Model Rocket Building Blog
Estes Little Joe 1, #7255, Build Part 1, PartsI always thought it was a matter of time before Estes produced a Mercury Little Joe kit. Here's the face card and parts in the bag from the back. Here's the parts for the booster. All seem to be of high quality. The red plastic parts are the capsule and tower. The white parts are the new scale ...[Read More]
Estes Little Joe 1, #7255, Build Part 2, Fin AssemblyIt might be tempting, but never punch the fins off the balsa sheet. Use a sharp knife and cut through the tics to free the parts. It seems balsa is wasted in some kits. Hang onto the big leftover pieces for 3/32" thick repairs later on. Laser cut parts are great except the cuts aren't clean. The ...[Read More]
Estes Little Joe 1, #7255, Build Part 3, Fin AssemblyHere's the fin assembly from the bottom. I wish the tabs were a little longer so they would stick above and could be sanded to surface. On these built up fins there is always something to fill with more CWF. The leading edge is sanded to a taper to match the root and outside edge pieces. The ...[Read More]
Estes Little Joe 1, #7255, Build Part 4, Creasing The Leading Edge SkinYou shouldn't fold the fin cover skin without pre-embossing the center line. I wouldn't recommend creasing the line on corrugated cardboard, the interior wavy layer runs one direction. Unless the scribe line is lined up with the interior cardboard layer you'll crease dips in the skin. TIP: ...[Read More]
Estes Little Joe 1, #7255, Build Part 5, Skinning The FinsThe leading edge fold was sharpened with a burnisher. It doesn't have to be razor sharp, it still has to roll over the front of the fin assembly. The instructions say to put glue on the folded card stock skin. I didn't do it this way, I was concerned that wet card stock might distort. Instead I ...[Read More]
Estes Little Joe 1, #7255, Build Part 6, Skinning The FinsI using my favorite re-purposed tool, a Sharpie barrel to burnish and set the skin onto the glued sides. The picture to the right shows the slight overhang at the root edge. this will better fit the body tube curve. At the bottom you can see the skin overhang. You can carefully cut off the ...[Read More]
Estes Little Joe 1, #7255, Build Part 7, Engine MountThe engine mount is pretty standard except for the big rings. On the right is the lower ring. The four nozzles holes are cut. The laser cut lines are the glue positions for the plastic pieces. Notice the off-set notches for the tabs in the motor housings. The lower ring is glued 1/4" from the ...[Read More]
Estes Little Joe 1, #7255, Build Part 8, Cutting The TTW Fin SlotsI extended the printed cut lines to give me more to align the straightedge on. The fit of the cutting guide was good around the tube. TIP: The engine mount is not glued in place yet. It was slipped into the tube for support while the notched are cut. The cut lines were traced with a sharp pencil. ...[Read More]
Estes Little Joe 1, #7255, Build Part 9, Engine Mount GluingThe cut tube bottom edges were smoothed by wiping some medium CA and sanding with 400 grit. Note I wrote "edges" of the tube. TIP: Don't apply CA glue to any area that will get wood glue later. CA glue will seal the tube and wood glue won't stick to it. In the instructions you are directed to ...[Read More]
Estes Little Joe 1, #7255, Build Part 10, Shroud Prep & FormingThe adapter is laser cut on card stock. Be sure to knock off the hold down tics. I cut them off with a knife, then smoothed the nub with sandpaper. The sides can be cleaned up by very lightly running some 400 grit over the edges. Don't sand off too much or change the diameters. As usual, the ...[Read More]
Estes Little Joe 1, #7255, Build Part 11, Shroud Assembly GluingThe ring was slid over (no glue) a tube for support. I sanded a very slight angle into the ring edge so there wouldn't be a bump where the edge contacted the shroud. The sanding only knocks off the vertical inside corner. The ring is glued into the base of the shroud. It ended up with a slight ...[Read More]
Estes Little Joe 1, #7255, Build Part 12, Filler / PrimerHere's the main body after a shot of the Duplicolor Filler/Primer, before sanding. The primary tube seam has been filled, but this tube has a second recess seam under the clear glassiene wrap. Most all of this second recess should be filled with the filler/primer. The fins were taped down to a ...[Read More]
Estes Little Joe 1, #7255, Build Part 13, Nozzles & Fin FittingI didn't use tube cement. The two halves were held together and liquid cement was brushed on the inside seam. The nozzles then snap into the motor housings. It takes a good push to seat them. Be sure to line up the notch so the nozzle angle is correct. The tab on the base fits into the rectangle ...[Read More]
Estes Little Joe 1, #7255, Build Part 14, Hit & A Miss!One fin is painted orange. On the left is the mask. I set a triangular piece of Scotch tape over the very outside edge of the fin to leave it silver. That's a Sharpie blackened triangular piece of Scotch tape. The original Little Joe I had silver on the outside edge. This mask turned out very ...[Read More]
Estes Little Joe 1, #7255, Build Part 15, Nozzle Gluing & Shroud FixNotice one of the motor housings has a notch on the small side to fit around and allow movement of the engine hook. This is a dry fit before gluing. I used the Beacon Fabri-Tac glue to seat the small nozzles and housings. There is a tab on the larger nozzles and a notch in the centering ring for ...[Read More]
Estes Little Joe 1, #7255, Build Part 16, A Tricky MaskThe outside edges of the three silver fins get a orange stripe. After the sprayed decal didn't work I had to go back and mask it. I used the decal backing for a width template. Scotch tape was hit with a wide black Sharpie. Strips were cut on a glass sheet. On the left shows masking tape set over ...[Read More]
Estes Little Joe 1, #7255, Build Part 17, Trim and DecalsI won't be going into much detail about the capsule and tower assembly, it has been covered before. You should refer to the old Centuri instructions - build it upside down from the narrower end down going up. To see that instruction post: CLICK HERE The bottom raised "ring" on the capsule is red. ...[Read More]
Estes Little Joe 1, #7255, Build FinishedThis is a big impressive model. I've been a fan of the Mercury Little Joe since I first saw a picture of it in High School. At one time I was trying to collect scale data. The orange and black leading edge fin trim are difficult masks. I did go back and do some extra fill at the wide end of the ...[Read More]
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