Model Rocket Building Blog
Estes MRN Orbital Transport Laboratory Build, BackgroundThe Orbital Transport Laboratory was the June 1971 Design of the Month winner. Designed by Ted Nomura, and featured as Plan #73 in the Model Rocket News - Volume 11, Number 2. Ted Nomura still lives in Las Vegas and is a professional artist. He has drawn many comic book covers. From ...[Read More]
Estes MRN Orbital Transport Laboratory Build, Part 1, PartsHere's almost all of the parts - Interesting that the fins are cut from BFS-40 balsa stock, or 1/8" thick balsa. The dowel is 1/8" diameter. The Engine Hook (pictured above) won't be used because of the card stock nozzle. The the LL-2B launch lug seems long at 2 3/8". The picture above ...[Read More]
Estes MRN Orbital Transport Laboratory Build, Part 2, Decal DrawThe decal draw was tricky and took a few hours. Luckily there are no white decals. I wonder what existing kit decals the original Estes builders used for the MRN picture. The solar panel grids were drawn to allow a border around the sides of the fins. A PDF of the decal sheet is available for ...[Read More]
Estes MRN Orbital Transport Laboratory Build, Part 3, Shroud & Nozzle DrawWhy bother re-drawing printed plans? I do appreciate all the plans stored at the JimZ's and oldrocketplans.com website. But after those initial scans, your download and a "usable" home print you can't count on the shrouds to fit your body tubes. I also wanted clean shroud prints without the words ...[Read More]
Estes MRN Orbital Transport Laboratory Build, Part 4, Fin CuttingFour fins were cut out. Here they are stacked after "gang sanding". In the old days (when we had to cut out fins) the pieces could be a little off. Stack the fins and sand the edges with a block. On the right I'm checking the sides to be sure they are square. A 1/8" wide slot is cut into the side ...[Read More]
Estes MRN Orbital Transport Laboratory Build, Part 6, Engine Mount, Nose Cone TrimHere's the engine mount assembly drawing. The rear of a single 20/50 centering ring is 1 7/8" from the rear of the motor mount tube. Is that rear 20/60 ring really needed? Later another third ring is glued after the engine mount is in place. I thought the dowel end would be glued along the top of ...[Read More]
Estes MRN Orbital Transport Laboratory Build, Part 5, Fin Dowel PositioningI did a test fit of the 1/8" dowel in the slot I just cut. The instructions have you glue the small triangle fin after the main fin is attached through the "drilled" body tube hole. I decided to glue it on now for easier filling of the joint. On the left is the glue joint before squaring up the ...[Read More]
Estes MRN Orbital Transport Laboratory Build, Part 7, Hatch WindowsThe MRN picture shows hatch windows carved into the Gemini style nose cone. I'd bet they grabbed an already finished nose cone off the catalog Gemini Titan catalog model an used it for the picture. Here's the illustration from the Estes Gemini Titan kit showing the hatch carving measurements. ...[Read More]
Estes MRN Orbital Transport Laboratory Build, Part 8, Bottom NozzleThere are two nozzles glued around the engine mount tube. The lower, smaller nozzle is shown in the instructions as single thickness card stock. It would be the first thing to hit the ground and get bent up. Add to that the engine is friction fitted and recessed in the nozzle. I decided to make a ...[Read More]
Estes MRN Orbital Transport Laboratory Build, Part 9, Dowel Hole PositioningThe dowel hole positioning is critical. I spent some time making sure of the locations before actually punching a hole in the body tube. Notice the dowel in line with the center line of the 20/50 centering ring. The inside tip of the smaller triangle "fin holder" piece is glued to the bottom ...[Read More]
Estes MRN Orbital Transport Laboratory Build, Part 10, Dowel Hole PositioningHoles were punched and enlarged slightly for a tight fit of the dowels. TIP: You can clean up the burr left from the punch with a sharpened dowel. Rotate the tip in the hole to dress the edges. Here's how the fins ended up - You can see how the "fin holder" tip overhangs the inside edge of the ...[Read More]
Estes MRN Orbital Transport Laboratory Build, Part 11, Engine Mount GluingThe motor mount assembly is glued so the lower 20/60 ring is flush with the end of the body tube. On the left is the rounded dowel used to apply a glue drop to the inside edge of the top centering ring/body tube joint. The other side of the dowel has a Q-tip taped on to smooth out the glue that ...[Read More]
Estes MRN Orbital Transport Laboratory Build, Part 12, Paint & Fin FittingAfter a shot of filler/primer the body was slightly sanded. Gloss white followed. I noticed the exposed edge of the black centering ring didn't take the paint evenly. I added glue fillet over the black and shot the white again. This time the white covered evenly. OOPS! It happens to all of us - ...[Read More]
Estes MRN Orbital Transport Laboratory Build, Part 13, Chrome Trim & Fin GluingThe old MRN black and white picture showed the black end color as black. The 1973 Estes catalog showed the OTL in color. I could now see it wasn't black, but reflective chrome. Why apply the chrome wrap before gluing on the fins? It would be very difficult to apply the wrap with the fin ...[Read More]
Estes MRN Orbital Transport Laboratory Build, Part 14, Decals, Trim & Touch-upsHere's how the decals were set, the USA was centered between two fins on opposite sides. The available decal sheet has black horizontal stripes. While they could work fine, I used something different. I pulled out my sheet of Contact Paper, Blackboard Material. Strips were cut, wrapped and trimmed ...[Read More]
Estes MRN Orbital Transport Laboratory Build, Part 15, Windows & Nose TrimIt's hard to see in the instructions picture, but the Gemini style capsule has a white circle disk on the nose and the hatch windows are white. These would bee a tough mask. Hand painting white over black would take a few coats. I needed something to trace around. A 13mm "T" engine is just about ...[Read More]
Estes MRN Orbital Transport Laboratory Build, Part 16, Nose Weight & Shock CordThe instructions called for one NCW-1 Lead Weight! LEAD - Between the lead weights and a square of asbestos on the Centuri LIA-50 launchers CLICK HERE , how did we ever survive rocketry in the 1960s and 70s? The lead weight weighed in at 0.12 oz. This model is short - I'd feel better if there was ...[Read More]
Estes MRN Orbital Transport Laboratory Build, FinishedWell, this was a fun build. I had always wanted to build one since I first saw it in the Model Rocket News. I'm happy with the finished model. Some observations: The dowel attached fins are hard to line up. There is not much room for wadding, parachute and the nose cone shoulder. Friction ...[Read More]
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