John Pursley injured in an accident

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That second link is indeed the source of my pictures. It had engine gimballing and active course control! Holy smokes, what a masterpiece, technically, structurally, and aesthetically!

I'm starting to think we need a John Pursley memorial hall. Maybe rename the scale forum or a subforum (Saturn V or manned space flight) after him...
THAT is a wonderful thought. I hope someone somewhere can pay tribute to him. This thread is a story. Condolences to all.

There is great hope in the resurrection.
 
I was trying to do a good job on my Estes-Centuri Mercury Redstone and as I usually do, I grabbed as many pics from "the Google" as I could. And I was blown away by the level of detail in this larger scale build. I was just beginning as a BAR back then, so the name would have meant nothing to me... but is this John's Mercury that you spoke of? It's beautiful; I really can't imagine it being someone elses.
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I mean, look at the thing! Those little wires coming from those delicate white whatever-they-ares, every rivet, a stunning level of detail, beautiful capsule, decals look like they were painted by Cici herself! What a work of art!
Yep. That's John's Mercury Capsule. E was a stickler for detail. I remember watching him CNC each panel on his sideline mill. Then make a mold of it. When he had all the panels milled he glued them together and made another mold of the entire skin. He then pour resin into it and backed it with very thin cloth of some kind so it was embedded inside the resin. When it was almost cured he would pull it out of the mold and then put it around a form so it would finish curing in the cone shape. I do t know how many times he would toss out a casting that was not perfect,even if it had a teeny tiny little air bubble hole that could easily be filled with paint. I have one of his original capsule casting that I have never put together. I only regret not getting the escape tower parts from him now. I had always planned on buying one of his kits , but never got around it. It would have made a great center piece to my mercury collection.
Dan Stuettgen
 
Amazing. Simply amazing. I wouldn't have the time, much less the ability - or a CNC controlled sideline mill! That Rocket could easily be displayed at the museum at JSC.
 
John was a good Friend of mine and will be sadly missed. I first met john when we both worked for Compaq Computers and were members of the ACE model rocket group at Compaq. John and I worked together building our large scale Mercury Redstones to take to and fly at NARAM 2000. His was made out of 1/64 inch thick plywood and had a 0.010 thick styrene skin covering it with ever single rivet and panel line on it that the original had. We spend a number of hours at JSC photographing every detail that we could.
John even incorporated a RC recovery system in it just to make sure everything worked perfectly. He modeled Gus Grissums capsule. I chose to model Langlys boiler plate capsule and built my model out of styrene. John had a perfect flight and won First Place, mine had a motor mount failure and had a spectacular crash due to no recover ejection. John spent many hours drawing up scale drawings for the Capsuke and milling masters to make molds of all the parts to be cast in Resin. He was very meticulous and his model showed it.
I remember how Happy John was when he got to job to over see the restoration of the Saturn 5 at JSC and loved hearing all about it. He got the job, because he know more about the Saturn 5 and had more blueprints drawings and documents on it than NASA had. He was a great Historian, loved the Space Program, an Awesome Modeler and a great friend. He will be missed. We have lost a great one. RIP my friend.
Dan Stuettgen.

Hello Dan,

I see that you knew John very well. I am currently planning a 1/96th build of the Saturn V and searching for drawing I can go by for an accurate representation of the vehicle as well as the associated ML and LUT. Could you direct me to some sources?

Ralph
 
Yep. That's John's Mercury Capsule. E was a stickler for detail. I remember watching him CNC each panel on his sideline mill. Then make a mold of it. When he had all the panels milled he glued them together and made another mold of the entire skin. He then pour resin into it and backed it with very thin cloth of some kind so it was embedded inside the resin. When it was almost cured he would pull it out of the mold and then put it around a form so it would finish curing in the cone shape. I do t know how many times he would toss out a casting that was not perfect,even if it had a teeny tiny little air bubble hole that could easily be filled with paint. I have one of his original capsule casting that I have never put together. I only regret not getting the escape tower parts from him now. I had always planned on buying one of his kits , but never got around it. It would have made a great center piece to my mercury collection.
Dan Stuettgen
Dan,

As a Saturn V nut myself (it would be my "build of a lifetime"), and in honor of John's dedication and abilities, are any steps being taken to preserve his legacy and library of materials? I would hope that the man who who built such an incredible M-R and gave us such a wonderful display at JSC would be memorialized somehow. You talk about a rocketeer's rocketeer, it is clear John is in that rarified atmosphere of the virtuoso designer/builder.
 
I know this is an old thread but does anyone know the status of Accur8 and proprietary ownership of it? Has anyone bought the rights to it in an attempt to produce them once more?
I didn't know John personally but I bought several of his wraps over the years and had contact with him through ebay. He will be greatly missed.
 
I know this is an old thread but does anyone know the status of Accur8 and proprietary ownership of it? Has anyone bought the rights to it in an attempt to produce them once more?
I didn't know John personally but I bought several of his wraps over the years and had contact with him through ebay. He will be greatly missed.
Contact @Buzz McDermott as he might have information about that.
 
I'll be curious to know the answer. I bought two wraps from Accur8 through ebay at the time John had his accident. When I heard about the accident, I wondered what would happen with Accur8. When John passed, I figured either someone would take over, or it would all drop. About a month later, I talked on the phone with Buzz who was trying to produce the wraps. Apparently they were printed to order and it is/was not a trivial process. He said I was high on the list to get my order. After I talked with him I paid as we agreed, but then never heard nor received anything.
 
I'll be curious to know the answer. I bought two wraps from Accur8 through ebay at the time John had his accident. When I heard about the accident, I wondered what would happen with Accur8. When John passed, I figured either someone would take over, or it would all drop. About a month later, I talked on the phone with Buzz who was trying to produce the wraps. Apparently they were printed to order and it is/was not a trivial process. He said I was high on the list to get my order. After I talked with him I paid as we agreed, but then never heard nor received anything.
I am so sorry about that. I was totally new to how Ebay selling worked. I will PM you and I can get whatever you ordered or get you a full refund.
 
Accur8 was never sold. At this point the 3D files are all going to be uploaded to ThingVerse unless someone here has a better suggestion.

Not sure where to upload the skin PDFs. John used Corel Draw to produce them.
 
I think the 3D files would be nice to post on ThingVerse so we who build scale Saturn 1Bs could honor John.
Maybe you could contact JimZ about posting Johns's PDF of his skins.
 
I think the 3D files would be nice to post on ThingVerse so we who build scale Saturn 1Bs could honor John.
Maybe you could contact JimZ about posting Johns's PDF of his skins.
Having John’s work archived by JimZ would be amazing!

I have a set of his M-R skins and fins waiting to go on a new build of an Estes #1921 M-R - it’s going to get a completely un-scale and slightly oversized builder’s plate in John’s honor.
 
Accur8 was never sold. At this point the 3D files are all going to be uploaded to ThingVerse unless someone here has a better suggestion.

Not sure where to upload the skin PDFs. John used Corel Draw to produce them.

I use CorelDraw with my engraving business, so if you have the source files, I could convert them to different formats in addition to the PDF's if desired.

Sandy.
 
Boyce doesn’t currently have the 13mm Nike Smoke on their site - maybe I’ll send a quick email and ask if it’s in their future plans to do up a batch…
Yes sorry, but I was thinking Alex could maybe 3D print the parts and/or kit for you to buy?
 
Accur8 was never sold. At this point the 3D files are all going to be uploaded to ThingVerse unless someone here has a better suggestion.

Not sure where to upload the skin PDFs. John used Corel Draw to produce them.
Definitely get a hold of Mark for the skins. No better guy for the job!
 
The only Accur8 thing I have is the LJ2 set from him but I would've loved to have tried an Interceptor wrap or something else he had, especially the MR wrap and fins. I wish Cricut would make a small machine that could print vinyl like that.
 
The only Accur8 thing I have is the LJ2 set from him but I would've loved to have tried an Interceptor wrap or something else he had, especially the MR wrap and fins. I wish Cricut would make a small machine that could print vinyl like that.
I have a few of his wraps done and more a few more for ones i've yet to build.
 

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I have the nose to a Cosmic Interceptor (cato blew up the rest). Does the Ragnarok use any other bits besides the body tube and nose from that kit?
 
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