Gemini Titan Kit from SEMROC ?

[cruzsergio]

So I was wondering around SEMROC and I discovered this !
Is it true ?
https://www.semroc.com/Store/scripts/RocketKits.asp?SKU=KV-88

 

[sandman]

I just question the skill level 1.

I thought it was a much harder kit to build.

 

[aerostadt]

I think that this is the kit I bought. You do need to do some improvising, especially for the clear plastic fins. As I recall it comes with no clear plastic fins. You may need to cut astronaut view ports in the balsa nose cone. I don't think that it has the decals, but you can get decals from Sticker Shock. The Sticker Shock decals were beautiful being a full length wrap with silver mylar included. I found that putting the full wrap on at once was very difficult. I succeeded after cutting the wrap into sections.

Looking at the Semroc parts list I see that my comments above at not entirely correct. The model is the same size, but maybe an inch longer. The body tube diameter is the same. However, I see that they include clear plastic fins and decals. If I did this model from Semroc, it did not have some of these things when I bought it. The parts list does not show a plastic outer tube to attach the plastic fins to. The original Estes model did this. I bought a clear plastic tube from Apogee and did a Rube Goldberg method of fitting the plastic tube to the outside. Otherwise, the builder will need to do through-the-wall fins or glue the plastic fins to the paper tube.

 

[sandman]

I think that this is the kit I bought. You do need to do some improvising, especially for the clear plastic fins. As I recall it comes with no clear plastic fins. You may need to cut astronaut view ports in the balsa nose cone. I don't think that it has the decals, but you can get decals from Sticker Shock. The Sticker Shock decals were beautiful being a full length wrap with silver mylar included. I found that putting the full wrap on at once was very difficult. I succeeded after cutting the wrap into sections.

Looking at the Semroc parts list I see that my comments above at not entirely correct. The model is the same size, but maybe an inch longer. The body tube diameter is the same. However, I see that they include clear plastic fins and decals. If I did this model from Semroc, it did not have some of these things when I bought it. The parts list does not show a plastic outer tube to attach the plastic fins to. The original Estes model did this. I bought a clear plastic tube from Apogee and did a Rube Goldberg method of fitting the plastic tube to the outside. Otherwise, the builder will need to do through-the-wall fins or glue the plastic fins to the paper tube.

Really....! I can buy decals from Stickershock?

Why I should do that.

 

[mwtoelle]

Looking at the Semroc parts list I see that my comments above at not entirely correct. The model is the same size, but maybe an inch longer. The body tube diameter is the same. However, I see that they include clear plastic fins and decals. If I did this model from Semroc, it did not have some of these things when I bought it. The parts list does not show a plastic outer tube to attach the plastic fins to. The original Estes model did this. I bought a clear plastic tube from Apogee and did a Rube Goldberg method of fitting the plastic tube to the outside. Otherwise, the builder will need to do through-the-wall fins or glue the plastic fins to the paper tube.

The K-21 had you form a clear plastic tube from 0.020" clear butyrate plastic sheet, then you attached fins cut from 0.040" clear butyrate plastic sheet. You bonded the plastic with clear butyrate dope, not sanding sealer. Unfortunately, I have not found a source for the clear butyrate plastic sheets. Carl either found a source for the plastic and used a different type of plastic with similar properties.

 

[TALON]

That's it, :eyepop:I give UP even if I had unlimited funds, I will pass on to another life before I could build all the kits I like I will not say "stop making new kits" because I know there are young bucks out there who have 50 years to accomplish building every kit their hearts desire But be warned, new technology, new space programs, etc. will add to the # of kits to build in your life time:y: to where when you are 59 y/o you will know what I am feeling:lol: keep up the good work (& torture) Semroc.

 

[NAR29996]

Sign me up!

 

[JStarStar]

I just question the skill level 1.

I thought it was a much harder kit to build.

When I was a kid, 9-10 years old, one of my friends' dads (who was into rocketry), built a Gemini-Titan kit and totally botched it up.

Essentially you had to build your own fin can by rolling clear plastic into a tube, using plastic cement to attach the fins, plus getting the paint job right. It came out looking like a mess.

Dr. Martin (he was a dentist) built a lot of other rockets and most of them came out looking good, but the G-T was a mess.

I HAD been thinking about getting one at the time but thought better of it. I (correctly) judged my skills at the time were not up to it.

All that said the Gemini-Titan is an awesome-looking rocket and if Semroc has put together a somewhat more "builder-friendly" version which has a better method of attaching fins, I might just pick one up.

 

[sandman]

I didn't use plastic fins.

I used balsa and I started with a Fliskit Deuce's Wild.

Maybe I'll build one of those from the SEMROC Gemini kit.

 

[cruzsergio]

I didn't use plastic fins.

I used balsa and I started with a Fliskit Deuce's Wild.

Maybe I'll build one of those from the SEMROC Gemini kit.

When you do please share it !

 

[sandman]

When you do please share it !

I will, promise!

 

[MarkII]

Semroc devotes a great deal of effort to working out the construction details in their kits. With their Retro-Repro kits they endeavor to recreate the experience of building great rocket kits of the past, with the end result being faithful to the original design. But they aren't direct clones of those earlier rockets. Semroc updates certain elements for various reasons, including the original material no longer being available, newer and more durable materials (e.g., Kevlar cord) have become available, production techniques, such a laser-cut tube slots, have been implemented that simplify construction steps that were previously complex, tedious and prone to error, etc. An example of this is their Trident (KV-71), which, while being quite faithful overall to the original kit design by Gene Street, updates it in subtle ways by doing things like using Semroc's thicker-walled and sturdier Series 9 tubing and providing laser-cut ports and joint parts to turn a previously very complicated build into a Skill Level 1 kit. Semroc's version of the Gemini-Titan kit may very well incorporate updates of a similar nature.

 

[RocketT.Coyote]

Must have...or complete the 1:48 scale Ton Noteboom cardstock model to flight worthiness.

Make clear fins from clear plastic package material.