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flygrimm
05-08-2006, 06:31 PM
Does anyone know what the lengths of the 2 main body tubes for the Estes Mercury Redstone Kit 1921 are? The instruction sheet lists them as type ST-2010 and there are 2 of them. I have the capsule and escape tower but no booster. I have no idea where that went. I figure that I can scrape up the parts and rebuild it. Maybe put a D12 instead of the C5 into it. What do you think?

Stuart

John Brohm
05-08-2006, 07:18 PM
Does anyone know what the lengths of the 2 main body tubes for the Estes Mercury Redstone Kit 1921 are? The instruction sheet lists them as type ST-2010 and there are 2 of them. I have the capsule and escape tower but no booster. I have no idea where that went. I figure that I can scrape up the parts and rebuild it. Maybe put a D12 instead of the C5 into it. What do you think?

Stuart

Hi Stuart;

Kit #1921 uses two ST-2010s; they're each 9.75" long. Personally, I'd go with a single ST-20/T-2.04 (pick your poison and vendor accordingly) airframe 19.5" long - saves having to finish a mid-tube seam.

You can find the tube lengths for most any Estes kit in the Estes Kit/Tube Reference document, found at http://www.rocketshoppe.com/info/Estes_Body_Tube_List.pdf

flygrimm
05-08-2006, 08:04 PM
Thanks John. That link should be helpful in the future as well.

Stuart

CPMcGraw
05-08-2006, 08:16 PM
Does anyone know what the lengths of the 2 main body tubes for the Estes Mercury Redstone Kit 1921 are? The instruction sheet lists them as type ST-2010 and there are 2 of them. I have the capsule and escape tower but no booster. I have no idea where that went. I figure that I can scrape up the parts and rebuild it. Maybe put a D12 instead of the C5 into it. What do you think?

Stuart

Stuart,

I have the #2167 release, which also uses the ST-20 tubes, and has different tube lengths, one of 10" and the other of 9.375". The shorter tube is the lower tube, and has all of the fin holes pre-cut.

Catalogs say the #1921 is 28.75" long, but the #2167 art card says it's only 23.5". I haven't built either version, so I can't verify if either build up to their stated lengths.

The tube lengths I quoted for the #2167 release are from actual measurements, not estimates.

CPMcGraw
05-08-2006, 08:18 PM
Hi Stuart;

Kit #1921 uses two ST-2010s; they're each 9.75" long. Personally, I'd go with a single ST-20/T-2.04 (pick your poison and vendor accordingly) airframe 19.5" long - saves having to finish a mid-tube seam.

You can find the tube lengths for most any Estes kit in the Estes Kit/Tube Reference document, found at http://www.rocketshoppe.com/info/Estes_Body_Tube_List.pdf

John,

That's only 1/8" longer than the #2167 version. Do you happen to know which version is closer to being "accurate" in this regard?

John Brohm
05-08-2006, 09:32 PM
John,

That's only 1/8" longer than the #2167 version. Do you happen to know which version is closer to being "accurate" in this regard?

Craig;

I believe the short answer is 'neither'. I'm on the road just now so I don't have access to Rockets of the World, but as I recall, just the airframe (that is, the rocket minus the Mercury spacecraft, and minus the fin portions that extend below the end of the airframe) was around 58.5'. The Redstone booster had a diameter of 70" exactly.

Our Estes model has a diameter of 2.04", making for a Scale Factor of 34.314. Doing the division on the prototype gives us a model airframe length of 20.46" (~20-15/32"). Neither kit (1921 or 2167) is in this neighborhood, being short by about an inch. I have no idea why this would be when Estes would have (or could have) had access to prototype information at the time. Now there's a good chance the model's fins aren't scale (probably oversized), so maybe Estes was shooting for the overall length to be scale. Again, with ROW not within reach, it's tough to check this speculation just now.

Maybe someone else can shed light on this apparent discrepancy, and maybe my figures should be checked!

Hope this helps;