1/3 Apollo Litte Joe build thread on TRF

Here is a build thread on a 1/3 scale Apollo Little Joe

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It is planned to be flown at Plaster Blaster
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There are more pics on the PB site
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It is looking pretty cool
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Reply to
David Stribling
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actually it's a little joe II

hmmmm it almost looks like a 1/2 scale little joe.

and yes, i am working my way up to a full scale little joe, fully functional.

have been a little sidetracked on building though, been working on getting myself ownership of a 3200 sq ft facillity to build it. looks like this spring i'll be breaking ground.

and bob cox is worried

Reply to
Tater

The beast flew today! Pictures were posted on TRF, here is the link posted from that thread

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Congratulations to the team on a job well done!

Reply to
David Stribling

Here's some more:

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David Erbas-White

David Stribl>The beast flew today! Pictures were posted on TRF, here is the link posted

Reply to
David Erbas-White

Must have been awesome to witness it in real life!! A question was posted on TRF: did the capsule land w/o a chute?

DS

Reply to
David Stribling

Yes, the chutes for the capsule did not deploy properly (because the capsule drag-separated at burnout of the main motors). Andy plans to repair it and fly it again...

David Erbas-White

P.S. One fin broken on landing, but that was anticipated/expected. Looks to be easily repairable. To the best of my knowledge from what I saw afterwards, that was the only damage.

P.P.S. Special kudos to Andy's s>Must have been awesome to witness it in real life!! A question was posted

Reply to
David Erbas-White

Please tell us about the escape tower. In one photo it appears the motors fired after the parachutes were deployed for the main section. What was the plan?

Reply to
Nobody

The 'plan' was for the main engines to fire, after they fired then the 4 engines on the bottom of the escape tower were to fire, pulling the capsule away from the main body, then after they burned out, separation charges were to blow the tower legs free from the top of the capsule, and two motors on the sides of the escape motor (near the top) were to pull the tower away.

All of the main motors lit, and I believe all of the upper motors lit as well. The problem is that the nose drag-separated from the rocket before the escape tower had a chance to 'pull' it from the main body, and the pressure of the capsule at an angle caused premature separation of the tower from the capsule. The escape tower did, indeed, continue climbing, though.

David Erbas-White

Nobody wrote:

Reply to
David Erbas-White

What method was used to connect the capsule and tower?

How were the events coordinated? Automated on-board systems or radio control?

Did it recover successfully?

I look forward to seeing video.

Reply to
Nobody

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What engines were used?

Tom

Reply to
tcpekin

I don't know specifically. I wasn't part of the 'build team', simply one of the grunts helping lift it into position.

Timers that were initiated by pull-cords from the ground. In other words, fishing line tied to arming jacks was staked into the ground, the launch pulled the cords from the arming jacks, and the timers were used to initiate the upper motors.

Yes, everything recovered fine except the capsule (and the one broken fin on the main body).

So do I (). I didn't have a video camera, but I'm sure MANY folks caught it on video.

David Erbas-White

Reply to
David Erbas-White

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>

Gleaning details from the TRF thread, they didn't have the final motor combination but here is what was posted:

"seven 98mm main motors a mix of 3 redline L's and 4 WL K's... Final mix of motors depends on the final weight"

"four main LES motors will be 54mm used to pull the capsule from the main body, probably short burn J's"

"two 38mm motors in the LES"... "H's or I's"

I haven't seen anything posted officially on what they actually used.

Reply to
David Stribling

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