MPC Lunar Patrol, Part 2

To start off this build, I must get ahold of a set of Lunar Patrol plans.  Since there is a proliferation of this sort of thing on the Wonderful World Wide Web, this part of the build was easy.  Looking at the copy of this kit instruction sheet really brought back some memories from 1974!

Wing, fin, and marking templates are now sized and cut out...













Most of the main airframe parts have now been acquired.  For this build, I am going with Estes parts.  The tubes are all BT-20, which is a little bit smaller than the tubes in the original kit, but not enough to make a significant difference   The nose cone to be used is from the Estes PNC-20 nose cone pack.  Again, I'm not certain if it is an exact copy of the original, but it looks close enough.

The glider nose cones will be balsa, and turned on the lathe.  This step can wait until later in the build.

For the wings and fins, I happened upon a nice sheet of C-grain 1/16 balsa...at Home Depot, no less!

AND NOW, THE BUILD -

To start off, the body tubes get cut to length according to the MPC specs - 12" for the man airframe, 3" for the two side tubes, and 6" for the glider fuselages.  I like nice, even numbers.

Once the tubes are cut, they get the CWF seam-filling treatment.

An engine block is now glued into place in the main tube.  No need to illustrate this step, since it is quite straight forward.  I'm not using an engine hook on this model, opting instead to go with friction fit.  There is a possibility of rigging up some sort of external engine retainer later on, but we'll see.

The side tubes get glued on to the main body in the required position spelled out in the instruction sheet.
                                                                                    

Next, it's glue fillets to clean up the tube connections.  This always involves several applications of glue because of the large air pockets that shrink and make holes.
    
The fins are cut out and glued together in the classic Lunar Patrol 'chevron' shape.  Skill Level 1 exercise here...

Once the glue dries, the seams are cleaned up with CWF, and leading/trailing edges are rounded over.

Now, it's off to begin the tedious process of grain filling and sanding.....

-To Be Continued -

MPC Lunar Patrol Clone Part 1

Way back in 1974, during the fledgling days of my model rocket career, I placed an order with Model Products Corporation for some rocket kits and engines.
The order included the Flatcat, a Flare Patriot, a Theta-Cajun, and a Lunar Patrol.
The latter intrigued me because of the pair of delta-wing gliders that served double purpose as the model's fins.
I built the model and took it to one of the club meets to launch it.
When the launch button was pressed, I didn't get the expected soaring flight. 
Instead, the model blew up on the pad! 
A seriously defective MPC 'A' engine ripped the booster rocket completely apart, and the gliders fluttered to the ground.

Aftermath of the original Lunar Patrol maiden 'flight.'

Undaunted, I soon built a replacement booster out of some Estes parts I had hanging around, with a few deviations from the original design.

With the two original gliders, the new 'Lunar Patrol II' turned in many successful flights over the next several years.  The bird was a joy to fly, and quickly took its place as one of my fleet favorites.  It was quite a sight to see the model shoot straight up and separate into three parts that all descended gracefully.  The Lunar Patrol was a real crowd pleaser at club demo launches as well.

The Lunar Patrol II ready for launch sometime in 1975 at

a ROMAR club meet.

Sadly, when I exited the hobby in 1985, the Lunar Patrol was sold along with the bulk of my model rocket collection to another local rocket enthusiast.  To this day I wonder if that individual continued flying some of my models.  How many more flights were logged on the Lunar Patrol unbeknownst to me.  Anyway......

Now, as a full fledged, active BAR, one of the top priorities on the build list is another Lunar Patrol.

More to come on that.....