DrSprue's 1/48 Glencoe Jupiter-C Rocket

[DrSprue]

The Jupiter-C Rocket History (America's First Satellite Launcher)

The Redstone-based Jupiter-C (Juno 1) rocket before
it launched Explorer 1 into orbit on January 31, 1958.
(credit: NASA/MSFC)

Jupiter-C Characteristics:
The Jupiter-C rocket was originally developed to test the ablative re-entry nose cone of the Jupiter IRBM, although its satellite-launching capabilities were recognized at the time it was designed.

The vehicle consists of a modified Redstone ballistic missile topped by three solid-propellant upper stages. The tankage of the Redstone was lengthened by eight feet to provide additional propellant. The instrument compartment is also smaller and lighter than the Redstone's. The second and third stages are clustered in a "tub" atop the vehicle, while the fourth stage is atop the tub itself. The second stage is an outer ring of eleven scaled-down Sergeant rocket engines; the third stage is a cluster of three scaled down Sergeant rockets grouped within. These are held in position by bulkheads and rings and are surrounded by a cylindrical outer shell. The webbed base plate of the shell rests on a ball-bearing shaft mounted on the first-stage instrument section. Two electric motors spin in the tub at a rate varying from 450 to 750 rpm to compensate for thrust imbalance when the clustered motors fire. The rate of spin is varied by a programmer so that it does not couple with the changing resonant frequency of the first stage during flight.

The upper-stage tub was spun-up before launch. During first-stage flight, the vehicle was guided by a gyro-controleld autopilot controlling both air-vanes and jet vanes on the first stage by means of servos. Following a vertical launch from a simple steel table, the vehicle was programmed so that it was travelling at an angle of 40 degrees from the horizontal at burnout of the first stage, which occurred 157 seconds after launch. At first-stage burnout, explosive bolts fired and springs separated the instrument section from the first-stage tankage. The instrument section and the spinning tub were slowly tipped to a horizontal position by means of four air jets located at the base of the instrument section. When the apex of the vertical flight occurred after a coasting flight of about 247 seconds, a radio signal from the ground ignited the eleven-rocket cluster of the second stage, separating the tub from the instrument section. The third and fourth stages were fired in turn to boost the satellite and fourth stage to an orbital velocity of 18,000 miles per hour.
When used as a satellite launching vehicle, the Jupiter-C is sometimes referred to as the Juno-I.



The satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral (now Cape Kennedy) in Florida at 10:48 P.M. EST on 31 January 1958 by the Jupiter-C vehicle that was designed, built, and launched by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) under the direction of Dr. Wernher Von Braun. Jupiter-C, a direct descendant of the German A-4 (V-2) rocket, was originally developed in 1955-1956 as a high-performance rocket for testing purposes.


Jon Medaris and Wernher Von Braun in the blockhouse at Cape
Canaveral during the count-down firing of the Jupiter C Rocket.

JUPITER-C/JUNO-I
Explorer-1 Launch
________________________________________
Weight (in pounds)--Loaded--Empty
Overall (takeoff)-----64,000--10,260
Stage 1----------------62,700---9,600
Stage 2------------------1,020-----490
Stage 3--------------------280-----140
Stage 4---------------------80-------31.5

Propulsion
Stage 1: Rocketdyne A-7 engine.--
Thrust, 83,000 lb; burning time, 155 seconds; specific impulse, 235 seconds; propellants, liquid oxygen, as oxidizer, and "Hydyne" (60% unsymmetrical, dimethylhydrazine and 40% diethylenetriamine), as fuel; propellant feed, turbopump type; turbopump drive, 90% hydrogen peroxide decomposed by catalyst bed to produce steam.

Stage 2: Eleven JPL scaled-down Sergeant rockets.--
Thrust, 16,500 lb; burning time, 6.5 seconds; specific impulse, 220 lb-sec/lb; propellant, polysulfide-aluminum and ammonium perchlorate (solid propellant).

Stage 3: Three JPL scaled-down Sergeant rockets.--
Thrust, 5,400 lb ; burning time, 6.5 seconds; specific impulse, 235 lb-sec/lb; propellant, same as for Stage 2.

Stage 4: One JPL scaled-down Sergeant rocket.-- (the Explorer-1 satellite) same as for Stage 3.

JUPITER-C Flight History
(three-stage configuration):
20 September 1956: Lofted an 86.5-pound payload to an altitude of 680 miles and a range of 3,300 miles from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
15 May 1957: Lofted an 300-pound scale Jupiter ablative nose cone to an altitude of 350 miles and a range of 710 miles.
8 August 1957: Lofted a 1/3-scale Jupiter nose cone to an altitude of 285 miles and a range of 1,330 miles. JUNO-I

(four-stage configuration).
America's First Satellite - Explorer 1
31 January 1958: Orbited Explorer-I satellite weighing 30.66 pounds with 18.35 pounds of payload, perigee 224 miles, apogee 1,575 miles. Still in orbit (1965).

See: Ludwig, George H. "Cosmic- Ray Instrumentation in the First U.S. Earth Satellite" The Review of Scientific Instruments, Volume 30, Number 4, April 1959.

Other info about the JUPITER-C



This is the satellite that was at the top of the rocket shown below and to the right, the Explorer I.
You can see it sticking out of the top of the tub (or drum) up above on the left photo.

The satellite was supposed to launch as the United States' contribution to science during International Geophysical Year (which ran from 1957-1958). Then history intervened. The Soviet Union rocketed Sputnik into space on Oct. 4, 1957. This was the first artificial satellite any nation sent out of the Earth. The launch — revealed only after it was a success — stunned most of the Western world. It was a coup for Soviet rocket technology, and led some to muse that bombs could be launched just as easily as a satellite.
This accelerated the United States' plans. Rocket and satellite engineers quickly got to work, trying to prove they were also capable of launching into space.
by NASA/JPL
Updated June 28, 2017

The Explorer I satellite

The left is Dr. William H. Pickering, Dr. James
A. van Allen, at right is Dr. Wernher von Braun.

Why was the Jupiter-C also called the Juno I?
The Juno I was a satellite launch vehicle based on the Jupiter-C, but with the addition of a fourth stage, atop the "tub" of the third stage. The Juno name derived from Wernher von Braun wishing to make the satellite launch appear as peaceable as the Vanguard rocket, which was not a weapon, but was developed from a weather study rocket, the Viking. Since the Juno I was the same height as the Jupiter-C (21.2 meters), with the added fourth stage being hidden inside the shell, this vehicle which successfully launched the first orbital satellite of the United States is often incorrectly referred to as a Jupiter-C.


Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun
(March 23, 1912 – June 16, 1977)

From Mr. von Braun who created the German V2 all the way to the Jupiter-C/Explorer-1 (was already a US citizen) under President John Kennedy in the 60's, was responsible for the Apollo program which brought us to the moon! Wow what an amazing human being.

I hope you enjoyed the history so far, the next post will be the Glencoe model, sprue layouts and the start of the build.
Thank you for stopping by and looking!

[kilgore456]

Nice intro!! I live about an hour from Huntsville, AL, where the US Space and Rocket Center is located. I wonder if they have one these there. I'm thinking about going up there in a couple of weeks to take pics for everybody. I'll let you know if I get something! Good luck! Can't wait to see it!!

[DrSprue]

Nice intro!! I live about an hour from Huntsville, AL, where the US Space and Rocket Center is located. I wonder if they have one these there. I'm thinking about going up there in a couple of weeks to take pics for everybody. I'll let you know if I get something! Good luck! Can't wait to see it!!

I think they do have this (not sure if its a test one, actual or something, the Smithsonian has one but it is a replica) Here it is in Huntsville



If you do go, get some good close shots!! haha!

Here is one at Marshall Space Flight Center as well, but reading about it, it says that since 9/11 you cannot see it? I have no Idea if you can still see it now?

(look.. you can see a V2 on the second one over on the far left!)

Posted here, dated as March 2011
http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/jupiter8.html

[DrSprue]

OK here is the box, initial pictures showing the unopened bagged parts (all in one bag) and the sprue layouts. I was quite happy, very little flash or any kind of odd distortions. Even tho in one bag, the scratches from rubbing parts was very low if not there at all in many areas.





Sprue 1


Sprue 2


Sprue 3


Sprue 4


This Glencoe jupiter-C rocket also has a small history as well, in that this kit was made back in 1958 by a company called Hawk. Here is a reprint from "Fantastic Plastic" by Allen B. Ury.

"This Hawk kit has been released multiple times; first in the late 1950s, again in the late 1960s (with new box art), and then in the mid-1990s by Glencoe. This is by far the largest of all the plastic Jupiter C kits produced by the major American model manufacturers, standing more than a foot-and-a-half tall."


I also took pictures of the reverse side of all these sprues as well, so if anyone wants to see the back sides of them please make a comment on this post and I will show it. I hope your enjoying this model. I am an old space lover from back in the day, so this is very cool for me to share and I hope you too.

The next post will be the instruction layout and the start of my build.

Thank you for stopping by and looking!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Cool project

[DrSprue]

Here is the instruction manual (or so many say here, de-structions). This one though is very easy and well done for a model that Glencoe came out with about 20 years ago.

Page 1




Page 2



Page 3



Page 4



Here are the decals and they seem nice and thin and close to the edges, so I hope easy to set/sol for a nice look.



This is cool, by looking at the bottom picture on page 3 in the instructions... It seems like they threw in a freebie sprue, of a button that has a clip to hold it. A mini jupiter-C! Im gonna a need to paint this as well!



The build will now start...wish me luck!!

Thank you for stopping by and looking!

[Skullfish]

very nice intro to your build. another kit that tempts me very time it surfaces on fleaBay.



Enjoy your build.

Jase

[DrSprue]

For those that maybe looking to find some of these kits on ebay (altho, I got mine around the time the net came out in the 90's before evilbay existed from my LHS), here is a scan I did a while ago of the 4 page Glencoe catalog that was available in 1991 and maybe you might see something else.

That company still exists and is very close to me in my state as well here in New England.

Page 1


Page 2


Page 3


Page 4

[DrSprue]

Thank you Scott, Jase and kilgore456! To me rockets are an awesome thing. So glad your following!

[DrSprue]

Deleted because of issues being too long with my post.

[DBMiller]

I have this kit! This will be fun to see how it actually builds up.

[DrSprue]

OK here we go with building the launch platform this weekend. It was very easy and I used both Perfect plastic putty for the 1st time and some squadron green in some areas where sink marks were a bit deep on 2 of the legs in back.


A lower view with the nose-cone/Explorer-1 to the left.


Here is a top view with the support components loosely or dry fitted into place. Im not going to glue these 5 parts yet until I complete the rocket to allow for perfect connection when I put the rocket on the top of it.


A Picture of a similar launch platform of a Mercury-Redstone rocket at the US Space and Rocket Center here in Huntsville, Alabama. (They have the Jupiter C as well, but that base is very different.. go figure).
(Photos: Richard Kruse, 2007)

The bottom part of the rockets are the same so Im hoping that Glencoe was accurate with the launch platform that is in this model from the 1958 launch. No problem tho, the Mercury-Redstone was at about the same time and seems accurate here so far).

I wonder if it was blue tho?


Side view of the model to compare with museum. (notice as you will read below, the nose cone is fixed in this pic)


Now oddly, as I kinda jumped ahead to at least dry fit a few parts in the nose cone, I found that the round drum like base that holds the Explorer 1 satellite was oddly misshaped so the drum, internally, was off. So that when you put the Explorer 1 clamp thing onto it (which has a centering ring around it as you can see below), it was shifted to the left. The outside drum is fine and rounded very nicely but the ring shifts when connected, the inside of the drum was not molded right.

bad mold ----------------------------- notice too thick in the mold in white ---------- sanded the top rim and fixed.


As you can see, I sanded down the Explorer 1 centering ring and it fits fine now. This is basic modeling 101 here and I was not going to mention it but if any of you buy this model, please be aware of that because this may not be a one off issue with just my model. It is in fact the molding of the internal part of the round drum cylinder, not the ring. Again, see above in the white square, it is very small, but with a side view it shows up badly if looked at in that direction.

I almost missed it and as a matter of fact, glued it on at 1st. Fortunately I saw it quickly and split the seam before the weld cured. Sanded it down, took a few pics, then the rest is a nice Explorer 1 nose assembly.
Thank you for stopping by and looking!

[DrSprue]

I have this kit! This will be fun to see how it actually builds up.

Great! Check the drum and explorer 1 alignment, Curious if it was just my model that had that issue.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Gee the base looks really well moulded, very realistic
Good catch on the fitment alignment before the glue set
Keep plugging away, it is coming along nicely

[DBMiller]

Here's my contribution to your photo refs. I took these at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida (with a film camera!)

DBM_Juno_0002 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

DBM_Juno_0001 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

[DrSprue]

Gee the base looks really well moulded, very realistic
Good catch on the fitment alignment before the glue set
Keep plugging away, it is coming along nicely

Oh thanks Scott, yea almost was gonna let that dry and that would have been another TET disaster!
Yea it seems that Glencoe did a good job molding that, but there were a few sink marks in different areas, but the body seems ok... so far.

[DrSprue]

Here's my contribution to your photo refs. I took these at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida (with a film camera!)

DBM_Juno_0002 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

DBM_Juno_0001 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

AHHH SWEET!! Thanks Don!!
So great to get a slanted view of the red carbon thrust vanes!! Could not find any here on the web.
Wow awesome pics Don, already saved to my files! Awesome plaque too.. and ooooo.. I see the Saturn1B behind the Juno too! hehe. Wow what amazing machines we grew up with. Thank you for sharing this from your pictures.

PS: Gratz on your birthday Don!

[Tomcat64]

Great start on this Tony and nice catch on the alignment issues.

Looking forward to seeing this develop

And keep the TET well away from the launch pad dude!

[DrSprue]

Thanks alot Neil, hope you enjoy it.

[DrSprue]

Well did a little building, sanding and some putty the last few days. The Juno build it looking good so far. No real issues. Just started the body tubes by gluing in a few key areas to allow for proper alignment. Took a cool tip from Paul to keep TET from smearing by using tooth picks and still keep the squeeze power! I do have to try using CA for this at some point as Neil showed, but maybe on something a bit smaller to test it. All you guys have awesome tips.

Finished the fins but only glued one in so far on the right. I need to paint the engine nozzle somehow
and then put the other 3 fins in because there are so many greebles underneath in the lower fin area.
(oh and yes, I just got my very 1st stickers from ISM today! )



I think I will use my new PPP (perfect plastic putty) to putty the fin line edges
(which I still need to do) before the black paint goes on after I glue the last 3 fins in.
The lower fin section is black while the upper part on the body will be a nice gloss white, probably Tamiya.


A bit more with the structure on the top main nose cone inter-stage.
I have a scriber but unfortunately all the lines on the rocket sections are raised.
Why Glencoe... why??


Thank you for stopping by and looking!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Raised details are indeed a B to deal with when you have to seal and sand seams
Cover and protect details with tape so you only sand the seam then try to repair with thin styrene
OR
sand it all off and rescribe......I haven't done this, yet

[DrSprue]

Raised details are indeed a B to deal with when you have to seal and sand seams
Cover and protect details with tape so you only sand then seam then try to repair with thin styrene
OR
sand it all off and rescribe......I haven't done this, yet

Oh cool Scott. Never new what to do with raised ones and if you look close at the previous page you can see them near the tooth-picks. I just did this today. Hmm, Ill have to think about this then. thx

[Tomcat64]

Nice work Tony - I've not had to deal with raised panel lines yet so will be interested to see how you tackle this.

[DrSprue]

Nice work Tony - I've not had to deal with raised panel lines yet so will be interested to see how you tackle this.

So true Neil, so any ideas you guys have, like Scott says, this is gonna be tuff and new for me as well. So please, throw any thots you have my way. I appreciate constructive criticisms of any kind.
.
.
.
OK, Here is a cool simulation (about 2 minutes long) of the Jupiter-C Rocket (Juno booster, as it should be called) to show this 1st US satellite launch and the looks of what my rocket should look like, (short of one tiny error). I hope to show a bit more of it towards the end of next week.

(excerpt from Rseferino Orbiter Filmmaker):
Explorer 1 was launched on January 31, 1958 at 22:48 Eastern Time (equal to February 1, 03:48 UTC) atop the first Juno booster from LC-26 at the Cape Canaveral Missile Annex, Florida. It was the first spacecraft to detect the Van Allen radiation belt, returning data until its batteries were exhausted after nearly four months. It remained in orbit until 1970, and has been followed by more than 90 scientific spacecraft in the Explorer series.

[youtube]bbBbcxvSoQo[/youtube]

Thank you for stopping by and looking!

[DrSprue]

Here is my latest addition to this model. An electric motor!


Why is the Doctor putting an electric motor inside his Jupiter C model? Is he planning to fly it!

No not at all. The real one had electric motors (if you remember) to turn the Explorer 1 satellite at a rate while countdown was commencing to get it ready for stabilization in outer space.

To quote from an above post from Nasa... "Two electric motors spin in the tub at a rate varying from 450 to 750 rpm to compensate for thrust imbalance when the clustered motors fire. The upper-stage tub was spun-up before launch."

They called this a "spin stabilized" satellite. Here is a 27 second view of that launch in 1958.
Notice the Explorer 1 up above in the drum...spinning!
[youtube]NengyrD9-ag[/youtube]

Ill just use one motor thank you. It may seem like an easy thing to do, just slap the drum up top to the motor and bring two wires out the bottom to make it work. Not to me, a bit more was needed. The drum is way up high. The motor needs to be very close to the bottom. Why? If it were as high as the drum, it would tip over so much, the model would be broken very quickly. The device needed an extension about a foot long from the bottom.

What about the wires? The wires need to be very thin and brought out to the fins and nicely integrated into the launch stand to appear nothing was connected to the rocket. This was for realism only. Ill show more about this in the next post.

Here is the coupling for the motor and a shaft to the stabilizing drum up top. I will cut it at the location at the drum and add in a set screw to hold everything together. I hope if anything goes wrong I may be able to fix it and only glue things where needed.
(what did you expect from a former engineer? )



Bottom motor offset and areas for the wires to exit. The motor holder is an old windex spray cap with the plunger removed.



Here is a close view of the top with a home brew coupler (a wire holder) to help keep the shaft somewhat steady. (yea this model needs "spin stabilization" too.) I was lucky to get it to fit nicely around the shaft and show very little wobble.


Motor shaft holder. (I got the shaft from an old estes launch pad rod, to launch..yea..rockets!) What goes around comes around.


Here is a large aluminum set screw holder in the drum up top. The plastic drum will slide over it and held in place for removal so it will not be glued. (This kit will have access to the motor if repairs are needed.)


This may seem like crazy engineering but it was stuff I had lying around in my lab. The shaft, like I said an extra from my estes launcher. The motor from an old audio tape deck. The set screw aluminum drum holder, from a stripped (plastic covering) volume control knob in some electronic device I had. All junk, really!

Here is a 23 second test I did on youtube of that motor (and the volume control knob used as a pointer) to show how close it is to that rockets launch.
[youtube]Ng1miYdA4qQ[/youtube]

The next post will be the assembly showing the wiring with the working motor and the actual unpainted rocket on this stand.


Its a nice holding stand for my batteries with a switch and another piece of junk I saved from a very old modem box I had for my computers.

Thank you for stopping by and looking!

[Twokidsnosleep]

LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy freaking cows you have gone off the deep end into modelling......AWESOME
Best part is you are engineering it all yourself from inexpensive stuff you have lying around
That base will look cool, never thought of using an old modem
Standing ovation

[DrSprue]

LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy freaking cows you have gone off the deep end into modelling......AWESOME
Best part is you are engineering it all yourself from inexpensive stuff you have lying around
That base will look cool, never thought of using an old modem
Standing ovation

Thank you kind sir... Yea, its not only alot of models I horde as well... I save everything and even my wife is used to that from the day we met. Altho at times she does remind me to get rid of...something!!

[DrSprue]

I put this picture up on the "Friday Nights Live At the bench show" post, that will hopefully be shown next week on Dans "what have you been working on" part of the show. Its my 1st entry into that as well. It may give you an Idea of what this looks like now that I assembled it (shown at the right) even though no wires are connected yet to the motor. This week I hope i'll add that in and power it up too.

[Twokidsnosleep]

“I like that, ya, I like that a lot”

[DrSprue]

Found a couple cool pictures from the Marshall Space Flight Center that was taken sometime between August 1962 and what would appear to be early 1964. The Juno I (sometimes called Jupiter-C), is next to the Mercury-Redstone (vertically) on the right.



Notice the horizontal Saturn 1 booster right next to the Jupiter-C at the opening where a dummy S-IV stage was attached later.


By the time the Saturn was erected vertically in December 1965, a nose cone and dummy third stage were added as well (as seen in this updated photo), completing the SA-D display. You can see how the Saturn 1 was so much larger than the Jupiter-C now seen towards the bottom next to the Mercury-Redstone. Note that the Saturn 5 would have been even larger if it was displayed here! Man, the Jupiter-C and the Mercury-Redstone with the capsule was very tiny.

[DrSprue]

The Jupiter-C Rocket "Unpainted". Cool view of the rocket and the drum that holds the Explorer 1 satellite in its nose.




Very cool website that shows the history of the Jupiter program:
http://www.drewexmachina.com/2016/04/26 ... nto-space/

[DBMiller]

[Tomcat64]

Nice work Tony - really nice work

[DrSprue]

Thanks guys.