tonypv
And so it begins...
I have seen this plan a number times over the years and always thought it was a cool design.
Recently I was on the Semroc site looking through the Classic Model Rocket page and saw it again. When I clicked on it I found that Semroc had laser cut fins as well as most of the parts so I decided to build it. I down loaded the plans from JimZ's site and ordered the parts that I would need, nose cones, fins and the 1/12" dowel, tubes I had.
https://www.spacemodeling.org/JimZ/eirp_55.htm
There are a lot of things about this model that I liked that are different from most builds. The Crew Module is a strip of 1/4" balsa that runs along the top of the air frame. I didn't have any 1/4" balsa long enough (15 3/16") so I glued two 1/8" pieces together. This also has a slot cut into it for the fin to go though and glue to the body tube. There is a BT-5 tube cut in half with a nose cone half on each side with a slot cut into it for the two lower fins like the Crew Module. The aft end of the tube halves are angled with a card stock caps. The fins have a dowel glued to the small angle at the aft end. The launch lugs are incorporated into the design to "hide" then. The forward lug is a balsa Shuttle craft Bay and the aft lug has a dowel on each side (Transfer Line) with a fin on top (Reactor Radiator).
I drew up some decals to match the gif image that are with the plans. I also drew the cock pit to match the one that is in the plans. I used clip art drawing of a sword that I liked for the upper fin. And I added a few more, wraps for the two lower pods and I could see a couple of dark shapes along the side so I made some shapes to represent these.
This was a very fun project and I'm very pleased with how this came out.
Recently I was on the Semroc site looking through the Classic Model Rocket page and saw it again. When I clicked on it I found that Semroc had laser cut fins as well as most of the parts so I decided to build it. I down loaded the plans from JimZ's site and ordered the parts that I would need, nose cones, fins and the 1/12" dowel, tubes I had.
https://www.spacemodeling.org/JimZ/eirp_55.htm
There are a lot of things about this model that I liked that are different from most builds. The Crew Module is a strip of 1/4" balsa that runs along the top of the air frame. I didn't have any 1/4" balsa long enough (15 3/16") so I glued two 1/8" pieces together. This also has a slot cut into it for the fin to go though and glue to the body tube. There is a BT-5 tube cut in half with a nose cone half on each side with a slot cut into it for the two lower fins like the Crew Module. The aft end of the tube halves are angled with a card stock caps. The fins have a dowel glued to the small angle at the aft end. The launch lugs are incorporated into the design to "hide" then. The forward lug is a balsa Shuttle craft Bay and the aft lug has a dowel on each side (Transfer Line) with a fin on top (Reactor Radiator).
I drew up some decals to match the gif image that are with the plans. I also drew the cock pit to match the one that is in the plans. I used clip art drawing of a sword that I liked for the upper fin. And I added a few more, wraps for the two lower pods and I could see a couple of dark shapes along the side so I made some shapes to represent these.
This was a very fun project and I'm very pleased with how this came out.
Last edited by a moderator: