I recently purchased an Estes Mercury Redstone Kit on ebay. The kit was open. The engine mount was already installed (the builder did a good job I might add), it was missing one screw eye and one lead weight (both easily replaced), the fin templates were already cut out, and unfortunately one of the chutes adhered to part of the decal sheet and when peeled off left a greyish residue on part of the main decal. I'm not sure if I can fix this, or if I should use the decal as is, or get a replacement decal somewhere.

I have a sealed K-41 kit in my collection so this one I bought to build. I had one as a kid and am really looking forward to building this excellent kit once again. If the bag wasn't already open I really don't think I could tear into it, so this is a perfect fit for me.

Anyway I just thought that there might be one or two other BAR's out there who might enjoy some pics of this old classic Estes kit.

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I have three of these, all with the "Damon era" red header card that is newer than yours.
Two are sealed and one is opened but complete.
I built one when I was a teenager and remember what a pain the escape tower was.
I'm going to build the opened one once I finish my Semroc Saturn 1B and Semroc Mars Lander.
I bought all K-41/1241's off ebay....I paid around $85 each for the sealed ones and around $40 for the opened one about 2 years ago.

__________________
When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !

The sealed K-41 that I have is the newer one also. I bought that last year on ebay for around $55, but I got lucky with that one. The open kit that I just bought (the older one) I got for $41, but another open kit of the same age sold that same day for $111. Go figure...

After you build the Semroc Sat 1B tower you are certified to build ANY tower! I'm just finishing up my second Semroc Sat 1B capsule and tower. My first one drifted away on my last Sat 1B flight. You'd figure that the second time around would be easier, but NOOOO it was just as challenging the second time around.

I think I'm going to order 1/70 scale Apogee Apollo PLASTIC capsule/tower kits for my S1B and LJII instead of fussing with the dowels.
I built the original Estes K-29 S1B and K-30 LJII with the wooden towers and it was a royal nuisance.

__________________
When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !

I built this one after receiving it as a 15th birthday gift in 1977. At the time I had built somewhere between six and ten models, none of them higher than a skill level three kit. That meant nothing to me. With typical teenage blindness to reality, I dove into the Mercury Redstone project, and to be honest, it came out looking pretty decent. (I never got to the finishing stage, but the escape tower build looked a lot better than I had any business hoping for.)
If possible, can you scan the wraps? I don't think a good set exists online anywhere and I picked up a nose cone for another MR back in 2004. The only thing that's holding me back is the lack of a decent wrap scan.
I had a picture around here somewhere, but.........

__________________
Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Mini Dactyl Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Marauder, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Groonie Der V 1/2

You know I wish I had thought of that before I started the second one. If I lose another one I am going that route also!

My experience was similar to yours. I think the most difficult kit I had built before taking on the Redstone was the Nike-X so I was umprepared also. I don't remember exactly how well it came out, but I believe it was presentable.

I think there's a scan out on dars at http://www.dars.org/jimz/k-41.htm. Let me know if that isn't workable and I will see if I can get a quality scan at work.

Talk about crazy....I built my original K-41 right after I built the Nike X....I think it was around 1979 and I had already built a few R/C aircraft.
Although the R/C kits had far more parts than any rocket kit, none were as complicated to get to look decent as that K-41 tower.

__________________
When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !

Too funny! I'd have to guess that I built mine somewhere between 1976-78. I wasn't into RC at the time. I can't say for sure why but it was probably too expensive for my limited budget. My three main hobbies were Estes rockets, Cox control line planes and model building.

R/C back then was much more expensive in terms of real dollars to income, but I was VERY lucky in that I had very generous parents that supported my hobbies.
I actually learned to fly R/C at age 9 in 1979....I can remember that back then a Futaba 6-channel R/C set with 4 servos was over $200.00 !
That would be equal to somewhere around $800.00 now and nobody pays that for a basic 6-ch radio.

__________________
When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !