Mercury Escape Tower Rocket

[lakeroadster]

Has anybody ever seen a functional model rocket built based on the Mercury Escape Tower Rocket?

I'm not talking about a Little Joe style of rocket, just the capsule and the tower, with 3 rocket motors in a tractor motor configuration.

The motor cluster would look a little different due to the motor length to diameter ratio... but it would still be a neat bird.

Maybe have a mechanism activated by the ejection charge that opens the bottom of the capsule and make it a rear eject?

Thoughts?

 

[smstachwick]

I’d love to see something like this, especially following the article on the Little Joe in Sport Rocketry.

Unfortunately something like that is probably beyond my abilities as a modeler, but that’s a flight I’d consider a must-see at the range.

 

[aerostadt]

Someone has done the Apollo capsule taking off with escape tower. I think there might be a thread here on TRF and I am thinking that it was successful. There might have been a Mercury capsule escape tower project, but I am not sure.

 

[aerostadt]

Here is one old TRF thread on the Apollo capsule abort.
https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/apollo-capsule-pad-abort-test-vehicle.95119/

 

[kuririn]

Perfectly doable.
Three engine tractor design, ejection charges go down a tube into the capsule for a rear eject pop pod. Base drag stability from the cone.
Go for it.

That Apollo capsule abort project by Sandman (Gordon Agnello) and Gus was totally bodacious!

 

[aerostadt]

https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/apollo-les-hpr.118512/
https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/capsule-rocket.79450/#post-872641

 

[kuririn]

I have a 1/45 Apollo capsule from Estes. The idea is to ream out the escape motor nozzles and put MicroMaxx motors in there. Bottom of the capsule will be styrofoam. Recovery is rear eject streamer.
Quite a ways down in my build pile. Maybe I'll get to it in five years.

 

[teepot]

That's a great idea.

 

[aerostadt]

This is the Mercury Escape Tower Abort TRF project that I was trying to remember.
https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/never-been-done-in-model-rocketry.38601/

 

[Cape Byron]

A Mercury LES would be cool.

The only commercial (Apollo) LES kit I know of is the Boyce Aerospace one:

https://boyceaerospacehobbies.com/collections/builders-kits/products/apollo-abort-capsule-kit-24mm

 

[lakeroadster]

Thanks for all the data.

I'll repost the video here..

 

[lakeroadster]

I was really thinking of something much more simple. Something with much less detail, basically that looks good from 20 feet away.

The rockets in the links look like museum quality displays!

 

[kuririn]

OK, three motor canted nozzle mount like the Fliskits Tres.
Instead of rear eject use traditional nose blow with streamer or small parachute.
(You want it coming down and landing on the capsule bottom, not the tower.).
Cardstock for the motor nozzles, capsule skin and fairing.
Internal balsa formers and stiffeners.
Wood dowels for the tower.
Curved balsa or styrofoam bottom for the capsule with optional retro pack attached.
Maybe model a few inches of a Redstone and attach the capsule to that. Or do a complete Redstone and leave it on the pad. Or do a complete Redstone and launch either the full stack (minus tower motors and with a second chute attached to the capsule) or only the capsule (pad abort).
Later on if you are really ambitious you can do a full stack with launch abort mid flight. This would require electronic ignition of the tower motors.
I have the templates for a 3X18mm canted motor mount if you need it.
It would be awesome!

 

[Blast it Tom!]

Has anybody ever seen a functional model rocket built based on the Mercury Escape Tower Rocket?

I'm not talking about a Little Joe style of rocket, just the capsule and the tower, with 3 rocket motors in a tractor motor configuration.

The motor cluster would look a little different due to the motor length to diameter ratio... but it would still be a neat bird.

Maybe have a mechanism activated by the ejection charge that opens the bottom of the capsule and make it a rear eject?

Thoughts?

View attachment 489012

Is that Gus Grissom in the capsule?

 

[kuririn]

Is that Gus Grissom in the capsule?

Sure looks like it.

 

[lakeroadster]

 

[beeblebrox]

This was Chuck Mund's 8" Redstone. It had a functioning escape tower with 3 x 24mm custom E-Motors made by AeroTech with bulkhead ignition. I cannot find photos of the test as of yet, but you can see the motor tubes on the escape tower if you zoom in...

Photos 1,2 & 3 Are from the Z4 launch 1988, Zelionople, PA Photos 4,5 & 6 are from LDRS in Hartzel, CO 1987. I need to research what motors it flew with...

#1 Chuck Mund - "Got any Beemans?"

 

[James Duffy]

NASA referred to these flights as "Beach Abort Tests," and there were three of them. The first used an 80" diameter Type C capsule, essentially a early concept that looks alien to most of us. I built a version of this based on Peter Alway's drawing for the NARAM event held in 2002. Here's a photo of that model from the DARS website:

http://www.dars.org/gallery/naram44/8/p8080528.htm
...and a photo of the real thing:


The second type of Mercury Beach Abort used a 74.5" diameter boilerplate capsule, very similar to the dimensions of the final version, yet lacking the distinctive corrugations. It flew on July 22, 1959. Here are some photos:


This capsule was recycled for the November 11, 1959, launch of Little Joe LJ-1A, although the paint job was altered. This capsule was used for publicity photos featuring the Mercury 7 and their wives after the flight, but before the repaint.



I built a flying version of this for Peanut Scale at NARAM in 2003, but cheated and placed the motor in the base of the capsule.



The final Mercury Beach Abort used an early production capsule, and is notable for the spiral stripe on the vehicle, and the fact that the base vehicle is a much lighter silver color, very different from the black finish on later Mercury capsules.


James

 

[beeblebrox]

NASA referred to these flights as "Beach Abort Tests," and there were three of them. The first used an 80" diameter Type C capsule, essentially a early concept that looks alien to most of us. I built a version of this based on Peter Alway's drawing for the NARAM event held in 2002. Here's a photo of that model from the DARS website:

http://www.dars.org/gallery/naram44/8/p8080528.htm
...and a photo of the real thing:
View attachment 489148

The second type of Mercury Beach Abort used a 74.5" diameter boilerplate capsule, very similar to the dimensions of the final version, yet lacking the distinctive corrugations. It flew on July 22, 1959. Here are some photos:

View attachment 489150View attachment 489152
This capsule was recycled for the November 11, 1959, launch of Little Joe LJ-1A, although the paint job was altered. This capsule was used for publicity photos featuring the Mercury 7 and their wives after the flight, but before the repaint.

View attachment 489153View attachment 489154

I built a flying version of this for Peanut Scale at NARAM in 2003, but cheated and placed the motor in the base of the capsule.

View attachment 489155

The final Mercury Beach Abort used an early production capsule, and is notable for the spiral stripe on the vehicle, and the fact that the base vehicle is a much lighter silver color, very different from the black finish on later Mercury capsules.

View attachment 489151
James

Very cool photos!!!

 

[aerostadt]

For my 1/12 scale Atlas Mercury (powered on a K-motor) I used the Revell Mercury Capsule with a 6" base diameter. I did not have the capsule pull away from the Atlas, but I did put an A-motor in the escape tower at altitude to jettison the escape tower, a much easier task. I was told by someone that they did see the escape tower jettison on the third flight. I put the electronics to jettison the capsule inside the capsule and the parachute for the capsule was in the Atlas. I built the escape tower from typical model rocket parts, but used the nozzles from the Revell kit. If you look at the real mercury capsule closely you will see a small abort motor in the base of the escape tower.
https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/atlas-mercury-1-12-scale.50629/

 

[lakeroadster]

You folks are a wealth of knowledge. Thanks for posting the data, sincerely appreciated.

 

[lakeroadster]

I scaled back the overall size, but kept the D12's. I'd like to turn the capsule on my lathe.. so it's kind of heavy. But I'm thinking a wooden capsule, with some wood burned details, covered in spar urethane, would make for a neat looking rocket.

 

[lakeroadster]

Revised.. see post #60..

Built a CAD model of this today. Should be a fun project. I was surprised at just how big the abort rocket is.... I had to modify things a bit for the (3) D12 motor's and the triangular tower, but it looks pretty close to the real deal.

 

[Gus]

I wish you good luck but unless your model is extremely light (cardstock instead of basswood) you will have real difficulty getting 3 canted 24mm motors to lift it. Even four 24 mm motors are barely enough to lift my Apollo Pad Abort ().

9 years ago there was someone who tried very hard, but ultimately unsuccessfully, to make the Mercury Beach Abort work. You can read about his effort at: https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/never-been-done-in-model-rocketry.38601/.

The best advice I can give you is to definitley boilerplate this before spending the time to build a realistic looking model.

Good luck.

 

[lakeroadster]

@aerostadt's Atlas Mercury Build Thread has inspired me... I just ordered the Atomic City 1/12 scale Mercury Capsule Model. It's such a quality piece it seems silly for me to attempt to hand build a capsule, when this is available.

Once it arrives I can weigh and measure the components, update my CAD Model and Open Rocket simulations and determine what's going to be needed in regard to motor sizes for the abort rocket.

 

[Sandy H.]

Built a CAD model of this today. Should be a fun project. I was surprised at just how big the abort rocket is.... I had to modify things a bit for the (3) D12 motor's and the triangular tower, but it looks pretty close to the real deal.

View attachment 491696

I like the idea and the drawings you've been sharing in various threads as well. This does seem like a good place for a cardstock shroud vs basswood strips, but to each their own.

How do you plan on making the triangular tower?

Sandy.

 

[lakeroadster]

...

Thanks @Gus... Who is Alfredo?

 

[lakeroadster]

I like the idea and the drawings you've been sharing in various threads as well. This does seem like a good place for a cardstock shroud vs basswood strips, but to each their own.

How do you plan on making the triangular tower?

Sandy.

In the cad model it is a 3 sided box with a BT-50 tube running down the center of it..

 

[Gus]

Thanks @Gus... Who is Alfredo?

LOL, sorry about that. I copied my comment from Facebook into this thread, and I mistakenly thought it was somebody named Alfredo who intitiated that post over there.

 

[Sandy H.]

In the cad model it is a 3 sided box with a BT-50 tube running down the center of it..

I meant what method were you going to use to construct it. Seems like something the laser could knock out quickly, but back in the day, many people stick-built the structure. Since yours was more of a 10ft model vs a 6" model at this stage, I was just curious.

It seems that you might be changing directions with the purchase of the 1/12 model, though, so no need to get into the details if you don't want to.

Sandy.