Mars Lander
Building Tips
LANDER LEGS: To help in the building of the Lander's legs, here is a file (picture) of the leg layout. You can use it as a template to build each leg over. Make sure that the printout is the correct scale (the image has a ruler imbedded in it as a reference).
Foot Pads: The short piece of bt20 tube is used to make the 1/8 inch piece that gets sandwiched between the two pad discs. You will need to cut these from the provided tube.
Nose Cone: If you build the Lander to use the bt50 motor tube, you must add weight to the nose to bring the balance point up to the first body transition. I added about 1 oz of lead shot to the nose of mine to get it to balance (with motor installed). See photo below.
Ring/Bulkhead Labels: To help in correlating the rings in the parts kit with those of the original Estes kit, the link to the image should help you out. (see pdf files of ML parts)
Bulkhead Gusset (Part 13)These parts are made to fit with the bt20 motor tube. If you use the bt50 motor tube instead, you will need to modify these to fit.
Here are a few more pictures to show how I built mine (bt50 style).
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This is the model completely built. Notice how I made mine to separate into pieces. I did this to gain access to the legs (for repair and to experiment with different leg elastics).
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Look closely and you can see a small screw that holds the body to the base. I used two screws, one on each side.
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With the shell off, you can see the gory details of the base. Notice the small block of wood that the screw goes into to hold the shell on.
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After gluing on the launch lug, I realized there was no way I was going to need such a tight fit around the launch lug (not to mention not being able to get the bulkhead to even fit - if there is any glue fillet around the launch lug tube). So, I just cut the bulkhead launch lug opening a little).
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Same as above, just a different angle.
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This picture will give you an idea of how much weight needs to be added to get the model to balance. Each of the holes is at least an inch deep, filled with lead shot and topped off with epoxy.
I hope this helps. If you are puzzled about something, drop me a line and I'll see what I can do to help you out.