I brought the Yita kit along with one of the KOSROC LJ-II kits to a CMASS meeting. I don't remember whether Bill already had the LJ-I, or was going to get one after seeing mine, but we discussed the various paint schemes and modifying the kit. He knew his LJ-I's.


S.

One of the more interesting bits about Estes and the Little Joe I was the BNC-60T nosecone available in the 1966-1977 catalogs. It was a reasonably accurate boilerplate style Little Joe I balsa nosecone for BT-60. For all the years it was available, I was baffled by what seemed to be a Mercury capsule that was wrong for both Mercury-Atlas and Mercury-Redstone. Finally, more than a decade after it was discontinued, I figured out that it was for a Little Joe I.

Fortunately, I was able to find one at the old Commonwealth Displays store in the 80's at a reasonable price (They had apparently gotten it by clearing out a hobby wholesaler's stock of old Estes parts), and I built a model. It's had some accidents, but one of these days I'll be restoring it.

I find it fascinating that none of Estes's literature ever hinted what that cone was for, let alone gave plans for the model that the part so obviously implied. You can find the profile of this cone in the pdf versions of the Estes catalogs from the late 60's. After about 1971, the graphic becomes microscopic and unreadable.

Peter Alway

Still available here:http://www.erockets.biz/semroc-bals...60-2-8-capsule/


It is mistakenly described as a Gemini capsule.

Here's a picture of a backup boilerplate capsule and Little Joe booster from Wikipedia:

I agree that a short historical paragraph in the catalog would have been handy, and a more detailed historical paper sent with the nose cone would have been dandy! I saw the cone in the catalog but never bought one. I just saved up for the MR kit.

When I got into rocketry as a kid, I had no knowledge of the Little Joe I or II. The Estes Little Joe II was already long gone by the mid 70's. I didn't get a Centuri catalog until #781, which didn't have the LJ II in it. Their LJ II was OOP, but Centuri eventually mailed me a yellow tabloid sale paper that was raising money for the internats and it had some leftover LJ II's for sale. I remember being intrigued by the kit and wondering what it was all about. My library had no information on them and it wasn't until I learned about periodicals loaned out from larger libraries that I finally got some information on it.

The cover of the July/August issue of Sport Rocketry magazine features the Estes Mercury Little Joe.

You might not see it at first as there is a BIG Mercury Little Joe model in the center of the picture. :D

Our library had an early copy of The Handbook of Model Rocketry, and there was a home made Little Joe pictured, so it was always one that I wanted to try to build. When I bought an updated copy I was bummed to find that picture not included, so I went and found an older issue on Amazon or Ebay so I could have it. When Estes brought back the Mercury Redstone in the early 2000's, I tried my hand at my own Little Joe, but I got the fins all wrong and got discouraged. I never did fly that one, but now I'm thinking that I should finish the shroud and give it at least one flight.

Has anybody Heard of a timeline for the new releases(I.E. the Little Joes, the Saturn V w bonus and the Aquarius)?

No.

I attended NARAM yesterday and asked Ellis Langford about the Little Joe I's, and he said "a couple of months." I didn't press further or ask about the other kits!

The next two kits to be released should be the Explorer Aquarius and the Silver Streak 2 stager, within 30 days, according to hobby distributors. At NARAM, the Little Joe 1 was hinted as third quarter (October maybe), and the Saturn V was hinted as end of the year. Also shown was a 1/200 ARF or RTF Saturn V for next year closer to the Apollo 11 anniversary.