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 Rocketry Product: FlisKits - Mercury Redstone {Kit} (SC007)

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 1 Parts (2014-12-12)

    This one is going to be a challenge! This Fliskits Mercury Redstone is BT-5 based. I'll start on the fins first, I'll be making some of the small details on a cruise. ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 2 Fins (2014-12-13)

Here’s the laser cut fin pieces. On the upper left, the 1/16" thick Basswood Main Fin pieces Upper right, laser cut card stock, six fin tip pieces are on the sheet Below is the 1/32" laser ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 3 Fins (2014-12-14)

Here's the basswood fins next to the full size drawings on the instruction sheet. The instructions say to remove the fins to taper the leading edges. TIP: Leave all the fins on the basswood ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 4 Main Fin Tapering (2014-12-15)

As before, set the main fin on the instruction drawing and draw the taper line down the fin. Leave the fins on the sheet. Sand two fin leading edge tapers at the same time. As you are ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 5 Fins (2014-12-16)

This shows how the burnt brown edge shows the taper shape. The closest edges has been sanded, the fin will be flipped over and the other leading edges tapered. Be sure the width of the brown edge ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 6 Fin Air Rudders (2014-12-17)

Here the pencil lines are drawn down the taper line using the extended lines already drawn on the instruction sheet. Cut the basswood edge off down to the leading edge on both sides of the ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 7 Tower Step 1 (2014-12-18)

I emailed Jim Flis about wanting to build the tower instead of using the card stock tower supplied in the kit. He sent templates and a heavy card alignment stand for gluing it all together. On ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 8 Tower Step 2 (2014-12-19)

I bought some Evergreen styrene, .030" rods for the verticals and .020" rods for the horizontal an diagonal struts. These are slightly larger than Mr. Flis recommends but I wanted the tower a bit ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 9 Tower Step 3 (2014-12-20)

Continue gluing on the horizontal pieces. Hold them down with small pieces of tape. The diagonal ends are cut to the correct angle, taped and glued in place. All are still left long. ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 10 Tower Step 4 (2014-12-21)

  The right side horizontal and diagonal corners only touch and will be glued to the adjoining tower side. The long right side ends are cut with one pass of the razor blade.   ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 11, Tower Step 5 V Braces (2014-12-22)

At the top of the inverted "V" the tips were cut at an angle. The very tip point is cut off for a flat end for the tower side low end. The inset shows the bottom ends cut off  (both even) ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 12, Tower Assembly (2014-12-23)

While the instructions show the tower base ring to be a single layer, I glued the two together for a thicker ring. This is glued to the "shelf" on the nose cone. The lower tower inverted "Vs" will ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 13, Tower Assembly? (2014-12-24)

The tower sides were too wide to fit against the escape rocket dowel! There wouldn't be enough contact to make a good glue joint. I had a few extra sides made up. The diagonal and horizontal ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 14, Tower Eject Housing (2014-12-25)

Before the dowel is cut to size, I'd recommend drilling a small hole for the tower spike. The instructions just say to glue it on top. With it set in a hole it won't break off as easily. ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 15, Fin Assembly (2014-12-26)

I did give the fins a shot of primer/filler before gluing them together. Basswood still has a small grain and these would be impossible to fill after gluing the pieces together. Here the air ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 16, Fin Assembly (2014-12-27)

  The surface of the card stock fin tips is glossy. I lightly scraped the gluing area for a better bond. The air rudders glue even with the bottoms of the card stock fin tips. The inset ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 17, Stabilizer Fin Unit (2014-12-28)

A fin pattern sheet is included but all the fins are laser cut. It's a good thing, I wouldn't want to cut anything this small and try to get them consistent in size. The fin marking guide is cut ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 18, Fin Gluing, Fillets and Launch Lug (2014-12-29)

The rear of the fins overhang the rear end of the body tube. The center low air rudder in the inset picture will have to be adjusted. It's leaning to the left. Fillets were applied and ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 19, Primer and Sanding (2014-12-30)

The fins were shot with primer/filler. The air rudder joint had some fuzz that showed up when the primer dried. The low end of the fin fillet (fairing) was sanded round with 400 grit wrapped ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 20, Masking and Cleaning Up (2014-12-30)

I've masked and painted Mercury Redstones before but this was a small hard mask. The Scotch tape strips look strange in the left side picture. More masking tape was added. On the right is the ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 21, The Kit Tower (2015-01-01)

  I know, this one was posted a few days ago before realizing it was out of order. I pulled it and am posting it today. I decided to use the kit card stock towers. The built up pieced towers ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 22, Decals (2015-01-01)

The decals were very thin. The black band wrap in the center didn't meet up, if the launch lug were glued on it would be separated at the standoff. I cut another from some home print decals to ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Build Part 23, Launch Lug TIP (2015-01-02)

The 1/8" diameter lug seemed pretty big to be glued on this BT-5 based model. It took away from the looks of the finished model. I cut the tapered ends down to the length of the leftover BT-5 ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mercury Redstone Finished (2015-01-03)

  This was actually a fun build. I like the challenge of working small. I could have gone back and made another tower with the appropriate sized plastic rods but I was ready to finish ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: FlisKits Mecury Redstone Decal Fix (2015-07-03)

On one side of my FlisKits Mercury Redstone the UNITED STATES decals transferred fine. On the other side, the word UNITED broke apart. After redrawing the larger and thinner font for the new ... [Read More]

Model Rocket Building: Hydra Sanhawk? (2020-07-31)

Ed Brown posted this picture on the Facebook Model Rocketry Fanatics page: So . . . Is it a HYDRA SANDHAWK or, HYDRA SANHAWK? To see the entire build from Finish to Start: CLICK HERE Here's ... [Read More]