Semroc MX Mars Lander Build Thread

[sod4]

First build thread!

I've enjoyed reading all of yours' so much I wanted to contribute.

I will say that Mach7's build thread is what sparked my interest in this kit!

First step is to lay out the kit and verify that everything is present.

 

[sod4]

'Official' first step in the instructions is to get the motor mount together.

So we start by gluing in the engine block.

Note: There are two large tubes in this kit, the motor mount is the smaller of the 'large' tubes. The larger diameter tube is used later.

The components (Motor Tube and Engine Block) are found in the kit:



A bit of titebond is spread around the inside of one end of the motor tube.



Then the engine block is pushed flush with the motor tube.

 

[sod4]

Next is assembling the faux nozzle at the bottom end of the motor tube.

There are three balsa rings that are stacked up and then shaped to form an engine bell.

Again, parts are located in the kit:



The rings are cut out and stacked up on the tube. Make sure that the largest one is furthest away from the engine block in step one!



A bit of titebond is spread on the tube and the rings are pushed down against the end of it. I used a piece of wax paper to push them against so they would be flush to the end of the tube.



After the glue has cured (which really only takes a couple of minutes) the engine bell is shaped by sanding down the rings.

 

[sod4]

There's an additional shaped piece for the motor mount before we put the centering rings on. I guess it simulates a kind of engine mount shroud?

Again, the pieces are located from the kit:



Pop (cut) the shaped bottom from the balsa sprue. Shown here there's no bevel on it.



So we sand a bevel in (there's markings on the face of the disk to show the limit of where material should be removed) and attach it to the motor mount.

 

[sod4]

The last step for the motor mount is to glue the centering rings on.

We're first supposed to glue the bottom centering ring on. The bottom is the ring *without* the hole in it for the shock cord.



This one's super easy, just spread some titebond on the shaped piece at the bottom of the motor tube and push the centering ring up against it.



At this stage, the instructions tell you to tie the shock cord on, so I did. I used a fed-back overhand knot, though any knot would work I suppose.



Next you take the other centering ring:



Feed the shock cord through the hole and glue it on the tube. I used medium CA for this step. The sprue above for the centering ring contains a notch that is used to set the exact position of the upper centering ring. This kit is great!

Motor Mount Complete!



Not shown: I glued the tag end down to the motor tube with a bit of titebond.

Also, the instructions tell you at this point to glue the motor mount into the body tube. I must have missed this, as I did it later.

 

[sod4]

Now we start on the intricate bits.

Next step in the instructions is to glue the main lander leg bodies onto the body tube.



At first I tried to put all the legs in the alignment jigs and glue/slide them into position.



I couldn't get this to work *at all* . Almost certainly I wasn't understanding the process. It was, in Semroc's defense, the first time I had used an insert fin alignment jig. I ended up marking a vertical line and gluing one leg on. I then used that fin as a guide to align the rest of the fins using the jig.

First fin:



And the rest:



I roughed up the body tube with sandpaper, sanded the root of the legs, and used medium CA for this step.

 

[sod4]

The landing leg greeblies come next.

These look (to me) like where the legs would foldup into during flight.



One is glued to each side of every leg.



Next is what look to me to be some sort of mechanical advantage mount.



Again, one to each side of every leg. I messed this up a bit and lined the holes up instead of the bottom edge of the leg. I'm not sure which way they were supposed to go. I like the way it ended up though.



And finally the 'feet'. There are two pieces here. One has a mortise cut out to fit over the leg and the other is a flat circle that is glued over as a cap. The cap is the larger plain circle below, the smaller circles are used later.



Feet glued on:



Everything in this post was glued on with medium CA.

 

[sod4]

At this point I realized that I was supposed to glue the motor mount in earlier. Oh well, now is fine!

Also shown in this step are the final triangles for the landing leg housing (left edge of the body tube here, between the two previous triangles)



The motor mount was glued flush with the bottom, though there is a gauge to set it the proper distance from the top.



I didn't individually document the cardstock body tube greeblies but they really add to the whole effect I think. I messed up again here and glued the bottom strips spaced away from the bottom of the tube. I like how it turned out though.

 

[sod4]

Finishing steps are to tie the nose cone on, glue on the launch lug, and glue on the 'antenna dishes'.

I used a double overhand knot to tie on the nose cone:



Not shown below, I cut off two ~.25inch pieces of the launch lug and glued one each at the top and bottom of the body tube, aligned with a fin.



Lastly, there were four 'antenna dish' pieces provided.



Two of them were glued in place on the nose cone:



The discoloration seen in the nose cone is internal fibers from the 3D printing process. It won't be visible in the painted rocket.

Overall this was a fantastic kit!

This is up to date with the build.

I hope to get paint started today. I'll probably go with a neon orange instead of the red, just for visibility's sake.

 

[kitbasher99]

We supplied 4 of the antenna discs because of their small size. I lost some when I was building the prototype, so I figured others might lose some too. Just trying to be helpful.

 

[sod4]

I certainly appreciate it. Would have been easy to lose and frustrating to fab .

 

[user 13]

Nice build!

Looks great! I wish I had thought to cut the launch lug like you did.

Well done so far!

 

[sod4]

Started painting today.

Primer first (Citadel Corax White):



Started brushing on first bits of color:



What do you all think? Red or Orange?

There's so much detail to pick out on this.

 

[sod4]

A bit more..



I think I like the red after all.

 

[sod4]

Scratch that, not a huge fan of the blue.

Went with all red legs, some silver and black as shown. The feet and 'shroud' on the base I painted gold. The nozzle is black, though you may not be able to see it in any of these shots.

First few decals:



Progressing:



Final:



I still need to go back over all of the decals with mircosol. I was surprised at how tough these decals were. It would take a heavy fist to rip these.

So, planned tomorrow is microsol and then matte spray and it'll be done.

I would 100% recommend this kit to anyone wanting to build a cute MMX rocket that's not just 3FNC.

 

[SCooke123]

Turned out great!!!! I built an Estes Mini - Lander years ago - got a lot of flights with it. I need to build this smaller one!

 

[user 13]

Well done! I like the red/white paint for all Mars Landers.

I like that you made it "yours" with the decals and paint.

Looking forward to a launch video.

 

[sod4]

I went and flew today.

It has been a decade since I've flown a mmx rocket and I had forgotten how fast they were off the pad. I only got a few frames of video of the rocket in flight but here it is:



I was so stunned by how fast it took off that I was just watching the flight and subsequently got a bunch of video of the ground

 

[user 13]

Nice! Thanks for the video!

 

[Stretch]

Very cool.....this is the only Mars Lander that I don't have, but I'm working on that. I have all the others. Everything from the little plastic mini Mars, to the 3x Colossus. This one looks fantastic, and I think it's smaller than the mini. Nicely done Sir........= )

 

[user 13]

Very cool.....this is the only Mars Lander that I don't have, but I'm working on that. I have all the others. Everything from the little plastic mini Mars, to the 3x Colossus. This one looks fantastic, and I think it's smaller than the mini. Nicely done Sir........= )

Ok, We need a family photo!

 

[Stretch]

Ok, We need a family photo!

They're not built yet.........I'm planning on starting a build thread and see if I can get all the way to level 3 with just Mars Landers. I can get to level 2 with what I have now, but I'll have to build one from scratch to get to level 3.....by that point will all be Mars Lander experts. = )

 

[Stretch]

Ok, We need a family photo!

*smiles*, I found one. YES...........told you I was working on it........soon as it gets in I'll start the build thread. Hey, I can't let you, and David have all the fun. I'll have to get in touch with Ben, and Tom too. I promised I'd keep them in the loop. = )