Sheri's Mercury Redstone

On this one it is good they reduced the stuffer tube length a bit. Consider using a dash more powder in the ejection charge. I would use some of the extra recovery room to extend the very narrow shoulder of the heavy nose cone. The rest of the room will be used for bigger chutes to bring this heavy beast down slower to save the fin attachment. Use good techniques to attach the fins as strong as possible. I put the capsule on a second chute with a lanyard to save the tower on landing. The ULine shipping tube is a real bear to fill in the spirals and the plastic coating does not help. Use good tape setting technique to apply the vinyl roll pattern wrap. Use rail buttons. Carefully drill out the cone to get the CG right for the motor you are using. Pray before launching.

Daddyisabar said:

On this one it is good they reduced the stuffer tube length a bit. Consider using a dash more powder in the ejection charge. I would use some of the extra recovery room to extend the very narrow shoulder of the heavy nose cone. The rest of the room will be used for bigger chutes to bring this heavy beast down slower to save the fin attachment. Use good techniques to attach the fins as strong as possible. I put the capsule on a second chute with a lanyard to save the tower on landing. The ULine shipping tube is a real bear to fill in the spirals and the plastic coating does not help. Use good tape setting technique to apply the vinyl roll pattern wrap. Use rail buttons. Carefully drill out the cone to get the CG right for the motor you are using. Pray before launching.

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Here is what the capsule looks like. Huge shoulder and my BT never came with the plastic coating.

Steven said:

View attachment 148681

Here is what the capsule looks like. Huge shoulder and my BT never came with the plastic coating.

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WOW!

The base on that thing looks like it is about 10 times the size of the one on mine!

You must have the new and improved version of the kit where they fixed some of the problems with the older kits we have. You were lucky to get one before they closed up shop - but that is a different story not to be discussed in public. The later cones did degrade in quality as the mold wore out.

Steven said:

Yeah, I found it. Not too bad. So, do folks just go whenever, or do they at times round themselves up for a gathering?

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You can fly there weekdays without bother. It is all soccer fields so during the weekend you have games going on. We haven't done it in awhile, but usually Friday is the meeting day of choice.

paul.nortness said:

You can fly there weekdays without bother. It is all soccer fields so during the weekend you have games going on. We haven't done it in awhile, but usually Friday is the meeting day of choice.

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Do you fly MPR there?

This kit has some interesting features on the fins, especially with regard to the styrene veneer. The Neubauer 1/17.5 scale Mercury/Redstone had different construction techniques. Two plywood fin halves were glued together and the builder had to sand the fin bevel by hand. I think the Sherri's Rockets fin design is easier to construct, because there is no sanding at all and getting a smooth finish should be easier with the veneer. From your photo it looks like good detail on the capsule.

Daddyisabar said:

You must have the new and improved version of the kit where they fixed some of the problems with the older kits we have. You were lucky to get one before they closed up shop - but that is a different story not to be discussed in public. The later cones did degrade in quality as the mold wore out.

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Red Arrow Hobbies acquired the Sheri's line. They have completely re-tooled the line and have fixed the quality issues from what I understand. The Gemini-Titan with machined aluminium nozzles is back even!

JAL3 said:

WOW!

The base on that thing looks like it is about 10 times the size of the one on mine!

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That is a lot of resin. If that thing is as solid and heavy as the old ones it will take lots of drilling to get the CG right even with a big motor. Along with the recovery system being left to the builder this is not a good kit for anything less than an expert. As a wee BAR I impulse bought it as my first MPR kit when they were on sale because it was cool, there were no other big Redstones on the market and Sheri was HOT. Opened the box and immediately recognized it was above my skill level at the time. It sat in the box for over a year before I had the guts to try it. Even then this beast got the best of me. As I recall it had four flights with only two somewhat successful. The last one is on the COSROCS web site as a video entitled something like “Dave’s Redstone comes down hard,” time to pick up the pieces; lock yourself in the pickup cab and have a good cry. The pieces are in a rebuild pile on the shelf of shame and there they stay as a constant reminder of my greatest model rocketry failure.

TheAviator said:

Red Arrow Hobbies acquired the Sheri's line. They have completely re-tooled the line and have fixed the quality issues from what I understand. The Gemini-Titan with machined aluminium nozzles is back even!

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Yipee! I had not heard they were actually back in production. Time to check out Red Arrow's website. Maybe now I can build the Atlas or Titan and redeem my HOT rocket flying status.

JAL3 said:

WOW!

The base on that thing looks like it is about 10 times the size of the one on mine!

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And so I shall call it Brutus.

TheAviator said:

Red Arrow Hobbies acquired the Sheri's line. They have completely re-tooled the line and have fixed the quality issues from what I understand. The Gemini-Titan with machined aluminium nozzles is back even!

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Glad to see that, I like the look of Sheri's large scale kits and would hate to see them go OOP. Looks like Red Arrow Hobbies is keeping the whole line up too!

Now the rudder edge has been glued on. All of this will be trimmed and filled later.

Just another view of the rudder attachment piece.

The styrene veneer has been scored, bent and glued on to the plywood core.

Finally the cap is glued in place.

I really liked the fin construction on this kit. If I were to do it again I would take the time with epoxy and micro balloons to build up some nice scale looking root transitions to help bond the fins to the tube. More surface area and some epoxy rivets would go a long way as far as durability if it is landing on anything harder than soft turf. Maybe this new and improved version will be better with a lighter tube and bigger chutes, but it is never bad to bullet proof anyway!

Daddyisabar said:

I really liked the fin construction on this kit. If I were to do it again I would take the time with epoxy and micro balloons to build up some nice scale looking root transitions to help bond the fins to the tube. More surface area and some epoxy rivets would go a long way as far as durability if it is landing on anything harder than soft turf. Maybe this new and improved version will be better with a lighter tube and bigger chutes, but it is never bad to bullet proof
anyway!

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I've been thinking somewhere along those lines as well, but I can't make up my mind. The durability are in the plans, I'm just tossed with the attention to scale, though you make a good point. :wink:

Steven said:

Do you fly MPR there?

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All the time. I fly my Estes Leviathan out there on G76 Mojaves all the time

Here is a launch from last year on a G64
[video=youtube;-ClgLF5ffSA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ClgLF5ffSA[/video]

JAL3 said:

WOW!

The base on that thing looks like it is about 10 times the size of the one on mine!

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The Red Arrow website still uses Sheri's old pages. Just have a look at that old cone with the narrow shoulder. I would like to see a photo of the new parts before I buy. Makes me wonder if the nozzles on the Titan are the same, At least we will get to see some of the newer MR parts here.

paul.nortness said:

All the time. I fly my Estes Leviathan out there on G76 Mojaves all the time

Here is a launch from last year on a G64
[video=youtube;-ClgLF5ffSA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ClgLF5ffSA[/video]

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Can I drive my car on the field for the use of my battery? BTW, that was awesome!

paul.nortness said:

All the time. I fly my Estes Leviathan out there on G76 Mojaves all the time

Here is a launch from last year on a G64
[video=youtube;-ClgLF5ffSA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ClgLF5ffSA[/video]

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Looks like you need to get Steven out there with his big scale piggy called the Mercury Redstone on a G 64 - 4 against your real performer, the Estes Leviathan on a G 64. I wonder who will win the race and whose rocket will look the purdiest. The HOT rocket sure likes the power and I few mine low and slow on a G 64 white, G 72 redline and the G76 Mojave. All were OK and would be good for that field. They always seem to find the hard pavement for a good ding or cracked fin. Who knows, after a few MPR flights the HOT rocket might just call for an H motor and a Level One.

Daddyisabar said:

Looks like you need to get Steven out there with his big scale piggy called the Mercury Redstone on a G 64 - 4 against your real performer, the Estes Leviathan on a G 64. I wonder who will win the race and whose rocket will look the purdiest. The HOT rocket sure likes the power and I few mine low and slow on a G 64 white, G 72 redline and the G76 Mojave. All were OK and would be good for that field. They always seem to find the hard pavement for a good ding or cracked fin. Who knows, after a few MPR flights the HOT rocket might just call for an H motor and a Level One.

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I've got the Apogee Saturn V and Saturn 1-b that I've been itching to try out. But I've just never gotten out of the house.:sigh:

Steven said:

I've got the Apogee Saturn V and Saturn 1-b that I've been itching to try out. But I've just never gotten out of the house.:sigh:

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The thrill of pushing the launch button on beauties like that cannot be beat. It is enough to get my lazy butt off the couch and out to the field for every club launch. Get an H motor and do your level one on the Apogee Saturn V. Even built light she is a bit low and slow on a G even in perfect conditions, kind of like launching an Estes Saturn V on a D 12 3, a bit dicey. Take the Apogee Saturn V off of on a rail. The one I saw flying on a G80 off a long 1/4" rod had too much rod whip, not good. Do not launch it in any wind over 5mph. I have seen that done on and H 125 and the poor guy had a long walk as that big, wide and light Apogee Sat V caught the wind and was going sideways much faster than it was coming down. Fortunately he is young and in good shape, having recovered my SHR Merc Redstone booster from a rocket eating tree. I would like to see an Apogee Saturn 1B fly - a rare treat for all the lucky folks at your launch. These rockets must fly and be free, they must fulfill their destiny. No Shelf Queens allowed!

Here's Jr. Aw, how cute.

And dad needs more room.

It was consistently on the verge of tipping over on the thicker carpet, had to be quick with the leg twice. It's safer here for the upper section shot. And yeah, the pic is tilted. Maybe that was me falling.

Very Purdy. When I go into the Apogee showroom I just look at those two displays and dream that some day I can afford to build them. If they are in stock at Apogee use the fancy rail guides on the Sat V - they look real nice (much nicer than buttons) - that is what the guy at our club ended up doing on his. He bough two Sat V's. Flew his first one until it was too beat up and says he is going to build the second one just perfect. Yeppers by golly, that is some mighty fine top end model rocketry there. Just show up at the launch for the first time toting an Apogee Sat V, 1B and a SHR MR. Get your level one and say "That was easy!" If you don't break an escape tower the scale guys will be so jealous.

From what I understand, there are no clubs close to me to get certified at. I have no intention of driving the distances that these clubs require.:sad:

Bummer. There is never a rush to do anything when it comes to high end scale stuff. Start out by launching some of the small stuff in the park with the local forum guy (Paul) and slowly work your flying up if you want. I'm sure he knows what he is doing from that video. Rocketry is a great way to meet new and interesting people who don't care how you are dressed and are guaranteed to be at least as crazy as you are. At our club we have a real old dude who only comes out of the house to launch his rockets. Can't walk so we launch and recover his rocket for him, he just leans against his truck and waives his hand when he is ready to launch. He worked on the real Honest John - now that's real old. But we do insist he takes a bath before we let him in the car to drive down to Apogee to buy his yearly supply of motors. I also car pooled with another not so old dude with bad feet who was a bit depressed at times. Now he is back with his wife and they are camping out at rocket launches like they were hippies again. The guy who cut his teeth on the Apogee Saturn V as his first BAR project is getting his Level Three up at Hartsel CO next weekend. A 2 1/2 hour drive but it will not be so bad when car pooling with anther rocket guy because after recently building the Cosmodrome Vostok I can easily BS for 2 hours on nose weight alone. I have been working on and off on the Vostok for 3 years and will be one Nervous Nelly when the button is pushed on that H242. But with the support of the other guys and the hefty launch system I am confident chances are it won't end up as a burning pile of goo. And if it does what the heck, at least everyone was really entertained for upwards of thirty seconds, and I know that I did it my way.