Polecat Mercury Redstone

Kaycee · Dec 15, 2011

Finished my Polecat 'sorta-scale' Mercury Redstone today. Decals are from Stickershock and paint is Rustoleum professional enamel. It is set up for dual-deployment with a single PerfectFlite SL100. Main will come out of the upper section. I did this because the rocket will fly with the tower, and I want the weight of the booster to be on the ground before the capsule does, giving the capsule a nice slow and hopefully soft landing.

I did a few improvements to the capsule/tower combination. I drilled into the top of the capsule and most of the way through the poplar escape motor where I glued in a 1/2" Lexan rod. It is potted into the upper 2" or so of the capsule. The result is a tower/capsule that is very strong and the Lexan is almost invisible.

Here's a few pictures:

Scotty Dog · Dec 15, 2011

NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:clap::clap:

Pantherjon · Dec 15, 2011

Looks awesome! What motor do you plan on putting it up on for its first flight?

Kaycee · Dec 16, 2011

Scotty Dog said:
NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:clap::clap:

Thanks!

Pantherjon said:
Looks awesome! What motor do you plan on putting it up on for its first flight?

Thanks! I built the Redstone using Titebond to keep it light. I only used epoxy in the capsule to pot the Lexan rod and threaded rod for the removeable bulkhead. It's removable to add whatever weight will be needed based on motor choice. As for your question, I'm planning on a CTI J295 or K360 for the maiden flight, just depends on the wind.

dixontj93060 · Dec 16, 2011

Looks nice! What is the diameter, length, weight?

Kaycee · Dec 16, 2011

dixontj93060 said:
Looks nice! What is the diameter, length, weight?

Mine weighs in @ 9lbs, 7oz. ready to fly (2 chutes, harnesses and misc hardware) less whatever nose weight it will need depending on motor used.

Here's a link to the kit and specs...

https://stores.whatsuphobby.com/-strse-13/Polecat-Aerospace-5.5%22-Mercury/Detail.bok

RocketManDan · Dec 16, 2011

EXCEPTIONAL work!! Very very very nice!! WOW!!

edwinshap1 · Dec 16, 2011

i love polecat kits. i'm buying 2 sections of 10" airframe from them.

can't wait to see this one lift off

rdunn12 · Dec 16, 2011

WOW,very nice one of the best I have seen!!!!

Kaycee · Dec 16, 2011

RocketManDan said:
EXCEPTIONAL work!! Very very very nice!! WOW!!

Thanks, Dan.

Kaycee · Dec 16, 2011

rdunn12 said:
WOW,very nice one of the best I have seen!!!!

Thanks, Ron. The plan is to fly it in January at PMW.

Hope you'll be there.

Kaycee · Dec 16, 2011

edwinshap1 said:
i love polecat kits. i'm buying 2 sections of 10" airframe from them.

can't wait to see this one lift off

Polecat kits hold a special place in my heart. I built a Nike Smoke many years ago that I flew for my TRA L2. They are a nice departure from the G10/12 FG kits that have saturated the market for HP.

BTW, I have already started the build on my next project.

This one will take a little more time to complete than did the Redstone.

Coop · Dec 17, 2011

Very nice!

Later!

--Coop

DRAGON64 · Dec 19, 2011

Nice build Kevin, I may have to make the January launch just to see it go...

khill444444 · Jan 14, 2012

Looks great. I was thinking of getting one too.

Question, what are you using for motor retention? I looked at the instructions and it looks like the fins butt up against the MMT.... Is there room for an aeropack on there?

Kevin.

Kaycee · Jan 14, 2012

khill444444 said:
Looks great. I was thinking of getting one too.
Question, what are you using for motor retention? I looked at the instructions and it looks like the fins butt up against the MMT.... Is there room for an aeropack on there?
Kevin.

Thanks, Kevin. Yes there is room for retention--plenty in fact. I have a standard Aeropack retainer (for Loc airframe) and I have 1/2" between the retainer ring and the inboard finlets.

sodmeister · Jan 15, 2012

I agree with the rest here when they say it`s a great looking build, very nice !

I`ve built several Polecat kits and like them very much, and great subject matter and a good selection of sizes.

I look forward to your flight results.

Cheers

paul T

jaymeister99 · Jan 18, 2012

Is Polecat still in business? I tried to find their website but it came up with a page saying the URL was for sale.

Anybody got a link to their site?

crossfire · Jan 18, 2012

You need to go to What's Up Hobbies. Jack will be more than happy to help you out.
GP

sodmeister · Jan 18, 2012

crossfire said:
You need to go to What's Up Hobbies. Jack will be more than happy to help you out.
GP

Indeed ,Jack is a great guy to talk to !! He has gone out of his way to help me out ,and my friend (who just ordered his first Polecat kit) has nothing but good things to say also.

Great kits !

Paul T

Viperfixr · Jan 20, 2012

Launch pictures?!?!? Beautiful build...almost would hate to fly it.

I am also curious how the multi-part fins hold up, mainly for impact upon landing stress.

Kaycee · Jan 20, 2012

One thing I'd like to point out about this particular Polecat kit...

The instructions that are available on-line at What's Up Hobbies for the Redstone need to be updated. When you view the assembly manual, there may be a few steps that might be intimidating for some--namely the escape tower. The Redstone I have differs from the instructions in that all of the wood components are now laser cut (a good thing). The -new- tower for the Redstone is completely different than the on-line pdf., and goes together easily using tab-in-slot construction. I simply laid the parts out on my work bench and stacked it together. It looked correct so I glued it together. The new tower is much stronger that the original wood dowel construction...and still looks good from 50'.:wink:

I enjoyed building mine...it's a great kit!

Kaycee · Jan 20, 2012

Viperfixr said:
Launch pictures?!?!? Beautiful build...almost would hate to fly it.

I am also curious how the multi-part fins hold up, mainly for impact upon landing stress.

Mark, the Redstone will fly in a few weeks. I'll have 2 cameras on-board and hopefully someone will video the flight from the ground. I'll post an update post-flight. I'm still undecided on what motor I'll use. As for the fins, I'm not worried as the (3) 'chutes I'll be using should bring the Redstone back to earth at ~5 FPS. And if a fin breaks I'll glue it back on.

Viperfixr · Jan 21, 2012

Kaycee said:
One thing I'd like to point out about this particular Polecat kit...

The instructions that are available on-line at What's Up Hobbies for the Redstone need to be updated. When you view the assembly manual, there may be a few steps that might be intimidating for some--namely the escape tower. The Redstone I have differs from the instructions in that all of the wood components are now laser cut (a good thing). The -new- tower for the Redstone is completely different than the on-line pdf., and goes together easily using tab-in-slot construction. I simply laid the parts out on my work bench and stacked it together. It looked correct so I glued it together. The new tower is much stronger that the original wood dowel construction...and still looks good from 50'.:wink:

I enjoyed building mine...it's a great kit!

Great info--thanks for passing it along. What I saw in the instructions online did deter me from that kit a bit, mainly with the launch tower. But, your build's giving me the itch to build one again. The Estes Mercury Redstone was one of my absolute favorites as a kit.

Kaycee · Jun 26, 2012

Finally got to fly my Redstone at Southern Thunder '12 this past weekend. I chose a CTI J210 Classic load for a slow, magestic liftoff which proved to be a perfect choice. Unfortunately there was an issue during deploying the main chute resulting in a rather hard landing. The tower was damaged as well as 2 finlets, but the damage was minimal. Repairs will be easy and the Redstone will fly again soon...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5F7Tw-q4uw&feature=channel&list=UL

cwbullet · Jun 26, 2012

Nice flight and build.

Kaycee · Jun 27, 2012

Here's a few pictures to go along with the video of the flight of my 5.5" Mercury Redstone courtesy of Ray Cole, HARA President.

Thanks Ray!

Kaycee · Jun 28, 2012

The Redstone fell to earth at ~55' per second. One finlet is missing (stuck in the sod) and a second one was broken-off but recovered. The tower is toast but I've already contacted Jack and will have replacement parts here soon. All things considered the damage was minimal.

Here's a picture of the damage....

Kaycee · Jul 25, 2012

I received the replacement parts to repair the Redstone from Jack at What's Up Hobbies. I'll be re-using a few parts from the tower, and should have the repairs done within a week or so.

Next stop for the Redstone--AIRFest!

DRAGON64 · Jul 25, 2012

Kaycee said:
I received the replacement parts to repair the Redstone from Jack at What's Up Hobbies. I'll be re-using a few parts from the tower, and should have the repairs done within a week or so.

Next stop for the Redstone--AIRFest!

What motor(s) is/ar planned for this rocket at Airfest?

Polecat Mercury Redstone

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