... I go for the latter myself... I take a lot more pride in my builds now than I did when I was a teenager (as most of us do I suppose).

On a separate note, the cows are fed and happy, new baby running around, rained like crazy yesterday and the pond is full (from 1 foot deep to 5 feet deep in about a couple hours) and things are looking better, so back to the build tomorrow!

Later! OL JR

[NJRick]

new baby running around?? Congratulations Luke! that great news!

also glad to hear some rain found its way down to you...and agree 100% on Dr. Zooch kits....lots of fun builds!

Rick

Thanks! The Dr. Zooch kits are great... they can go together pretty easily if you want a basic "sport rocket" that gets flown a lot, or you can take it to the max and do extra careful work on them and get really nice semi-scale rockets that look gorgeous and fly really well too... I go for the latter myself... I take a lot more pride in my builds now than I did when I was a teenager (as most of us do I suppose).

On a separate note, the cows are fed and happy, new baby running around, rained like crazy yesterday and the pond is full (from 1 foot deep to 5 feet deep in about a couple hours) and things are looking better, so back to the build tomorrow!

Later! OL JR

[Dr.Zooch]

new baby running around?? Congratulations Luke! that great news!

also glad to hear some rain found its way down to you...and agree 100% on Dr. Zooch kits....lots of fun builds!

Rick

Luke... should I tell him, or do you wanna tell him?

That "new baby"... it only says "Moooooo" and will grow up toe either be milked or eaten. I believe Luke's talkin' about a calf.