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Question about various Mercury Redstone's
I have re-discovered rocketry after a 25 year absence and am purchasing some new and older rockets. I have noticed that there appear to be three different versions of the Estes Mercury Redstone. There is one that is currently for sale at numerous hobby shops on-line numbered #2167 that is 23.5" tall, has 2 parachutes (12" & 18") and is 1.6" diameter. Then there is another version - #1921 - that was avail from '84-'90 that is 28.75" tall, has two 12" parachutes and is 2.0" diameter. The last one (or first)i s #1241 that was avail '69-81 and appears to have same measurements as the new one (#2167).
Is there anything I am missing here? I am looking to purchase one that I intend to build and launch often. Any comments or suggestions as to which one to go with would be much appreciated. Thanks, Laurence PS: I am trying to find some of my old time favourites which were The Patriot, Renegade and Sandhawk. I've been keeping an eye on ebay...any other suggestions? |
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They're all now OOP, but The cheapest route would be to buy the most recent #2167 you can still find in some hobby shops. The #1241 was the original Estes design and used a BT-60 or BT-70 size tube and a wooden capsule that you built up. The #1921 was based on the Centuri version of the MR and used an ST-20 (2") tube and had a plastic capsule. The #2167 is similar to the #1921 (same tube size and plastic capsule), but uses crappy plastic fins and stickers for the decals.
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Scott D. Hansen Ye Olde Rocket Shoppe - Your One Stop BAR Shoppe! Ye Olde Rocket Plans - OOP Rocket Plans From 38 Companies! Ye Olde Rocket Forum WOOSH NAR Section #558 |
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Thanks Scott for the feedback!
It sounds to me that I should focus on purcahsing either the 1921 or the 1241. Laurence |
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You'll find them on eBay. Just be prepared to shell out some $$$ for them.
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Scott D. Hansen Ye Olde Rocket Shoppe - Your One Stop BAR Shoppe! Ye Olde Rocket Plans - OOP Rocket Plans From 38 Companies! Ye Olde Rocket Forum WOOSH NAR Section #558 |
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These kits are OOP also. Suggest going to the plans section and downloading a copy of the plans and clone the rockets. Parts can be had from SEMROC or BMS and you can try Excelsior for decals. I'm working on a Renegade clone now. I got the parts from Semroc and a great looking decal set from Excelsior. I'm not sure if Phred (Excelsior) can do the Patriot decals but you may be able to get them from Tango Papa or JimZ. Don NAR 53455 |
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Phred has decals for both the Patriot and Renegade. I have a renegade in the que myself ( parts purchased, find drawn on basswood, but uncut yet ) . As for the Sandhawk, you will have a tough time building a clone of the sandhawk, which used a lot of special plastic parts. Hunt Ebay, but,again , bring the checkbook ..... You might build a semi-scale Sandhawk from scratch using curent parts, the Estes BT60 cone in some PNC-60 paks is real close. Good luck and welcome back ! ~ AL |
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A bt-60 sized Sandhawk is very "doable" with off the shelf parts. But it is fairly tall at about 33" in that scale.
Here's mine next to my BT-60 sized Black Brant II They fly great on a D12-5's.
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"I'm a sandman. I've never killed anyone. I terminate runners when their time is up." Logan from "Logan's Run" http://sandmandecals.com/ |
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I agree with Scott that the basic Estes 2167 kit suffers from the cheesiness of the stickers. Nonetheless, the kit does provide a sport scale-looking model for very little effort. As for the fins themselves, I think the plastic fins are likely to be way more accurate than most modelers can make themselves from balsa in the 2 earlier kits.
If you want the best scale Redstone possible from an Estes kit, for not much more work than the basic 2167 kit requires, then do the following: Buy a 2167 Redstone from AC Supply. If you buy it from the Civil Air Patrol part of their site (the link I provided) the price is $18.90. Otherwise it is $21.10. I don't know what shipping is but if you buy $100 worth of stuff you get free shipping (even on motors). Very reliable outfit. Next go to the Philippus Lansbergen site and download the PDFs labeled ESTES MR-7 or ESTES MR-8. These PDFs allow you to created fantastically detailed skins for the Estes kit. The instructions in the PDF's also include details on how to lengthen the body tube to give it a correct scale size and how to reposition the plastic fins to their correct scale (but still flyable) location. Truly an amazing set of upgrades to the 2167 kit, and free! |
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Thanks for the tip on the link for cheaper prices from AC Supply. Quote:
Whoa! There's some cool stuff on his Models link! I never heard of this guy/site. Was this discussed on TRF or something? I'm going to have to add a link to his site on YORS.
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Scott D. Hansen Ye Olde Rocket Shoppe - Your One Stop BAR Shoppe! Ye Olde Rocket Plans - OOP Rocket Plans From 38 Companies! Ye Olde Rocket Forum WOOSH NAR Section #558 |
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Scott,
The person who designed the Redstone wraps, and many of the other models on the Philippus Lansbergen site, is Erik te Groen. Erik's English is pretty good and he posts occasionaly on TRF under the name " te_groen31". Believe it or not, he just started launching model rockets this summer, 2 years after he did the incredible Redstone wraps! Definitely post a link to the Lansbergen site. And drop Erik a note via TRF and ask him to post here as well, especially about any new models. He's always working on something new, the quality is exceptional, many can be converted to flying models, and the price is right. |
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