Kit review of SEMROC Mars Lander

[sandman]

Mars lander Build
OK, I will be the first.

I started my Mars Lander last night. There are a whole bunch of parts. Parts are precicely laser cut with just enough material left to hold the parts in place until you're ready for them.

The parts aren't numbered but there is a chart in the instruction on page 2 showing the number designation refered too in the build steps.

So far the only complaint I have is how easy it is to get the parts covered in soot from the laser cuts. No big deal just keep paper towels handy.

I have the legs mostly completed but there are a LOT of parts so finishing the legs took about two hours.

OK, I'm slow!

[sandman]

I may have found the first "gotcha" but maybe I'm doing something wrong.

On step 13 is says to center the landing pad ring EB-20B to the lower pad disk (part 5).

I looked on the chart on page 2 and found lower pad disc part 5.

Unfortunately part 5 is smaller than the EB-20B rings.

Step 14 shows part #7 as the bottom disc.


Carl,

Ring in here and I'll wait before I glue any more. I may be completely wrong on this.

Look at the picture.

Item #5 the lower pad is on the right and fits inside the EB-20B ring.

Part #7 is the second row.

On the left is the upper disc.

Actually I believe this is just a typo. step 13 should use part #7 for the lower pad and step 14 should say part #5 for the landing pad disc.

I'll wait.

It's no big deal.

[tbzep]

I just started mine. I'm also doing one of my 1/2 price Outlanders (thanks to Hobby Lobby) a few steps ahead of the ML. That way if I mess something up, it will be on the cheap Outlander. ;)

Is there a source of Mars Lander and Outlander photos that have different paint schemes, or extra customization? I'm planning on doing the Outlander in Mars Lander colors, but it would be cool to do some extra stuff with both of them.

[Royatl]

I've read it a number of times and don't see anything wrong with it.

[sandman]

It looks like they just swapped parts #5 and #7 in the instructions.

#5 is smaller and goes on the very bottom. Sort of a foot pad.

It's no big deal.

[Royatl]

I see what you're saying now.

it is just swapped in the Parts ID on step 2. The text in steps 13 and 14 agree with the exploded view in the center of the manual.

[Carl@Semroc]

The parts identification figure in step #2 is wrong. Parts #5 and #7 are swapped. Also Parts #20 and #21 are swapped. The time stamp on the file was 3:00 a.m. the day before we left for NARCON! Why do all National Rocket events happen about three weeks too early?

[sandman]

Carl,

It's no big deal. I could figure it out. :D

Now that I've painted the landing legs red I get to sit and watch paint dry. :rolleyes:

I'll post some pictures after the paint drys a bit more...don't wanna touch them.

So, how do you paint the legs without getting paint on the rubber bands????

[snaquin]

Mars lander Build
OK, I will be the first.

Sandman, Thanks! I'm following your build review here.

My Mars Lander was waiting on the porch for me when I got home with a Hustler parts pack also inside of the box to keep the Lander company on it's trip here from Semroc :D

I'm surprised that all of those parts could be fit inside of that little bag!

[sandman]

OK, the legs are painted except for the footpads. They are dry enough to touch...but just barely!

I did the ascent stage body cuts and glued the landing leg housings.

I've used a LOT of parts but...there are a lot of parts to go!

I've been looking at all the little pieces parts left over (knock-outs and extra unused discs.) I wonder what I could make with them?

Look! Red legs!

[tbzep]

Look! Red legs!

Are you going to paint the footpads something other than red? I'm doing an Outlander in ML colors and pulling along with the ML right behind it. I've just finished the Outlander legs and added the launch lug shocks to the struts like the ML. I haven't painted anything yet, though.

Edit: I read ahead in the instructions. I see it says to paint the pads silver. All the Estes catalog pictures show them red. I jumped over to JimZs' and found the instructions are the same for the Estes version. I wonder why they went through the trouble to darken the panel lines on the catalog model but didn't fool with painting the pads silver?

[sandman]

Yes the pads will be silver like they said...not red like they did.

Chan Stevens pointed out another minor oops on the top 20/60 centering ring with the tiny hole for the Kevlar. Be careful to align it so it's not blocked off by the lander leg upper dowel.

Both of those oopses were easy enough to prevent.

The first one wasn't too tuff to figure out espesially since I just finished my outlander. The feet and legs are the same.

I noticed the tiny Kevlar hole right away. I think I got lucky there.

I got all of the wraps (transitions) finished tonight. There are a lot of them! They weren't easy but then again I like paper transitions.

Now here's a few important tips before you guys start on yours.

Keep plenty of paper towels around to constantly clean up your work area and the parts. The brown soot from the laser cutting can make a mess real fast!

Keep your fingers clean too! Use the paper towels a lot! The embossed wraps can get dirty very fast if your fingers are dirty.

Clean the glue and the brown dust off as often as you can! Be obsesive about it!

For all of you (us) older guys be sure you have really good lighting, especially on the shrouds. The embossing can be hard to see with "older" eyes.

On the laser cut card parts, when you remove a part and there are other parts concentric with it, keep everything in it's original location. It can be tuff to find if you move it and it isn't where it's supposed to be anymore.

On the wraps (transitions). If you are not good at doing paper transitions, LEAVE THE KIT IN THE BAG!!!!

You should not even attempt this kit until you are better at it.

Practice on something else first! This IS a skill level 5 kit! It's not easy and it cannot be thrown together.

This kit is identical to the original only BETTER!!

This is the kind of kit us old guys remember fondly. No plastic injection molded parts, all paper, card stock and balsa.

The entire kit can be built using Elmer's white glue only (PVA glue for our Brit friends). No CYA, No epoxy. Don't use yellow glue, it will discolor the parts and it causes shrinkage.

Carl's got a real winner here!!

[Leo]

Thank you for posting your build!

Exactly what I was hoping for :)

Now, how to get a ML to Germany????

[barone]

So, how do you paint the legs without getting paint on the rubber bands????

Well, how did you do it?

Don
NAR 53455

[Royatl]

Well, how did you do it?

Don
NAR 53455

Way back when (in 1970) I used a brush. and if I got some on the rubber band, it was thick enough that I just let it dry, then stretched the rubber band and the paint let go.

[Leo]

...
Now, how to get a ML to Germany????

Well, I ordered one today so keep them assembly pictures coming in ;)

[sandman]

All of the sub assemblies are finished. I have everything painted. but I used an epoxy painte (it give a super finish without primer!)

Unfortunately after like 3 days it's still a bit tacky to the touch so I'll wait a few more days before I handle it.

All I have to do after this are the decals.

I'll take some pics later.

[sandman]

Sorry, I forgot to post a pic yesterday.

Here are the subassemblies waiting for the paint to dry...don't touch! :rolleyes:

The subassembly thing works out really well, no masking, I hate masking! :mad:

[sandman]

The paint has finally dried!

I began to prep for the decals by checking the instructions...no help there...

Sooooo....I went to JimZ's site and viola! There is a pic showing the lander "unrolled" with the decal placement. That couldn't possibly be more clear! It's page K-43m.

Just what I needed!

SEMROC's decals are an absolute pleasure to work with. Thick enough to use but thin enough to look good when finished.

This was by far the most fun part of the build.

Now if you are a cloning purist you may want to contact Phred at Excelcior for an original decal set. I like the ones that came with the model.

Carl's repro has some "slight" changes to reflect the fact that it's a SEMROC kit.

Nothing serious, the round "Estes Mars Lander" emblem is an oval "SEMROC Mars Lander" decal and the blue band with "MARTIN MARIETTA" now says "SEMROC ASTRONAUTICS".

The last change I noticed is the ML.4 decal is now ML.7.

Carl, what's the significance of that? Just asking.

But that's for the purist.

When the decals have dried I'll give it a coat of Future then put it all together.

BTW with it built in sub assemblies it sure make the decals easier to do! Just be careful with the top shroud 'cause it's unsupported for now and could be easily damaged.

[Leo]

Very nice :)

I can't wait for mine to arrive!

[Carl@Semroc]

The last change I noticed is the ML.4 decal is now ML.7.

Carl, what's the significance of that? Just asking.

So it differentiates it from the upcoming ML-9! Centuri habits are hard to kick.

[tbzep]

Sandman,

Were you tempted to blacken the panel lines the way it is done in the catalog model? I've got a lot of time to think about things like this becuse it's about 25 degrees too cold to paint here. I'm at a standstill on both the Outlander and ML because of that. In the mean time, I've decided to clone a few old rockets. :)

http://www.dars.org/jimz/estes/k-43@.gif

[sandman]

Now THAT was a fun build!

The worst part of the whole build was waiting for stuff to dry so I could go to the next step.

Carl has a genuine winner here!

5 for 5 in my book!

That was so much fun I'd almost like to do another one...anybody want me to build theirs for them?

I breafly thought about doing the panel lines but the embossed paper seems to show the panels off well enough for me.

I think drawing the lines in may be a bit to 'distracting" from the work that Carl and Bruce put into the embossing. Besides, it would be real easy to muck it up.

[snaquin]

Now THAT was a fun build!

The worst part of the whole build was waiting for stuff to dry so I could go to the next step.

Carl has a genuine winner here!

5 for 5 in my book!

That was so much fun I'd almost like to do another one...anybody want me to build theirs for them?

I breafly thought about doing the panel lines but the embossed paper seems to show the panels off well enough for me.

I think drawing the lines in may be a bit to 'distracting" from the work that Carl and Bruce put into the embossing. Besides, it would be real easy to muck it up.

Beautiful build Sandman. That epoxy paint has a nice high gloss finish. Any tips you can offer on how you attached those springs to the underside to be sure they don't snap loose?

Just me but I'd be scared to draw in the lines and ruin it right after I built it. A buddy of mine did his like that and it looked ok at a distance but he had a lot of problems getting the lines laid in properly. It didn't look so good up close.

[A Fish Named Wallyum]

Sandman,

Were you tempted to blacken the panel lines the way it is done in the catalog model? I've got a lot of time to think about things like this becuse it's about 25 degrees too cold to paint here. I'm at a standstill on both the Outlander and ML because of that. In the mean time, I've decided to clone a few old rockets. :)

http://www.dars.org/jimz/estes/k-43@.gif

Well don't keep us in suspense! What are you cloning? :confused:

[barone]

Gordon,

Did you have any problem with your shroud alignment? For instance...when I align the edges of my ascent module shroud so top and bottom edges are even (step 35), my embossed lines are about 1/16th of an inch out of alignment.

Don
NAR 53455

[sandman]

This is what I did using ball point pen springs.

I also came up with another alternate method that seemed to work equally well too.

I didn't show it on my build 'cause Icame up with it and made it so quick. :D

Actually I liked it so much i used both methods.

Redundancy is good and besides...I had a lot of junk pens to get rid of.

Total cost...about 8 drops of mixed epoxy.

[sandman]

Don, on the shroud alignment.

Mine isn't perfect but it's not too bad. I almost wish I had another to try but it looks fine.

The trick is to wrap and glue the upper shroud with the lower ring as a size referance. The embossed edge is very hard to see to align it. I also used a scrap section of BT-60 on the top part.

Mine is about 1/64" off but that's pretty hard to see.

The included pic shows a really tight closeup shot but....normally i wouldn't let anyone get that close. :o

Like I said, if you're not goot at paper transition this is NOT the kit to practice on!

Whenever you have a paper transition going to another paper transition it's gonna be a tuff one to get exactly right.

Give Carl an email , carl@semroc.com he'll send you another wrap I'm sure.

It's just paper.

[tbzep]

Well don't keep us in suspense! What are you cloning? :confused:

:p Not much. I'm doing up an EAC Viper (#820) and a Nike-X (#1270). I'll probably upscale them both when I get finished with the 1:1 models, unless the weather gets warm enough to paint before then.

[barone]

Mine is about 1/64" off but that's pretty hard to see.



Gordon,

Tried to get a picture of the alignment with tops even but was hard to do....So this shows how far off with the embossed lines aligned with each other....yeah, I know, the thumb is a hard scale to use.....6/10ths across the nail....lol....

It may work out anyway since an antenna thingy goes on the seam and may cover most of it. All the other shrouds seem to line up okay.

Don
NAR 53455

[barone]

Gordon,

Hope you don't mind me adding to your review.....Just starting mine and thought that if someone hasn't thought of it (some of us do it so much that we don't think about others not knowing about it), I used an angle tee for the landing gear housing assemblies.....Makes sure they're aligned properly and on the edge. Note the glue syringe I use......

Don
NAR 53455

[sandman]

Don, I think you may have a missaligned part there.

Contact Carl so he can send you a replacement.

These things happen.

[barone]

Don, I think you may have a missaligned part there.

Contact Carl so he can send you a replacement.

These things happen.
Gordon,

Thanks for the input. I'll drop them a line. As slow as I build and as fast as Carl ships, I'm sure a replacement will be here before I need it. Man, I'm reallllly impressed with the quality of the balsa in this kit..... :) Really tight grain....won't be much filling to do.

Don
NAR 53455

[snaquin]

Gordon,

Hope you don't mind me adding to your review.....Just starting mine and thought that if someone hasn't thought of it (some of us do it so much that we don't think about others not knowing about it), I used an angle tee for the landing gear housing assemblies.....Makes sure they're aligned properly and on the edge. Note the glue syringe I use......

Don
NAR 53455

That's a great idea Don. I use a metal angle like that all the time to mark my body tubes and to assist when cutting slots ect. but I wouldn't have even thought to use it for alignment in that manner. Thanks for the suggestion!

I have the right tool for the job and didn't even realize it was the tool for the job :D

[sandman]

I didn't even fill my balsa. I just gave it a coat of Elmer's white glue sanded it and painted it.

As for my angle, I use a tiny rosewood trysquare.

[Carl@Semroc]

Gordon,

Thanks for the input. I'll drop them a line. Don
NAR 53455Don,
We will ship a replacement out today.

[ghrocketman]

Sandman,
Is that grain I see in your Lander's legs or did you use METALLIC red paint to finish them ?
I see that you state you used Elmer's glue to fill the wood....I find that stuff almost as HORRIBLE to sand as Titebond....I use the same wood finishing method as I always have, going way back to 1977....good old-fashioned genuine NOS PACTRA (note NOT Midwest) Aero Gloss Balsa fillercoat or sanding sealer from one of the many big red cans from my stash of 2 cases of the stuff. Works (and smells) just as great as it always did.

[sandman]

I use just Elmer's white glue and a brush. One coat dries qhickly and all you have to do is sand the "nap" of the wood that comes up. The glue doesn't cover the grain much but instead it seals the wood enough that it doesn't soak up the paint.

Yes that is wood grain showing.

In the "tradition" of this kit I decided to let it show.

[barone]

Found this helped with cutting the dowels.....

I used a straight edge to extend the angles cuts of the dowels on the pattern sheet out so that when I laid the dowels on the pattern, I had an extension line on both sides to align my cuts with....

Don
NAR 53455

[barone]

Don,
We will ship a replacement out today.


Thanks Carl. Got it today (and before I needed it :D ). Lines up perfectly :) . This is a GREAT kit. I'm enjoying the build. Got a question though.....When lining up the wrap to cut out the leg slots, should the wrap be aligned with the top edge of the BT or 1/8th inch lower? I wasn't sure but didn't want to cut into it until I knew for sure. Just filled the spirals and moved on to another portion till I got it figured out.....

Don
NAR 53455

[Carl@Semroc]

... should the wrap be aligned with the top edge of the BT or 1/8th inch lower?

Don
NAR 53455It should be centered so there is room on either side for pencil marks. There is some slop in the cut out areas so it should not matter since the housings are aligned with the bottom of the tube.

[barone]

Thanks Carl......I guess I should have read the directions on the wrap a little more closely.... :o

Don
NAR 53455