Estes legendary K-29, 1:70 scale Saturn 1B

[Eddy M. del Rio]

Hi folks, first time on this forum and posting. I can think of no better place for me to share my build of the rare, expensive-to-acquire, and in my opinion, ultimate scale Estes model. I have also built the Saturn V, Mercury Redstone, Little Joe II (kit#7227 that flies on E30-4), 1:162 Space Shuttle, and the V2 (#3228). I have waiting to build the Star Trek Enterprise and Klingon D-7. I lost the Shuttle glider to a catastrophic nose-down crash when the aileron cord broke internally, but bought another kit 2-years ago and finally rebuilt that glider. Maybe I'll post a picture of that too. Anyway, I think the Saturn 1B is the most beautiful model of the bunch. I tried to upload a PowerPoint of the build, but it was too large. I intend to fly her this Christmas - I made it a family tradition that now the sons and grandchildren enjoy! Let me know what you think.

 

[Flash]

Very nice job.
Thank you for sharing

 

[dpower]

Looks great! Did you enhance the CSM? It look far more detailed than I remember from the kit.

 

[kuririn]

Very clean build.
Was this completely stock?
Looks like a different capsule than the NCK-29.
Or did you enhance it?

 

[Eddy M. del Rio]

Looks great! Did you enhance the CSM? It look far more detailed than I remember from the kit.

Hi, yes. I used white electrical tape, I also enhanced the capsule cover with shaped scrapped card stock and strips of more tape.

 

[SCooke123]

Very well done!!!!!!

 

[NJRick]

beautiful job!

 

[Eddy M. del Rio]

Very clean build.
Was this completely stock?
Looks like a different capsule than the NCK-29.
Or did you enhance it?

It is the original done in launch configuration with added pieces of remnant card stock and white electrical tape.?

 

[Blast it Tom!]

What a beauty!

 

[Eddy M. del Rio]

What a beauty!

Thanks. I plan to launch her (4-engine cluster) the week after Christmas.

 

[Blast it Tom!]

Well, as they always said to the Apollo astronauts, "Godspeed to you!" Lighting 4 at once takes some care.

I will be awaiting pictures! One thing that has changed since my younger rocket days in the late 1960's is the ability to get good photos and videos both from the ground and on the rocket - though I can't say I'd try on-rocket with that one! I have a beautiful picture of my wife hitting the button on my Mercury- Redstone posted several places around here, with my oldest son and my daughter's daughter, age 6 standing by. My granddaughter was enthralled with our launches that day; she had her hands pointed togther over her head, pretending she was a rocket!

 

[mikeyd]

I have an old original, I built back in 1973 or so. I still fly on occasion. It is not finished near as nice as yours.

 

[Eddy M. del Rio]

I have an old original, I built back in 1973 or so. I still fly on occasion. It is not finished near as nice as yours.View attachment 443096

Looks great in flight. Any tips on the ignition process?

 

[mikeyd]

Old Estes ignitors, not the newer ones, and check the ignitors continuity yourself, before you install them. Then good physical twisted igniter leads together and clip whips, and being very carefull the ignitors are inserted fully, and not twisted themselves in the process. You should be able to tie all 4 together in the center, and then two of each on the outbound side, so you only need two connections on the clip whips. Then a good 12v launch system. This particular flight was on 4 B6-4's as I did not want to have to go too far for recovery. I also like the slower liftoff, that you do not get with larger motors.

 

[mikeyd]

If you had the original kit, It came with the "Estes Industries Technical Report Tr-6, on clustering techniques, I followed that closely.
2845_Classic_Collection_TR-TN.pdf (estesrockets.com)

 

[Eddy M. del Rio]

Old Estes ignitors, not the newer ones, and check the ignitors continuity yourself, before you install them. Then good physical twisted igniter leads together and clip whips, and being very carefull the ignitors are inserted fully, and not twisted themselves in the process. You should be able to tie all 4 together in the center, and then two of each on the outbound side, so you only need two connections on the clip whips. Then a good 12v launch system. This particular flight was on 4 B6-4's as I did not want to have to go too far for recovery. I also like the slower liftoff, that you do not get with larger motors.

Thanks! Would you advise against A8-3 cluster?

 

[mikeyd]

Thanks! Would you advise against A8-3 cluster?

Yes, I just did not feel comfortable on a rocket that size, with the A8-3. I wanted to get enough altitude for the chutes to fully deploy.

 

[Dane Ronnow]

I built one of these when I was a kid (15 years old), around 1965. I could never get successful ignition on A8-3s. But on B8-4s, it worked every time. I loved flying this! Twin 'chutes on the main assembly was very cool!

 

[Dane Ronnow]

I also built the Gemini Titan from that same era. Great looking and great flying!

 

[mikeyd]

I built one of these when I was a kid (15 years old), around 1965. I could never get successful ignition on A8-3s. But on B8-4s, it worked every time. I loved flying this! Twin 'chutes on the main assembly was very cool!

Unfortunately I did not get a close up shot of the chutes, so when cropped it is still very hard to see.