Estes Saturn V #1969 Build - Let's share ideas and experiences...

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I ordered the new Estes Saturn V kit, have not seen it yet. For those of you that have the new kit, would you order the parts from Sirius? Are they better than the stock parts? I did go ahead and order the LOC 3.90" BT for replacement. Also CR and a new 29mmt full length tube. What else might you suggest thad? Thanks.
 
David Schwantz said:
I ordered the new Estes Saturn V kit, have not seen it yet. For those of you that have the new kit, would you order the parts from Sirius? Are they better than the stock parts?
Click to expand...

David @Sirius Rocketry is a great vendor, NAR supporter, and had saved my bacon a few times when other vendors flaked out.

Having said that, Sirius has a few molded 1:100 Saturn V parts - which ones are you thinking about?
If fairing+fin molds, those look to be much stronger than Estes's, but also heavier. How much heavier, I don't know, and the web site doesn't list.

But now that you've reminded of their existence, I will order a set and report once they arrive.

David Schwantz said:
I did go ahead and order the LOC 3.90" BT for replacement. Also CR and a new 29mmt full length tube. What else might you suggest thad? Thanks.
Click to expand...

29mm motor retainer?

a
 
SecondRow said:
The build is mostly the same, but slightly easier. The main build differences are that you have to roll one less paper transition (because of the plastic LM shroud) ...
Click to expand...

That shroud was the only major issue I recall having when I built an Estes Saturn V about 25 years ago. I remember messing it up enough that I had to cut out another one and start over on that part. The rest of the building was challenging, but I took my time and am proud of the result.
 
Late to the thread, but when I built the previous version I used Beacon Adhesives Foam-Tac to install the wraps. It is thick enough to be able to work with it but thin enough not to distort the shape. It also sets to a good tacky hold quickly enough that you can hold it in place with your hands until you're completely happy with the positioning.

Not a spray adhesive, and much easier to get right, in my opinion.

20180924_112243.jpg 20181105_084507.jpg
 
Mine should arrive today. I will build it Estes stock, with my kids (If they're interested). Goal is to fly it once on July 20. Not sure after that. If it turns out great, maybe I'll put it on a shelf. If it turns out like all my other rockets, I'll keep flying it till it dies. :oops:
 
Hey... evidently my brother got ahold of a 1969 Saturn V and just mentioned that Estes evidently incorrectly molded the interstage wrap and the tunnels on the S-IC don't line up correctly between the upper and middle wrap... I have not seen anyone mention that here on TRF... I have not started mine pending my finishing my Centuri Saturn V. Does anyoneone have/see this issue??
 
DeltaVee said:
Hey... evidently my brother got ahold of a 1969 Saturn V and just mentioned that Estes evidently incorrectly molded the interstage wrap and the tunnels on the S-IC don't line up correctly between the upper and middle wrap... I have not seen anyone mention that here on TRF... I have not started mine pending my finishing my Centuri Saturn V. Does anyoneone have/see this issue??
Click to expand...
All the tunnel humps on mine line up, but I used taped the seams and twisted them around and checked that everything lined up before gluing.IMG_20190207_195515677.jpeg
 
James Harechmak said:
All the tunnel humps on mine line up, but I used taped the seams and twisted them around and checked that everything lined up before gluing.View attachment 375331
Click to expand...

Hmmm that's good to know. I wonder what's going on. Can't say I really trust my brother on this one... you should've seen how badly he put together his K36 Saturn back in the early 70's :) He could handle spray paint way better than me... but I always thought I put 'em together better!
 
SecondRow said:
View attachment 374611 View attachment 374612 View attachment 374613

The fairings should be flush with the tube, not the fins. And yes, the top of the fairing will extend past the top of the wrap. They are supposed to. Later, you will cut out sections of the body tube between the fairings.
Click to expand...
Dang, you do nice work. I KNOW that mine isn't gonna look that nice... until you're about 30' away.

I plan on making mine into a two stager... maybe I can figure out how to make the LM come down on a parachute (and not lose it...)
 
Is this just a cosmetic/scale accuracy error, or is it a functional error? IOW, if a person didn't/doesn't make the fix, does it break the rocket, or just make it look wrong?
 
Cosmetic. Apparently, one of the wraps has a flaw. The solution is to carefully cut the wrap in the middle, and rotate one section slightly.

Or, do nothing, and realize that 99.9% of people who see your completed model will not know the difference. Actually, make that 99.99%.
 
If you're not going for scale points rotate the inter stage wrap till the tunnels line up before you glue it down. Yes my inter tank wrap is 3 inches too high, I'm just going with it, I have several more to build and get right.IMG_20190222_121541618.jpeg
 
I'm curious about the third stage foundation wrap - that paper shroud that goes underneath the vacuform wrap.

The one pictured here is not the kit wrap. I scanned and made a couple practice shrouds first to make sure I had the forming of it down. It came out pretty good, I think.

DSCN5678.JPG

But I'm concerned about the base. It's a slightly smaller OD than the coupler. I wonder if it should be the same OD, for gluing, or even overhang a bit. At least be flush, so the vacuform wrap overhangs, so the whole thing doesn't accidentally get pushed down into the rocket.

So, what do you think? Do I need to leave a little bit extra on the base - maybe cut outside the line a bit and then test fit and sand until it's the right OD? Or is the foundation shroud meant to be a little smaller?
 
James Harechmak said:
All together just 6. The old lady got me Apogee SV. At one point I had 10 of the 2157, only got to build 1 before I got laid off from the mines and had to sell the rest.
Click to expand...

Well I still have a totally unbuilt K36 Saturn V. I had planned on doing that for the 50th anniversary... but I figured I'd finish the Centuri one (which is around 8 years older than that specific K36 kit). I've had nothing but headaches with the decal sheet although I have some alternatives. I've got a bucket load of replacement decals from StickerShock, e-rockets and now Tango Papa. So I will concede the crown of "too many Saturns" to you, sir :)
 
lcorinth said:
I'm curious about the third stage foundation wrap - that paper shroud that goes underneath the vacuform wrap.

The one pictured here is not the kit wrap. I scanned and made a couple practice shrouds first to make sure I had the forming of it down. It came out pretty good, I think.

View attachment 375392

But I'm concerned about the base. It's a slightly smaller OD than the coupler. I wonder if it should be the same OD, for gluing, or even overhang a bit. At least be flush, so the vacuform wrap overhangs, so the whole thing doesn't accidentally get pushed down into the rocket.

So, what do you think? Do I need to leave a little bit extra on the base - maybe cut outside the line a bit and then test fit and sand until it's the right OD? Or is the foundation shroud meant to be a little smaller?
Click to expand...
It has got be be same diameter or you wrap will not make full contact.
 
lcorinth said:
I'm curious about the third stage foundation wrap - that paper shroud that goes underneath the vacuform wrap.

The one pictured here is not the kit wrap. I scanned and made a couple practice shrouds first to make sure I had the forming of it down. It came out pretty good, I think.

View attachment 375392

But I'm concerned about the base. It's a slightly smaller OD than the coupler. I wonder if it should be the same OD, for gluing, or even overhang a bit. At least be flush, so the vacuform wrap overhangs, so the whole thing doesn't accidentally get pushed down into the rocket.

So, what do you think? Do I need to leave a little bit extra on the base - maybe cut outside the line a bit and then test fit and sand until it's the right OD? Or is the foundation shroud meant to be a little smaller?
Click to expand...

It kind of looks to me like your print page set up might be "fit to sheet", which on my print page setup scales the image to 95% the original size. I discovered this when I was printing a pdf of a decal sheet. Since I had parts of the original decal set in my possession I could do a comparison... and when I measured the sizes between some of the items on the two sheets, they were not the same. Upon clearing the setting, the sizes matched exactly.

Check your printer settings for that... I would expect that you want a perfect match between your original and the copy.

JPP
 
Question re nose weight... I noticed 4 pats of clay in my kit but the instructions only show 2 pats. Does anyone know if I should be using 2 pats or 4?
 
DeltaVee said:
It kind of looks to me like your print page set up might be "fit to sheet", which on my print page setup scales the image to 95% the original size. I discovered this when I was printing a pdf of a decal sheet. Since I had parts of the original decal set in my possession I could do a comparison... and when I measured the sizes between some of the items on the two sheets, they were not the same. Upon clearing the setting, the sizes matched exactly.

Check your printer settings for that... I would expect that you want a perfect match between your original and the copy.

JPP
Click to expand...

It's actual size. I drew a 1 inch reference line on the page so I could check it, and laying the copy over the original page shows they're identical.

I tried drawing one up in OpenRocket, and the fit was great (don't have a picture yet)! But laying the vacuform wrap over it shows the curvature is slightly different, so my measurements must be slightly off. Still, I'm going to cut out the vacuform wrap and see how it lays over the printout.

I also slid the copy shroud over the OpenRocket shroud, and found that they fit pretty well. The OR shroud fit the coupler perfectly at the base, and the copy shroud was a near perfect fit for the OR shroud, with just a hint of a gap at the bottom. What I might do, if the actual kit shroud doesn't come out perfect, is to use my OR shroud with the copy shroud on top. So then the vacuform wrap would fit just right, and any gap between that and the body tube would be so minimal you'd have to look really close to see it.
 
jnmiller said:
Question re nose weight... I noticed 4 pats of clay in my kit but the instructions only show 2 pats. Does anyone know if I should be using 2 pats or 4?
Click to expand...

I emailed Estes about this. They told me to use 2 pats like the instructions say. The other two are extras. However, my first flight on an E20 was a sky writer. I’ve since added the weight, but haven’t had the chance to fly it again. Before I flew mine, someone else at my club sug

Full disclosure: I was liberal with the paint and my rocket weighs more than the box specs (even before the extra added weight). That might be the reason for the instability, as well.

I’m interested what others say about this.
 
lcorinth said:
It's actual size. I drew a 1 inch reference line on the page so I could check it, and laying the copy over the original page shows they're identical.

I tried drawing one up in OpenRocket, and the fit was great (don't have a picture yet)! But laying the vacuform wrap over it shows the curvature is slightly different, so my measurements must be slightly off. Still, I'm going to cut out the vacuform wrap and see how it lays over the printout.

I also slid the copy shroud over the OpenRocket shroud, and found that they fit pretty well. The OR shroud fit the coupler perfectly at the base, and the copy shroud was a near perfect fit for the OR shroud, with just a hint of a gap at the bottom. What I might do, if the actual kit shroud doesn't come out perfect, is to use my OR shroud with the copy shroud on top. So then the vacuform wrap would fit just right, and any gap between that and the body tube would be so minimal you'd have to look really close to see it.
Click to expand...

I would expect that the vacuform wrap would have a slightly longer curvature in order for it to be able to fit over the paper cone. In any event it looks like you have everything in order...
 

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