Scratch-Built Saturn V

Mark's Saturn V (1/154)

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1/154 Sport Scale Saturn V (click to download larger image 35KB)

I started a 1/154 sport scale scratch-built Saturn V (BT-80, 60, 50) back in 1998 before word of the 30th Anniversary reissue and had no intention of stopping once it was annnounced

I have a copy of the Estes #2001 plans from JimZ's site. There are no dimensions in the instructions though. I went to lots of web sites. Some of them had some dimensions. None of them had all. None of them had the height of the interstage adapter between the S-II and S-IVB stages (lowest tapered adapter). I finally stumbled across John Duncan's site The Apollo Saturn Reference Page. John used to offer photocopies of an 11" X 17" Boeing Poster with dimensions, along with various magazine articles. Those documents are no longer available from John, but his site does contain lots of excellent pictures and some dimensioned drawings of the lower stages of the Saturn rocket. With these dimensions I made an CAD drawing and scaled it down. From the scaled-down drawing I got my tube and taper lengths.

There are some differences from the #2001, but it's fairly close. I moved the ejection separation up to between the S-IVB and the SLA (long taper below SM where LM rode) but built it the same way. I oversized my fins even more than Estes did (them 35% bigger, mine 50%) so that I wouldn't need to add too much nose weight. I mounted a single Estes D/E engine adapter in a BT-80 coupler and have a thrust ring inside the body with a retainer tab and screw aft of the un-glued coupler. I planned to build a five engine cluster (all 18 mm, or four 18 mm around a center 24 mm) in another BT-80 coupler, but haven't yet. I used a length of stranded steel picture hanging wire as a SC mount. This is passed through small holes in the MMT centering rings and looped around the engine tube, aft of the aft centering ring.

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As far as accuracy to the real thing, the scale is a little off for the tube diameters: the BT-80 section is 0.029" big, the BT-60 section is 0.051" small, and BT-50 section is 0.024" small. The engine fairings are a bit over scale to compensate visually for the oversized fins.

I used VCP (http://v-serv.com/vcp/) for making tapered adapter patterns, fin marking guides, and finding the CP of the rocket. After weighing the nearly finished rocket and balancing on a pencil to find the CG, this information was entered as a mass item in VCP. I then added a mass item for a nose weight and sized it up until I had the proper amount for stability (1 caliber). The nose weight (split-shot fishing sinkers) was epoxied into the CM. The LES Tower was constructed from small pieces of paper clip epoxied together. The LES Rocket uses the head and one-half inch of the shank of a tapered wood screw with a cardboard extension (cut from a Q-Tip shaft) wrapped in bond paper and white glue to achieve the proper diameter. The tip was sanded to a taper with a rounded point.

The body was painted with Painter's Touch: metallic silver, semi-gloss white, and semi-gloss black. I got a copy of the decals from JimZ's site which I was going to print with a color printer on clear adhesive sheet; however, I decided to order decals from Tango Papa instead. I had Tom resize them from the 1/100 scale of the #2001 kit to 1/154.

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Parts List:
2 - BT-80 (need 16.04", standard Estes piece is 14.25")
1 - BT-60 (need 7.30")
1 - BT-55 (56 or even 50 can be substituted - I used lighter wrapping paper tube)
1 - BT-50 (need 4.13")
2 - TC-80 (cut 1/2" off of one for use as thrust ring)
1 - TC-60 (cut to 3/4")
1 - TC-50 (cut to 1/2")
1 - D & E Engine Mount Kit
2 - RA-6080 (heavy duty rings - homemade)
2 - RA-5580 (heavy duty rings - homemade)
1 - RA-5560 (light duty ring)
2 - RA-5060 (heavy duty rings)
1 - 3/16" Launch Lug
      3/32" Balsa Stock
      Card Stock for tapered shrouds and fairings
      Pop Can (cut into tapered shroud for internal ejection charge funnel)
      Pan-Head Screw and Nut (machine thread)
      Thick Cardboard Stock (NOT corrugated)
      Split-Shot Sinkers
      Paper Clips (for LES frame)
      Tapered-Head Screw (for LES rocket base)
      Cotton Swab (with white rolled-paper stick for LES rocket)
      White Bond Paper (to build up LES rocket and attach to base)
      Picture Hanging Wire (stranded steel)
      1/4" Elastic
      Locking Snap Swivels
      24" Parachute

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Adhesives:
      White Glue
      Wood Glue
      Thick CA
      Thin CA
      Epoxy (30 minute)

Painting & Finishing Supplies:
      Elmer's Carpenter's Wood Filler
      Sandpaper (60, 100, 150, 240, 320, 400, 600)
      3/4" Masking Tape
      1-1/2" Masking Tape
      Cellophane (for masking large areas)
      High-Heat Paint (White Automotive Exhaust Header Paint)
      Painters Touch Gray Primer
      Painters Touch Silver Paint
      Painters Touch White Semi-Gloss Paint
      Painters Touch Black Semi-Gloss Paint
      Tango Papa 1/154 Saturn V Decals (~65% Estes #2001)