Estes 40th Anniversary Saturn V

[Night Tripper]

Over a month ago, I emailed Estes inquiring about any possible plans for a commemorative Saturn V. Afterall, this year is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo XI moon landing. I figured my email had gone unnoticed until I received a reply today!

Hi Jonathan,

...the 40th anniversary edition is due out this coming July...watch the
website for availability and pricing. (ssshhhhhh!!!!!)

Best regards,
Customer Service

Woooo Hoooo...gonna be like Christmas in July!

 

[Verna]

Believe it when you see it. When the 2157 kit was announced it was a year before it was in the shops. Some shops never even got one, most no more than 2 due to limited production. I think the run was about 2500. I know where 6 went. And where 4 are.

Maybe by NARAM they'll have an accurate date.

Verna

 

[Night Tripper]

I hope the production is not that low. I'd hate to think that my only shot at one is paying scalpers prices on eBay.

 

[foose4string]

I hope the production is not that low. I'd hate to think that my only shot at one is paying scalpers prices on eBay.

Those who don't procrastinate will be able to get one at or below retail. Like Verna said, she got 4. I know someone else who probably has close to a dozen. I was able to get a couple(sold one), and that was looong after they were released. Yeah, the supply will be limited, but I wouldn't sweat it. Not to mention, Semroc is expected to release a Saturn V this year.

 

[georgegassaway]

I am surprised that if they do intend to come out with a 40th anniversary model, or simply re-issue it, that it would not be out until July. Leaving little to no time for anyone to build one before the actual 40th anniversary of the launch. Definitely without enough certainty that anyone who wanted to plan a commemorative launch, to plan it in advance, would be running a big risk of it not actually coming out in time for them to build it to have ready for such a launch.

If only they could have known a year ago, or 10 years ago, that the 40th anniversary would be in July, 2009?

I know, in the big scheme of things it does not matter to a company when their product is built or used (or even built or used at all). The bottom line is just getting the money from a box of “stuff” that can sell for more money than the other boxes or bags of “stuff” they sell. But you would think that the optimum time for the Saturn-V kit to come out, with the greatest interest by rocketeers to buy it, to buy the most in the shortest period of time, would be say a 4 month period from now until the end of July, and not a 4 month period starting sometime in July and ending in November.

- George Gassaway

 

[RoyAtl]

Believe it when you see it. When the 2157 kit was announced it was a year before it was in the shops. Some shops never even got one, most no more than 2 due to limited production. I think the run was about 2500. I know where 6 went. And where 4 are.

Maybe by NARAM they'll have an accurate date.

Verna

I've got four, and I know where at least three others are. Started on my first "practice" one a few weeks ago. Did any of yours have a severe mismatch between the paper transition and the plastic wrapper for the S-II to S-IV-B interstage?

 

[Verna]

I've got four, and I know where at least three others are. Started on my first "practice" one a few weeks ago. Did any of yours have a severe mismatch between the paper transition and the plastic wrapper for the S-II to S-IV-B interstage?

Hi Roy,

Yes, ours had slight mismatches but they weren't too difficult to adjust.

I tend to agree with George that if they were going to release a 40th anniversary kit they are really late doing it so I am slightly skeptical they will release one for that particular reason. I tend to think if they release one in the next few weeks or months it is just to add it to their general line up but they have certainly missed a golden opportunity over the last year.

Good luck with yours! Please post some photos when you have finished.

Verna

 

[Night Tripper]

I am surprised that if they do intend to come out with a 40th anniversary model, or simply re-issue it, that it would not be out until July. Leaving little to no time for anyone to build one before the actual 40th anniversary of the launch. Definitely without enough certainty that anyone who wanted to plan a commemorative launch, to plan it in advance, would be running a big risk of it not actually coming out in time for them to build it to have ready for such a launch.

My thoughts exactly.

And there was also the opportunity for Estes to make some extra coin. Sure, there was the old dependable standby market of space enthusiasts and rocketry hobbiests. But, I think there was also a certain nostalgic, patriotic angle that Estes could have explored. This is, afterall, the 40th anniversary of the biggest step that America or better yet humankind has ever accomplished. Folks my age and older remember those exciting times. My mother kept me up past my bedtime to watch Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. The Saturn V symbolized America and it's technilogical superiority. And a race to the moon was a nice patriotic break from all the other negative things that were going on in America during that time. I think that many in that generation would have been interested.

Folks like us are kinda insiders on this whole rocket thing. It would have been nice to spark interest for Apollo in a younger generation that felt no real connection to it because it was ancient history to them. Who know? Maybe stumbling across a Saturn V in Walmart could have done more than just sell more rockets.

Of course, my reasons are purely selfish. I was hoping Estes had done some early planning so I could have gotten my hands on one or more of these a couple of months ago.

 

[Initiator001]

I still haven't finished my Estes K-36 Saturn V that I started building in 1972!

 

[dwmzmm]

I still haven't finished my Estes K-36 Saturn V that I started building in 1972!

What's taking so long?!

 

[FROB]

I still haven't finished my Estes K-36 Saturn V that I started building in 1972!

Wow and i thought i was slow!
I only started mine around 1981 (give or take a year)
If i could get replacements for some of the lost little styrene bits, i might actually finish it this year... or next year....or the year after that.....

 

[dwmzmm]

Wow and i thought i was slow!
I only started mine around 1981 (give or take a year)
If i could get replacements for some of the lost little styrene bits, i might actually finish it this year... or next year....or the year after that.....

Which styrene bits? Very likely you could use balsa and make it just as good
(if not better) than the styrene. For my SEMROC & Estes 1/70 Saturn 1-B,
the ullage motor packs located between the first and second stage, I ended
up using 3/16" balsa instead of the shroud/launch lug setup the instructions
called for. Found it was easier using the balsa.

But, wow, you started on yours in 1981?! I had to leave the hobby around
1982 (due to career change) and came back in late 2003, and I thought THAT
was a long time!

 

[johnnwwa]

I willing to bet that Carl @ Semroc has a Saturn V out before Estes does. And priced around $50-$60.

BAR
John

 

[RoyAtl]

I still haven't finished my Estes K-36 Saturn V that I started building in 1972!

I didn't finish mine either... as a Saturn V. In 1979, I ripped the fins and lower engine shrouds off of mine, ripped the fins off of a big F100-F7 staged rocket I had crashed, put them on the Saturn, added a maxialpha 3 to the top of the Saturn, put a 29 mm mount in it, painted it all yellow and called it the Mighty Favog. Flew it on Composite Dynamics ProJet motors until it landed high in the old growth trees above an old neighborhood near UGA.

 

[Pem Tech]

I am suddenly craving chicken....

 

[WOOSHPREZ]

I'm building a Saturn V now that I took over from a friend who wasn't up to the task.
He had followed the instructions and had tried to put the vacuformed wraps on with 3M spray adhesive unsuccessfully. The thing had been dropped into a bad part of his basement and was in rough shape. Moldy, and warped.
I was able to procure a new body tube from Semroc. They had the exact cut length of BT101 in stock. Hmmm, does that mean something?
Anyhow the Saturn is in primer now and will be ready for the NSL mass launch.

 

[Ltvscout]

I was able to procure a new body tube from Semroc. They had the exact cut length of BT101 in stock. Hmmm, does that mean something?

Why yes, yes it does.

https://www.semroc.com/Store/scripts/RocketKits.asp?SKU=KS-6

 

[Fred22]

Why yes, yes it does.

https://www.semroc.com/Store/scripts/RocketKits.asp?SKU=KS-6

I keep seeing k36 saturn. Is that a version without the plastic rcs and wraps or something? I know semroc did a brilliant job on the 1B and if they did a saturn V it would be of a similar caliber no doubt. It's a badly needed thing a Saturm V in the 1/100 scale for $100 dollars or less i think
Cheers
Fred

 

[RoyAtl]

I keep seeing k36 saturn. Is that a version without the plastic rcs and wraps or something? I know semroc did a brilliant job on the 1B and if they did a saturn V it would be of a similar caliber no doubt. It's a badly needed thing a Saturm V in the 1/100 scale for $100 dollars or less i think
Cheers
Fred

K-36 was the original Estes Saturn V, released in 1969. It had paper wraps, scale balsa fins, injection molded plastic detailing, a nice little motor mount where you could prep the whole cluster outside the rocket and pop it in before launch (which was preparation for the D13 motor to come later in the year). It had three achilles heels.

One was that since the fins were scale, you had to add clear plastic fin "gloves" that were made by sandwiches of clear plastic glued with butyrate dope (which yellowed quickly with age). **

the second was that the main body was made from two pieces (to fit into the smaller box that Estes planned for retailers), and was thus difficult to join with the thin tubes, couplers, and white glue, without making it look awful.

The third was that three parachutes (two 24" and one 12") had to be packed into a tube smaller than a Big Bertha (i.e. the Apollo Service module at 1.5" inside diameter!).


** I should add that later versions of this kit used a single piece of plastic, slotted so that only the slotted portion wrapped around the fin. This looked better, but could lead to some screwy flights if the clear fins warped one way or the other.

 

[Fred22]

K-36 was the original Estes Saturn V, released in 1969. It had paper wraps, scale balsa fins, injection molded plastic detailing, a nice little motor mount where you could prep the whole cluster outside the rocket and pop it in before launch (which was preparation for the D13 motor to come later in the year). It had three achilles heels.

One was that since the fins were scale, you had to add clear plastic fin "gloves" that were made by sandwiches of clear plastic glued with butyrate dope (which yellowed quickly with age).

the second was that the main body was made from two pieces (to fit into the smaller box that Estes planned for retailers), and was thus difficult to join with the thin tubes, couplers, and white glue, without making it look awful.

The third was that three parachutes (two 24" and one 12") had to be packed into a tube smaller than a Big Bertha (i.e. the Apollo Service module at 1.5" inside diameter!).

Sounds tailor made for a semroc fix
Cheers
fred

 

[RoyAtl]

Sounds tailor made for a semroc fix
Cheers
fred

well, those problems were already fixed by the #2001 version, not to mention the #2157 version. In other words, Keith Niskern at Centuri got the internals right the first time.

 

[Fred22]

well, those problems were already fixed by the #2001 version, not to mention the #2157 version. In other words, Keith Niskern at Centuri got the internals right the first time.

Sorry fellas I guess i dont know the details as well as you guys
Cheers
fred

 

[RoyAtl]

Sorry fellas I guess i dont know the details as well as you guys
Cheers
fred

That's one of the things you get when people start the same thread on two different boards. There's a somewhat parallel thread over on YORF that I previously related that history on. Guess I wasn't keeping the threads straight.

 

[rocketguy101]

I asked the same question on YORF--since The Crash, I wouldn't feel bad about cross posting--a lot of history went poof (hopefully temporarily)...