Mercury Escape Tower Rocket

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Maybe I missed it but are you putting the aerospike on top?
Yes and No
The Atomic City model came with the spike. I drilled a hole in the top head of the tri-motor to place the spike in. So for display purposes it'll be there, but not for actual powered flight.

Interestingly I plugged it into the Open Rocket simulation... no benefit.

2022-04-10 Open Rocket Flight Simulation With Spear.jpg 2022-04-10 Open Rocket Flight Simulation No Spear.jpg
 
Yes and No
The Atomic City model came with the spike. I drilled a hole in the top head of the tri-motor to place the spike in. So for display purposes it'll be there, but not for actual powered flight.

Interestingly I plugged it into the Open Rocket simulation... no benefit.

View attachment 513625 View attachment 513624
Just punch into the sim the spike is depleted uranium and all will be fine. :)
 
The MicroSol I ordered showed up yesterday... and the weather co-operated today and I was able to spray on some gloss clear on the area that will get decals.

I'll wait a couple days... really looking forward to applying the decals.

003.JPG 001.JPG 004.JPG 005.JPG
 
Decals... Now, New & Improve.... with Microsol ;)

I started applying the decals on the Mercury Capsule. I was worried about getting the decals to conform to the realistic corrugations on the capsule.

@neil_w suggested using Miscrosol. So far I'm really impressed. I tried to get a photo showing how well it works.

In the close up photo below, the text "UNITED STATES" has Microsol. The United States flag does not. See how the text has conformed to the surface, but the US Flag is bridging the corrugations. After taking the photo I applied Microsol to the flag also.

Update: After about 45 minutes I noticed the decal wasn't conforming into the corrugated divots, I could see air under the decal. The Microsol instructions state if there is a bubble, to poke it with a pin. So I took a pin and poked / sliced the decal at every divot and then ran my fingernail on the decal to push it down into the divot. I didn't need to use the pin at the flag, since the ends of the decal are open, none of those divots had trapped air. I then re-applied 2 more generous coats of Microsol.

001.JPG002.JPG
 
Last edited:
A true glamor shot! Very Purdy. Beau-T-ful. You will need to tape that engine hook down with clear tape at launch. Don't want to kick the motor out on your high end, high pressure rear eject system. Weather looking bad this weekend for a launch but we really need the rain.
 
A true glamor shot! Very Purdy. Beau-T-ful. You will need to tape that engine hook down with clear tape at launch. Don't want to kick the motor out on your high end, high pressure rear eject system. Weather looking bad this weekend for a launch but we really need the rain.

Zip Ties....

Amen on the rain. They are forecasting 5 inches of precipitation up here in the playland of the barbarian hoard.

Mercury Capsule Abort Dwg Sht 8 of 17 Rev 10.jpg
 
Last edited:
Five inches of rain. WOW! Put the rockets in the raft and you will have white water all the way down to the Launch site off the Platte River in Fort Lupton! That would truly be living the High Life.
 
I stumbled across this on the ole inter-web this morning. Another gem from the golden age of space travel. They wanted to test the ejection seat on the Gemini capsule... so they lashed the capsule to a rocket sled.

Improvise - Adapt - Overcome

Gemini Snort.jpg
 
Devo Day: Whip It, Whip It Good

The Mercury Capsule Escape Tower Rocket is ready for flight, so I needed to make a clip whip for the tri-motor.

I bought a set of test leads with covered alligator clips. The covers will help to prevent the alligator clips from snagging the tower struts, that's the plan anyway.

I'll also be able to use this on my F-79 Canted Cluster Rocket.

My Launch Horse has 1/8" and 5/16" launch rods. The 1/8" rod is a handy place to attach the whip, so the leads will swing off to the side, away from the rocket at launch.

Think this set-up will work?



001.JPG002.JPG003.JPG004.JPG005.JPG006.JPG007.JPG008.JPG
 
Kevlar Harness and Parachute Cover

I'm not using any elastic shock chord on this... but can easily add one. What do you think? Add the elastic, Yes or No?

002.JPG003.JPG004.JPG005.JPG005b.JPG006.JPG008.JPG009.JPG010.JPG011.JPG
 
Devo Day: Whip It, Whip It Good

The Mercury Capsule Escape Tower Rocket is ready for flight, so I needed to make a clip whip for the tri-motor.

I bought a set of test leads with covered alligator clips. The covers will help to prevent the alligator clips from snagging the tower struts, that's the plan anyway.

I'll also be able to use this on my F-79 Canted Cluster Rocket.

My Launch Horse has 1/8" and 5/16" launch rods. The 1/8" rod is a handy place to attach the whip, so the leads will swing off to the side, away from the rocket at launch.

Think this set-up will work?



View attachment 526106View attachment 526107View attachment 526108View attachment 526109View attachment 526110View attachment 526111View attachment 526112View attachment 526113

Yes, this should work. Given this set up I would clothes pin the wires as far up as possible to give maximum travel on the leads going up to give the best chance to light a motor that may be a bit slow. Slack going up is good. I prefer longer wires on an unsupported clip whip, under slung so gravity and motor exhaust push/pull them away asap, but your set up will work. Maximum current to the least resistant igniter. Take your time for you are a cluster prima donna!

I would trim the plastic back a bit on the clips for easier connecting. I use bare metal clips with a wrap of electrical tape to taste. Good connections are key!
 
I would epoxy the kevlar loop to the lower body tube, then maybe some sticky tape as well on first flight. Non stick Blue tape seems too weak, that cord will get a huge jolt. Color your kevlar cord black with a sharpie. I would attach chute just a little higher than you are holding it. Go for a 30 to 45 degree descent angle, not as important on this beast as a delicate scale model. I would use a quality swivel attached to kevlar attached to a quality braided elastic. If you get a really long piece of kevlar it reduces the need for the weaker elastic. Depends on what you can fit. I would use a dog barf sandwich instead of the penny wise, rolled crate paper plug. I am scared of Pennywise the clown. Use a dusting of talc powder on chute.

A nice tight fit on the rear eject condom...just tight enough to hold in the guts on launch but loose enough to pop off on ejection...three ejection charges are good.
 
So nervous! I have never redirected a cluster rear ejection flow to pop off a chute retaining condom. Strap on the Y harness on push the button to let maximum current flow!

No Mr. RSO, this is not hard core model rocket porn! It is simply a Rocky Mountian high!
 
Just when did the Nitrile glove transmogrify into a rubber Johnny? 🤔

A nice tight fit on the rear eject condom...just tight enough to hold in the guts on launch but loose enough to pop off on ejection...three ejection charges are good.

Oh my. That's another week of therapy I didn't budget for. 🤣
 
I would pack it all up and give it the biggest jolts I could in the privacy of the back garden to test the rear loop attachment and latex chute retainer.

Way beyond swing testing now!
 
On the delays I would go conservative on the first flight, 3, 3, 5. I think 7 is too long for such drag/weight and too long a gap from 3. The motor is still burning during the delay and that additional 4 second burn after a 3 second deployment might burn a chute or elastic cord. Short delay on this rear eject won't hurt anything. Won't coast much as a silly oddroc.
 
Back
Top