Dick Stafford's Rocket Dungeon Blog

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Sport Rocketry / Scale Models / Little Joe II

Opened my Semroc Little Joe II (2010-08-15)

My Semroc order arrived while I was launching yesterday.  2 1/2 day turnaround - great for mere mortals, but a day slower than my previous order.  Anyway, most of what I got was just to put ... [Read More]

I blame Chris (my first LJ II post) (2010-10-01)

At least I will some time tomorrow.  That is, after reading and enjoying his detailed posts on the Semroc Little Joe II , I decided to start mine.  The body is moving along well and really ... [Read More]

Little Joe II - Frankenstein style (2010-10-06)

No, I didn't go bonkers and decide to paint it in a Halloween motif.  However, the finish job will be a 'parts is parts' mishmash of (per ROTW): From the wraps down it will basically be ... [Read More]

Review: Semroc Little Joe II (2011-03-22)

This 1/70 scale Little Joe II is one of Semroc’s “Retro-Repro” line of kits. It includes a separately bagged Apollo capsule kit and is billed as a Skill Level-4 “Master” kit. The base ... [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]

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]

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]

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]

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]