Dick Stafford's Rocket Dungeon Blog

Rocket Dungeon Posts

Sport Rocketry / Scale Models / Little Joe

Aerospace Modeling Links (2009-12-23)

{The length of my sidebar has started to bug me.  To rectify said bugging, I'm moving this list from a Blogger links-list gadget in the sidebar to this post.  I'll add a link to the post ... [Read More]

Already antsy to launch, building is in the doldrums (2010-09-25)

A mere week after ESL-148, I'm already itching to launch.  My October launches are still up in the air and the prospects of missing them is fueling the itch.  I have NARHAMS and then Red ... [Read More]

Little Joe II dowel sanding (2010-10-01)

Woohoo, sanding the dowels wasn't that bad.  I used a different method than Chris did .  I have not doubt that my dowels have some flattened spots but I'm sure they are close enough!  ... [Read More]

Little Joe II - thoughts on the paint scheme (updated, already) (2010-10-01)

Looking quickly on-line, I basically see 2 variants - one with the bottom 2/3 or so silver and the top section/capsule white (excluding trim items), and one with the whole body silver and a white ... [Read More]

Little Joe II - tower construction has begun! (updated) (2010-10-03)

So far so good.  I cut all the dowels required for the main struts.  I carefully laid them out in order off to the side.  The kit includes template guides as shown in the ... [Read More]

Hobby Lobby report (2010-10-05)

I went by the Hobby Lobby in Columbia, MD today.  They stocked Estes motors from 1/2A through E9 and a small number of kits.  Fewer kits than I expected, but more than Michael's ever ... [Read More]

Little Joe II - stick a fork in it (2010-10-07)

Well, here it is in probably its best view.  I am not really happy with it but, it is what it is.  The white is Krylon white, the silver is Rusoleum Titanium Metalflake, the black trim ... [Read More]

Little Joe II - pre-flight landing damage (stupid rocket tricks #16 & #17) (2010-10-12)

This model in jinxed.  I think I mentioned that I dropped the LJ II twice during construction.  That number is up to four.  Event number three (and SRT #16) was the capsule only. ... [Read More]

Rocket launch probabilities (2010-10-15)

I was looking forward to this weekend's NARAMS launch but it looks like life has gotten in the way.  P L =0. I also feel bad for the rest of the club because the weather report is saying the ... [Read More]

A Little Joe II for those who hate to build towers (2010-10-18)

Under a General Dynamics/NASA proposal, the Little Joe II/Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) would have boosted an Apollo LEM to close to 200,000' where the descent engines could be tested in near ... [Read More]

Paper rocket conversion resource update (2010-12-12)

I just found out about the Paper Modelers Forum . Although rockets make up a small subset of the content and the only flying models are probably of the stomp variety, this should be a great resource ... [Read More]

Mega Review: Scale Paper (2011-01-20)

This post presents four scale paper kit conversions.  A couple fly great, one OK, and one was mainly a curiosity. Mercury Redstone ( Delta-7 Studios ) Little Joe I (Cards in Space) ... [Read More]

Reviews: Two scratch stand-off scale models (2011-01-29)

The Little Joe I is stand-off and the Talos is quasi-scale (i.e. even less accurate). Little Joe I This is a very stand-off scale model of the Little Joe I. It is 2.6" in diameter, has a 29mm mount, ... [Read More]

Countin' my chickens before they hatch FLY (2011-03-18)

The literal count is one, one Ballistic Chicken. But what I was getting at in the title is that I have laid out and prepped my rockets for tomorrow; and I even built a couple of reloads.  Last ... [Read More]

Launch Report 2011-01 (2011-03-20)

Location: Price, MD ( MDRA ESL-154) Weather: partly cloudy, low 50's, wind 0 - 5 MPH Total flights: Today - 11; YTD - 11 Total motors: Today - 21; YTD - 21 I left very early under the light of the ... [Read More]

Launch Report 2011-4 (2011-08-07)

Location: GSFC Visitors Center ( NARHAMS ) Weather: clear, mid 90s, wind 0-5 MPH Total flights: Today - 10; YTD - 38 Total motors: Today - 10; YTD - 50 This is the first time I have attended one of ... [Read More]

Convair Little Joe II (2011-11-11)

Convair Little Joe II , a photo by San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives on Flickr. The SDASM just uploaded a ton of space and rocket scans. Navigate forward and backwards(mostly)from the ... [Read More]

Little Joe Rocket Testing (2012-06-13)

Little Joe Rocket Testing , a photo by San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives on Flickr. [Read More]

My flyable fleet (2013-10-10)

After seeing ~1/10 of Dave Bucher's huge fleet on Facebook, I thought I'd snapshot mine, which consists of a paltry 233 birds. First sort criteria is a column that's not showing, breaking the list ... [Read More]

A whole lotta Little Joe scale diagrams (2015-03-12)

Cliff Steenhoff has been compiling an impressive set of rocket/space sphotos in his Flickr stream. Today, he posted a lot of diagrams of the Little Joe I and II rockets. These appear to cover all of ... [Read More]