My son and I did the build out on the SEMROC Lune R-1 we won on an Ebay auction from Uncle Mikes Rocket Shack (thumbs up to him too, quick service, and he usually has at least a handful of Semroc kits on Ebay at any given time).
As I have a bunch of the Centuri rockets, its no surprise I'm attracted to the Semroc kits. The Lune R-1 is from their Retro/Repreo line and I think this is originally a kit fom 1970. The Lune R-1 is a 4 fin payloader with an A8 through C6 motor recommendation. It has right angle traingular fins and a long thin tapered NC which give it a racey appearance.
I had my 10 year old son do most of the building on this one so he could start to get a feel for putting together a 'real rocket', not one of those E2X day-glo plastic fin can jobs. I did the fin installs and threaded and tied off the cords, otherwise I let him do run with it, doing the fin separation and sanding. He rounded one root edge by mistake, but we fixed that, and it served as a good chance to reinforce orienting leading edges by checking for the grain direction.
As mentioned in other Semroc review threads, the quality of the parts is topnotch, and the lasercut balsa is a godsend. So I would be redundant when I say they get an A+ for completeness, quality, and instructions. The shock cord is tied to kevlar thread which is then looped into the top of the motor clip. Good quality elastic and lots of it. Should be no Estes dents here. Shoulders on the cones and connector are slightly oversize which is nice as it lets you sand down for the proper fit rather than having to built up with tape or filler.
Between the two of us we go the thing together and glued up in about an hour. Heres a picture of it ready for the fin glue fillets and cone sanding, and then painting in the new untested paint booth (insert evil scientist laughter here).
Next: finishing, painting, decals....
As I have a bunch of the Centuri rockets, its no surprise I'm attracted to the Semroc kits. The Lune R-1 is from their Retro/Repreo line and I think this is originally a kit fom 1970. The Lune R-1 is a 4 fin payloader with an A8 through C6 motor recommendation. It has right angle traingular fins and a long thin tapered NC which give it a racey appearance.
I had my 10 year old son do most of the building on this one so he could start to get a feel for putting together a 'real rocket', not one of those E2X day-glo plastic fin can jobs. I did the fin installs and threaded and tied off the cords, otherwise I let him do run with it, doing the fin separation and sanding. He rounded one root edge by mistake, but we fixed that, and it served as a good chance to reinforce orienting leading edges by checking for the grain direction.
As mentioned in other Semroc review threads, the quality of the parts is topnotch, and the lasercut balsa is a godsend. So I would be redundant when I say they get an A+ for completeness, quality, and instructions. The shock cord is tied to kevlar thread which is then looped into the top of the motor clip. Good quality elastic and lots of it. Should be no Estes dents here. Shoulders on the cones and connector are slightly oversize which is nice as it lets you sand down for the proper fit rather than having to built up with tape or filler.
Between the two of us we go the thing together and glued up in about an hour. Heres a picture of it ready for the fin glue fillets and cone sanding, and then painting in the new untested paint booth (insert evil scientist laughter here).
Next: finishing, painting, decals....
