Terry Kosel's LJ II

[Ltvscout]

While going through old emails I found this message from Terry dated 06/23/98. I bought one of these from him. Still sitting in the box. :D Even though he lists a chute, the kit was shipped without one. He sent me $5 back.

--
Thank you for your interest in the 1/40 Little Joe II kit. Here are the
details:

24 mm E15-4 engine (I'm sure other engines would work, I have only flight
tested with the E15)
Weight: 13 oz. (yeah, it's a bit of a pig, but it's sturdy!)
3.9" Diameter
Lasercut ply centering rings
Cast urethane & resin details
Pre-applied corrugation wrap (just like Centuri!)
Pre-printed service module wrap (just like Centuri!)
Ripstop nylon parachutes

Total price w/Priority Mail shipping, $60.
Check or money order, I will hold shipment until personal checks clear the
bank.

Terry Kosel
mrkmrsk@aol.com

[Ltvscout]

This was Terry's follow-up message a few months later when I asked him about what size chutes to use in his kit.

Parachute dimensions are as follows:

CM/LES Chute - 12" - 18"
SM/BOOSTER Chute - 18" - 24"

I flew my kit prototype using the smaller dimensions. Both parts landed on a
cement walkway (the only non-grass surface with 2 acres!), resulting in
chipped fin corner and the LES tower breaking where the struts meet the LES
skirt. The chutes I used were from a couple of Aerotech kits.

Hope you enjoy your kit!


Terry

[kurtschachner]

I remember those kits as well. Gee, it has been a while.

Remember Kosrox?

http://www.tela.com/~dtkostron/

[Ltvscout]

I remember those kits as well. Gee, it has been a while.

Remember Kosrox?

http://www.tela.com/~dtkostron/
Yup, sure do. Damian has given me permission to post his plans for these on YORP. He sent me all his plans earlier this year. I just have to get it posted online. ;)

[kurtschachner]

Yup, sure do. Damian has given me permission to post his plans for these on YORP. He sent me all his plans earlier this year. I just have to get it posted online. ;)

Ya, his site is pretty much a shell of what it was (and last updated in 2003 I see), but at one time he sold hardware, right? Was it whole kits or just tubes and stuff? I forget.

[Ltvscout]

Ya, his site is pretty much a shell of what it was (and last updated in 2003 I see), but at one time he sold hardware, right? Was it whole kits or just tubes and stuff? I forget.
He sold parts paks to go along with his plan sets.

[Chas Russell]

Wow, is this a blast from the past. I have a Kosel Little Joe II kit and a Kosrox 1/70 Saturn 1B kit. Both are in storage and haven't seen the light of day in years. Must dig out the Little Joe II and see what is all there. I have a Centuri Little Joe II kit that I bought when they closed them out. Unfortunalty, the wrap on mine is a bit off-center and has a gap. Looks like I installed it rather than the factory. :eek:

Good thread. Thanks Scott for the update on the Kosel recommended recovery requirements.

Chas

[Doug Sams]

Remember Kosrox?

http://www.tela.com/~dtkostron/I've placed two orders with him over the years. I got a variety of tubes from him including some BT51, BT100 and BT101, IIRC. I also got some long, kraft paper launch lugs.

He announced a couple years ago that he was getting out of the biz. I suspect he lost interest in it.

Doug

[SEL]

He did two runs of the LJII - the first with cast resin fin fairings and the second had vacu-formed fairings. Neither came with a chute(s). I also have one of his Saturn 1B kits. The LJII's show up on ebay every now and then, tho I haven't seen one in a while.

S.


While going through old emails I found this message from Terry dated 06/23/98. I bought one of these from him. Still sitting in the box. :D Even though he lists a chute, the kit was shipped without one. He sent me $5 back.

--
Thank you for your interest in the 1/40 Little Joe II kit. Here are the
details:

24 mm E15-4 engine (I'm sure other engines would work, I have only flight
tested with the E15)
Weight: 13 oz. (yeah, it's a bit of a pig, but it's sturdy!)
3.9" Diameter
Lasercut ply centering rings
Cast urethane & resin details
Pre-applied corrugation wrap (just like Centuri!)
Pre-printed service module wrap (just like Centuri!)
Ripstop nylon parachutes

Total price w/Priority Mail shipping, $60.
Check or money order, I will hold shipment until personal checks clear the
bank.

Terry Kosel
mrkmrsk@aol.com

[kurtschachner]

I've placed two orders with him over the years. I got a variety of tubes from him including some BT51, BT100 and BT101, IIRC. I also got some long, kraft paper launch lugs.

He announced a couple years ago that he was getting out of the biz. I suspect he lost interest in it.

Doug


Those tubes (if you got the same ones I did) were horrid. When I did the mass tube buy for the 1/70 scale Saturn 1b I had them made up by Custom Paper Tubes in Ohio. This was due to the fact that Euclid wouldn't return my phone calls but CPT did. The ones I got for that deal were OK, not great but certainly usable. With that deal I did not buy any of the tubes that could be procured somewhere else so you were missing some sizes. Damian went ahead and bought those tubes from CPT and sold them to the group members from our earlier buy. He sent me several sets for free (including the long launch lugs) but I recall that I pretty much immediately threw them away. The quality was horrible - the glassine was poorly attached, had huge gaps, and the tubes themselves were poorly sized. Maybe he sent my free sets using the leftovers, but whatever, they were bad.

Like I said, those were the days.

[Doug Sams]

Those tubes (if you got the same ones I did) were horrid.
I got a mix. He threw in for free some bad tubes - mostly BT-20, IIRC. But everything I paid for was good.

However, I still learned a valuable business lesson in it. I have on occasion worked with the bad BT-20's, trying to salvage a length of tube here and there, only to get frustrated with them. (Bad glassine, as noted.) The result was that, in the back of my mind, I lost respect for the product even though he _gave_ me the tubes. Thus, I conclude it's better to scrap sub-standard product rather than give it away. It can negatively affect the quality image a vendor is trying to maintain - even when it's free.

Fortunately, in Damian's case, I'm consciously aware of what happened and thus have no ill regards, but I probably would have been better off tossing the bad stuff instead of putting it in my stash along side the good.

Doug