RocketReviews.com - Estes - Mercury Redstone (1241, K-41) [1969-1981]

Brief:
This is a single stage high quality replica of Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 approx 1/50th scale designed for B & C engines. This kit is unique from every other Estes kit I have bought or built in a number of ways... The package says skill level 2, but it compares to other level 3 kits from Estes.

Construction:
This kit recently went on sale, supposedly a reissue of an earlier Estes kit. I obtained it from HobbyLinc for ~$17. The kit came in the typical Estes half cardboard package with plastic bag. All components were present except for an engine block ring.

The body tube was an Estes white body tube but it is closest in diameter to (but not quite) BT-70. It came in two pieces that required a tube coupler. All molded plastic parts were of the HIGHEST quality, which is definitely not the norm for Estes. They were smoother, had no flash, and fit together PERFECTLY, including knife edges of the fins. The capsule and escape tower have a LOT of detail, and decals include a crack they painted on the capsule to simulate the liberty bell. The four fins mount through-the-wall to a plastic engine mount that is also unique in my experience to Estes. Four slotted bars connect the forward and aft plastic centering rings. These slotted bars line up with pre-cut slots in the body tube, and the fins glue to the slotted bars without extending all the way to the 18mm engine tube. All of the plastic parts fit together with such precision that the use of brushed liquid (rather than tube) plastic cement is called for to maintain assembly quality. The parachutes are the standard Estes 12 and 18" plastic chutes and the instructions call for the standard folded paper shock cord mount. My only material deviation from the kit was the use of Pratt braided Kevlar® for the shock cord.

Since the quality of the materials is so high, there are a few deviations from the assembly order to match that high quality in final appearance. Estes has done a wonderful job of supplying materials for a great model, but if you follow their instructions, you will end up with a cheesy looking model anyway. The rev date on the instructions are 10-00 and Estes must be complying with political correctness by providing MINIMUM written instructions. There are no notes or warnings about modeling technique for any of the steps. Everything is visual. With very few exceptions, the entire instruction sheet is pictures; with English words only as titles of components. That is still OK if you are an experienced modeler, but for example the only place the kit dimensions and recommended engines are listed is on the package cover. Estes used to put them on the launch instruction page. The kit dimensions as listed on the box are wrong anyway, saying the models' length is 23.5 inch and dia. is 1.6 inch (major goof). I also have a major problem with the assembly order. Because the bottom roll pattern decal is a wrap around, the instructions have you put it on before you install the fins, which makes sense. However, IF you want the quality of the rocket body to match the quality of the fins and capsule module, you need to assemble the two body tube halves, fill and sand the grooves (white Estes tube, remember?), and paint; before installing the motor mount and decal. The kit instructions would have had the finished model rely on the stock white body tube for the body color complete with those ugly spiral grooves! So,... because you are putting the two body tubes together, you have to also install the upper launch lug prior to joining the body tubes. This is because the launch lugs are plastic and glue to a plastic backing plate through a pre-cut slot. The lower launch lug glues to the forward centering ring and can't be put on until after the engine mount is installed.

Regarding the engine mount, there is a gotcha that caught me. The alignment and fit of the engine mount components are critical to the fit of the fins and the decal. I made my own engine block out of an expended engine casing, and it had a little bit extending out past the end of the engine tube. The forward centering ring which glues to the engine tube is therefore about 1/64 inch too far forward. Since the location of the forward centering ring dictates where the slots will be that the fins mount to, the plastic slots ended up about 1/64 inch too far forward. This caused the fins to not fit over the back of the body tube. I had to dremel off a little bit of the fin material to regain fit. This also slightly threw off my decal alignment.

I epoxied my small Pratt braided Kevlar® to the engine mount on the opposite side of the engine hook, and led it through the small opening in the forward centering ring for the engine hook. I then locked everything down with epoxy, and glued the engine mount in the body tube with epoxy as better security than tube plastic cement on plastic/cardboard joints (I have noted how many times my Skywinder has come apart). Make sure you don't get any glue in the pre-cut fin slots, as the fit of the fins is precise.

The tower struts were the only plastic pieces that didn't fit together perfectly, so I worked my way up from the bottom gluing one joint at a time, and letting it set before I did the next one.

Finishing:
The decals fit really well, and I was a little concerned that the bottom roll pattern decal sheet had white in the white areas rather than clear like the top pattern. The white didn't match my Krylon flat white on the body tube. But, once applied to the tube, it blended in and is hardly noticeable. Because of my gaffe on the forward centering ring, the bottom decal didn't quite reach flush to the bottom of the tube. A little touch up with black brushed enamel blended right in and covered up minor gaps of the black decals. The instructions show masking and painting the capsule flat black after you have glued on the tower. That would be dumb. I painted the assembled capsule flat black masking off the part of the capsule that glued to the tower assembly, and the base that slides into the body tube. I then spray painted the red tower before gluing to the capsule. Then, I brush painted the small portion of the capsule that is black underneath and behind the tower struts.

Flight:
Recommended motors on the cover and in very fine print on the flight prep instruction page are B6-4, C6-3, and C6-5. THIS IS WRONG! These are based some old Estes Redstone kit made out of BT-60 tube that I presume weighed 3.2 oz like the package cover says and not 4.5 oz. This kit is bigger and heavier, as I pointed out already.

I discovered that the body tube diameter is the same as the Estes Skill level 4 Space Shuttle Main Fuel Tank. It is slightly smaller than BT-70, but Estes has apparently never sold the body tube by itself or assigned a BT-xx number to it.

Anyway, the old Estes catalog listed max lift off weights for C6 engines as 4.0 oz, and C5 engines as 8.0 oz which is due to higher initial thrust of the C5's. Therefore, I launched this with some of my remaining C5-3's. The motor fit kind of tight through the plastic lip of the engine mount. I barely got the hook back down over the engine. The wind was a slight waft, and the rocket flew straight up at a medium speed to about 250 ft by eyeball. Ejection occurred at apogee just as the rocket started to lean over. My RockSim model predicts 350 feet on a C5-3, but I think there is quite a bit more wind resistance for real than the simulation model making this a C engine rocket only in little or no wind only.

Recovery:
I used quite a bit of biodegradable cellulose wadding instead of the Estes wadding. On one flight, it did channel some in this relatively wide tube, and I had some slight melt damage to the bottom chute with some wadding remaining in the tube even though it was a good healthy ejection. I used the provided 18 inch chute for the main body which was just right. I tied a two foot section of elastic shock cord to the braided Kevlar® that I put inside the rocket. Descent rate for the booster was just right. It landed about 10 seconds before the capsule, which was on a 12 inch chute.

The instructions for attaching the chute to the capsule worked fine. A single 20 inch strand of shroud line is tied around what would be the parachute can on the real capsule and the other end tied to the bottom of the capsule. The parachute shrouds are tied to this single strand about 4.5 inches from the front, so the parachute is packed into the body tube with a single strand of cord being strung through the joint between the body and capsule when the capsule is placed on the body. A similar technique is used on the Estes Saturn V for recovery of the top piece to protect the fragile escape tower by bringing down the top part in a nearly horizontal configuration. In this case, tying the chute shrouds 4.5 inches from the front brings the capsule down at about a 20 degree angle from vertical, which is just right. It almost looks like the real thing. The engine came out of the mount easier than it went in, but I always remove my engines while still hot to ensure they don't get stuck later.

Summary:
PRO: quality and detail of the plastic components.
CON: instructions; especially concerning finishing issues, are out of order if you want a great looking kit!

The overall 5 is based on if you follow my recommendations to make this a very high quality model. If you follow Estes' instructions to the letter, this kit would be rated 3. One other Con is the self-adhesive decals tend to bubble over time. I put on at least three coats of clear kote and that still may not be enough.

Flight Log

Date	Rocket Name	Motor(s)	Altitude	Notes
2000-04-13	David Fergus's Estes Mercury Redstone	C5-3	-	perfect, straight flight at med speed to about 250ft, ejection at apogee, good recovery on both...
2001-03-10	Donald Besaw's Estes Mercury Redstone	B6-4	-	Nice first flight for model. Somewhat underpowered with a B6-4. Will try a C6-5 next time.
2001-03-25	Ed Scientist's Estes Mercury Redstone	B4-4	-	Nice and straight. This rocket needs way more power.
2001-03-31	Ed Scientist's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Totally awesome. Best engine? Nice and straight.
2001-03-31	Ed Scientist's Estes Mercury Redstone	B6-4	-	Not enough power. Started back to earth before ejection charge.
2001-04-01	Ed Scientist's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	This is one awesome rocket perfect flight.
2001-04-08	Ed Scientist's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Perfect luanch off Erics homemade launch pad. Capsule shot off like a bullet. Rocket chute tangled...
2001-04-08	Ed Scientist's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Beautifull. Flight time capsule-25 sec. Rocket 34 sec.
2001-04-14	Ed Scientist's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Launched nearly at dark. Fire and sparks flew everywhere. I want to do this again.
2001-04-14	Ed Scientist's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	First Dual launch. Its all over now. Next to Prowler. Rockets lifted off nearrly colliding but...
2001-04-21	Ed Scientist's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Uh oh the take off was not straight. Hmm, maybe this is not the engine to use. The tip of the...
2001-04-29	Ed Scientist's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Nice straight lift off took it high. Nice stream of tracking smoke. A good flight for the amount...
2001-05-05	Kevin Johnson's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Left the launch lugs on the rod. Severe weathercock. One fin also came off. All damage repairable.
2001-05-19	David Fergus's Estes Mercury Redstone	C5-3	-	another great flight
2001-05-19	Ed Scientist's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Nice flight.
2001-06-10	Arthur Johnson's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Five second delay is way too long for this rocket. Impressive flight in that it is sloooow off of...
2001-07-05	Donald Besaw's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Beautiful flight to about 350 feet. Shock cord got caught between the fin and body tube but the...
2001-07-07	David Fergus's Estes Mercury Redstone	C5-3	-	booster chute stuck in end of body tube, no damage on the soft sod. capsule came down good as...
2001-07-22	Joe Cacciatore's Estes Mercury Redstone	B6-4	-	Great flight on a B6-4, lands close.
2001-07-22	Joe Cacciatore's Estes Mercury Redstone	B6-4	-	First flight in 20 years on this 30 year old rocket! This is the original Mercury Redstone from...
2001-07-29	Jeff Brundt's Estes Mercury Redstone	C5-3	-	boost had slight wobble near the end but it flew OK. recovery was perfect and both chutes deployed.
2001-08-05	Ed Scientist's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Uh oh, arced over comming staight down and ejected 50 ft. from the ground. Thats enough for this...
2001-09-02	Michael Doherty's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Beautiful!! Nice straight flight, perfect ejection, soft landing. Just excellent!! This is the...
2001-10-13	Tim Burger's Estes Mercury Redstone	C5-3	-	Perfect flight.
2001-10-28	Jeff Brundt's Estes Mercury Redstone	C5-3	-	Another nice flight for this veteran rocket. Boost was straight even with the wind. Ejection was...
2001-12-05	Marc Lee's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Modified w/ 1 mylar 18 chute, long elastic (1/4) shock cord & all-epoxy const. Flew beautifully....
2001-12-30	Donald Besaw's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Scary flight. Went horizontal appogeed at about 50 feet. Ejection happened at the last second...
2002-01-20	Donald Besaw's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Perfect redemption flight. Perfect recovery. Caught capsule. No damage.
2002-04-02	Daniel Calleja's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	This was my first launch. Went straight up with a perfect ejection at about 400 feet. Both capsule...
2002-05-10	Jason Vennard's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Beautiful bird, great flight and recovery. 3 second delay may work ok also. Both chutes deployed...
2002-06-04	Mike Atwood's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Nice scale like flight. Slow take off and climb to the top. Fun rocket.
2002-06-11	Clive Davis's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	This is the second time I launched the Mercury Redstone. I think the only choice of motors is a C5...
2002-06-11	Mike Atwood's Estes Mercury Redstone	B6-4	-	Very week motor to fly this rocket on. Almost thought it would crash. Chutes popped out and safe...
2002-06-16	Tim Burger's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	KRAMO Launch (Sun): Sport Scale flight; nice flight, both 'chutes opened. 3rd place.
2002-07-06	Mike Atwood's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Nice slow flight. Chutes popped out nice landing.
2002-09-02	James Reyome's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Good shot, chutes deployed perfectly and the booster landed very close to the pad. The capsule...
2002-09-14	James Reyome's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	A very windy day, capsule suffered damage getting blown off the car while being prepped. Some CA...
2002-09-29	James Reyome's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Another great flight for Gus after repairs, some actually done on site...damn escape tower keeps...
2002-10-05	Tim Burger's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Very good first flight.
2002-10-12	Mike Atwood's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Another good flight. Slow lift off and climb. Landed very close to car didn't have to walk very...
2002-11-02	Mike Atwood's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Another nice slow flight. Chutes deployed nice landing.
2002-11-17	Stephen Corban's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-
2003-01-05	Stones's Estes Mercury Redstone	D12-3	-	Modified with a 24mm MMT, this 1st flight was straight as an arrow and reached about 650 ft. Next...
2003-01-05	Donald Besaw's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Great flight. Recovered both pieces after a moderate walk down-wind.
2003-01-18	Stephen Corban's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Winds were pretty stiff, and the tower and rocket drifted quite a way
2003-04-12	Randy Powell's Estes Mercury Redstone	C5-3	-
2003-04-19	Randy Powell's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-
2003-04-27	James Reyome's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Another great flight for Gus, whose capsule was again recovered safely.
2003-05-13	Donald Besaw's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Nice flight, went a bit squirrelly during the boost. Good recovery although I burned up the...
2003-05-26	Michael Mangieri's Estes Mercury Redstone	B6-4	-	Maiden flight of the Mercury Redstone. Should have used a smaller delay, but she was recovered OK....
2003-07-27	Frank Gatazka's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Perfect flight. Nice slow takeoff with lots of smoke and flame. Parachute scorched with...
2003-09-14	James Reyome's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Another sweet flight for Gus, but once again we managed to break off the little pointy doohicky on...
2003-11-15	David Dye's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Doesn't lift off as fast as smaller rockets but it is impressive. Motor fit was too tight. Almost...
2003-11-30	Jason Reeder's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Weathercocked like a bad boy....perfect liftoff and flight...Heavy wind...what a champ...I love...
2004-01-01	Jason Lenentine's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	My first launch in ~12 years. Perfect flight!
2004-01-18	Donald Besaw's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Nice flight even though I had to tape the upper launch lug on prior to launch. Moderate recovery...
2004-03-13	Jason Lenentine's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Gus never fails to please. This is a great flying kit. Perfect flight. My wife caught the booster...
2004-03-20	Mike Atwood's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Nice day to fly Nice slow flight again quick deployment at apogee
2004-04-17	Philip Levanda's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Love this rocket looks great on the pad looks great flying and the Dual recovery looks great...
2004-06-14	T Munson's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-4	-	Sharp looking kit and quick to assemble (paint the capsule--you won't regret it). Drops pretty...
2004-06-20	Mark Patoka's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Very nice takeoff. Perfect ejection and recovered both pieces.
2004-06-25	Mike Atwood's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	This was a demonstration flight for Utah Civil Air Patrol Cadet encampment at Camp Williams. Whip...
2004-07-16	Jason Lenentine's Estes Mercury Redstone	B6-4	-	Not very much altitude on this flight, but Gus deployed the shoots with plenty of time to spare. I...
2004-07-18	Kyle Hancock's Estes Mercury Redstone	B6-4	-	First Flight, NARTREK Silver
2004-08-02	Donald Laskey's Estes Mercury Redstone	B6-4	-
2004-08-02	Donald Laskey's Estes Mercury Redstone	C5-5	-
2004-08-17	Michael Mangieri's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Nice flight, but alas, lost the capsule in a tree! Will try to get a replacement.
2004-09-11	Scott Turnbull's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Excellent straight boost. Clean deployment of both chutes.
2004-09-11	William Beggs's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Great flight and recovery.
2004-09-11	William Beggs's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Great flight and recovery.
2004-09-11	William Beggs's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Great flight and recovery.
2004-09-30	Donald Besaw's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Very nice flight, arrow straight boost up to about 400 feet. Great recovery, booster recovered...
2004-10-08	William Beggs's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Great flight and recovery.
2004-11-21	Donald Laskey's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-
2004-11-21	Donald Laskey's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	brokone fin
2004-12-18	Glenn Weiss's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Good first flight for the Liberty Bell 7 although the capsule got hung up in a tree, but luckily...
2004-12-30	Ed Scientist's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Perfect flight after it had set on the shelf for a long time.
2005-04-03	William Beggs's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Perfect flight and recovery.
2005-04-16	Donald Laskey's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-
2005-04-16	William Beggs's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Perfect flight and recovery.
2005-05-04	Donald Laskey's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	185 feet	first flight with a Altimeter
2005-05-14	Todd Shero's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Rocket underpowered and very unstable. This combined with a LATE ejection almost led to it being...
2005-05-21	Glenn Weiss's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Great 2nd flight for this rocket, both parts landed within 30 feet of each other.
2005-06-25	Glenn Weiss's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Awesome flight, late ejection was a hold-your-breath moment, but all landed safely and even got...
2005-06-25	Jason Lenentine's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Nearly a disaster. Struggled off the pad, not much altitude, plenty of horizontal flight. Too...
2005-06-25	Jason Lenentine's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Perfect flight for Gus and Liberty Bell 7.
2005-07-03	Scott Turnbull's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-
2005-07-10	Joe Cacciatore's Estes Mercury Redstone	A8-3	-	Great flight on this original Redstone I made back in 1969. Used small engine so I wouldn't loose...
2005-07-30	Glenn Weiss's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Another great flight for the Liberty Bell 7!
2005-08-06	Jason Lenentine's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Good boost. Capsule almost landed on top of a chain link backstop. Luckily Gus was able to roll...
2005-08-06	Jason Lenentine's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Perfect flight with no drama.
2005-08-13	Roy Lappalainen's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Nice Flight and smooth landing using 15 Rip-Stop nylon chute.
2005-08-16	Clive Davis's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Nice flight. For some reason, the parachute for the rocket did not eject from the body tube. The...
2005-08-27	Glenn Weiss's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Good flight overall but escape tower broke off at some point during descent, found it and will...
2005-09-18	William Beggs's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Great flight and recovery.
2006-01-28	Jason Lenentine's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Godspeed Gus Grissom!
2006-04-15	Russell Garcia's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Good flight, good recovery
2006-04-15	Russell Garcia's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Nice flight, looks good
2006-04-30	Joe Cacciatore's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Flies great on a C engine. Capsule lands on blacktop but no damage.
2006-04-30	Joe Cacciatore's Estes Mercury Redstone	B6-4	-	Great first flight, came down on nice soft grass.
2006-05-07	Joe Cacciatore's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Nice high fly, drifts onto hard dirt and a nozzle of the escape tower falls off.
2006-05-07	Joe Cacciatore's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Good flight but drifts onto blacktop and loses a few parts from the escape tower, all can be glued...
2006-05-07	Joe Cacciatore's Estes Mercury Redstone	B6-4	-	Flys good and not too high on a B6.
2006-05-20	Glenn Weiss's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Stupid me angled the rod too much, ejected about 10 ft. off ground and suffered some damage to...
2006-05-20	Russell Garcia's Estes Mercury Redstone	B6-4	-	Not a good engine for this rocket! Not enough altitude and too long a delay, broke fin and LES...
2006-05-20	Russell Garcia's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Another good flight, good recovery
2006-05-20	Russell Garcia's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Good again
2006-06-02	Matt Gillard's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	good lift, two parts linked together with a 18 inch 'chute, recovered with no damage. great flight.
2006-06-03	Matt Gillard's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	wobbled at top of boost, landed safe on one 18 inch 'chute for both halves.
2006-06-06	Matt Gillard's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Arced abit during flight, landed safe and sound.
2006-06-16	Matt Gillard's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	great flight, one fin abit loose after a harding landing.
2006-06-24	Russell Garcia's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Good return to flight for this rocket
2006-06-24	Russell Garcia's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Still looks good
2006-07-04	Joe Cacciatore's Estes Mercury Redstone	B6-4	-	Old engine or too much wadding resulted in not enough force to eject booster chute, rocket tumbles...
2006-07-16	Joe Cacciatore's Estes Mercury Redstone	B6-6	-	First ever B6-6 engine. Nice flight and lands close.
2006-07-30	Scott Turnbull's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Nice flight, clean separation of two sections. Good recovery under two chutes. Escape tower...
2006-07-30	Joe Cacciatore's Estes Mercury Redstone	B6-4	-	No chute. Not sure if the nose cone stuck or engine had a weak charge. Jarred some parts loose...
2006-08-03	Moe Bertrand's Estes Mercury Redstone	D12-3	-	1/35 Mercury Redstone modified for 24mm motors. Inagural sport launch for me at NARAM 48. Awesome...
2006-08-05	Clive Davis's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Perfect motor for this bird. It has a nice, slow lift-off. Very little arcing in flight.
2006-08-05	Donald Besaw's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Very weird flight, went unstable shortly after launch, went up high enough to eject safely though....
2006-09-09	Russell Garcia's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Some of the shroud lines broke, landed a little hard and popped a fin off. Will be repaired.
2006-09-09	Russell Garcia's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-
2006-09-16	Todd Shero's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Perfect flight on this wonderful day.
2006-09-16	Todd Shero's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Ditto again, a perfect flight except for chute melting. Hard landing but luckily soft ground from...
2006-09-16	Matt Gillard's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	ejection charge, pushed the wadding up the tube but not the parachute out of the tube. managed to...
2006-11-18	Carlos Niederstrasser's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Serious weather-vaning. Five second delay caused ejection 1/2 way down. 3 second ejection flight...
2006-11-25	Glenn Weiss's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Chutes got tangled so 2 sections came down together, no damage luckily
2007-02-10	Moe Bertrand's Estes Mercury Redstone	D12-5	-	Converted for 24mm. Straight boost, perfect recovery. No prangs this time, like it did last year...
2007-02-11	Scott Grissman's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	200 feet	Nice flight! Rocket wind cocked a little but otherwise was a pretty striaght flight. 24 inch chute...
2007-02-24	Russell Garcia's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Good flight
2007-02-24	Russell Garcia's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Nose cone landed hard, broke LES rocket again, will repair
2007-02-24	Russell Garcia's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Uneventful flight
2007-02-24	Geoffrey Kerbel's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	400 feet	Very windy day but gave it a try anyway. Slight weathercock at launch but everything went as...
2007-03-10	Russell Garcia's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Good flight
2007-03-10	Russell Garcia's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Nose hit hard again, LES broken again, will replace with wood
2007-03-31	Glenn Weiss's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Nice seperation of booster and capsule, recovered close together.
2007-04-02	Russell Garcia's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Good flight
2007-04-02	Russell Garcia's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Some of the shroud lines broke, popped a fin off on landing, will replace parachute with a new one
2007-04-15	Moe Bertrand's Estes Mercury Redstone	D12-5	-	Another great flight of my trusty 1/35 scale 24mm conversion. Cracked a couple fins on landing...
2007-05-19	Geoffrey Kerbel's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	600 feet	Real nice flight! Used for Scale entry in local contest. Added extra chute to capsule for mission...
2007-07-01	Joe Cacciatore's Estes Mercury Redstone	B6-4	-	Not sure what happen but the capsule and chute came out ok but the booster chute did not. This is...
2007-07-28	Glenn Weiss's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Good flight, clean separation of booster and capsule
2007-09-30	Glenn Weiss's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	High straight boost and successful recovery of capsule and booster, can't ask for more!
2008-03-02	Russell Garcia's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Good flight, still looks good in flight
2008-03-02	Russell Garcia's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Good flight
2008-03-02	Russell Garcia's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	LES broke again, will retire this rocket.
2008-04-13	Jason Orosco's Estes Mercury Redstone	B6-4	-	Great flight would recommend a bigger motor for this rocket.
2008-04-13	Jason Orosco's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-5	-	Another great flight. Good motor choice on this flight.
2008-06-28	Glenn Weiss's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Nice slow liftoff followed by not so nice recovery as capsule and booster chutes tangled. Only...
2008-10-29	Jason Orosco's Estes Mercury Redstone	B6-4	-	Good flight.
2008-10-29	Jason Orosco's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Great flight.
2009-05-09	Jason Orosco's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Good flight.
2009-05-16	Jeff Cloud's Estes Mercury Redstone	C11-3	350 feet	First flight scratch-built Estes Mercury Redstone. Weight is 5.7 oz. with tungsten near nose to...
2009-06-20	John Bergsmith's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	First flight on bird. It has a nice, slow lift-off with very slight arcing in flight. Recovered...
2009-07-28	Jason Orosco's Estes Mercury Redstone	C5-3	-	Wonderful flight
2011-04-24	Matt Gillard's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	great flight
2011-04-25	Matt Gillard's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	good flight, parachute lost a shroud line
2011-07-23	Glenn Weiss's Estes Mercury Redstone	C6-3	-	Great flight, clean seperation of capsule and booster

Estes - Mercury Redstone (1241, K-41) [1969-1981]

Flight Log

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