Mercury Redstone: Freedom 7

[NathanR]

On May 7, 1961, astronaut Alan Shepard became then first American in space. Flying the Mercury capsule "Freedom 7", he reached an altitude of 187.5km on his 15 minute sub-orbital flight.

 

This particular model is in scale with the recent Lego Ideas 21309 Saturn V/Apollo rocket.  I’ve taken the scale from the Apollo command module, assuming 1 stud = 1m.  Sadly, at this small size (just 2 studs across), it isn't possible to recreate the United States logo down the side of the rocket, or the distinctive black-and-white stripes in the aft section.  If anyone has advice on getting custom prints done, I'd certainly be interested.

I was nearly going to use the traditional Lego rocket fin for the tail of the ship, but I decided to try and recreate the black and white patterning on the engine block using some robot arms:

 

I'm a little concerned about my use of a 3.18mm bar in the technic axle holes to hold the base of the rocket together, as it's an unusual technique that (I think) may be damaging to the 2x2 round bricks and plates.  That said, it has been used in a few Lego sets so I'm confident it is at least "legal".

The model features a display stand, based on the actual launchpad of the Mercury-Redstone:

 

The Mercury-Redstone comes with a separate Mercury capsule on its own display stand - this version includes a 1x1 round plate on the base to represent the retro-rocket pack.  This was a small engine that fired to bring Freedom 7 down to Earth on a good trajectory, but unfortunately there isn't the space to include it on the rocket stack.  The Mercury capsule was topped by a 4.8m red escape tower, which would propel the capsule up and away from an exploding booster.  While never used on manned flights (fortunately), it saw incredibly frequent use during the early testing of rockets!  A nanofigure astronaut is included for scale… and yes, Mercury really was that tiny!!

 

This is a digital MOC and hasn't been tested in real life.  An older version has appeared on mecabricks, but this one has been updated to use parts that actually exist.  Comments and criticism are always appreciated!

 

Edited July 9, 2017 by NathanR

[Feuer Zug]

Nice build. I like the design, especially how you did the fins. And since you scaled it to the new Saturn V, even better.

[danial]

I've been chatting with Nathan regarding his design and made a BrickLink order a couple weeks ago. Today, the last pieces arrived - 49 in total I think. I used the original Mecabricks design that preceded the one posted above. The main changes are around the engine bell, which are for the better, so I will be looking to get these pieces as soon as Nathan has had a chance to update it.

A couple of things I noticed from the build:

• I wonder if there's a single bar with end stop that can run the length of the rocket - this would help with stability. At the moment it consists of a 6L bar with end stop and an 8L technic axle.
• As I'm using the old design for the engine bell/fines, it freely rotates (it didn't do this in real life!) - the updated design will fix this.
• The launch pad in an excellent touch, and the rocket balances fine.

As you can see it scales nicely against the Saturn V and really puts the size difference into perspective. (Ignore the wonkiness, I didn't press down the pieces well enough before taking the photo).

DSCF2570 by Danial Sturge, on Flickr

DSCF2573 by Danial Sturge, on Flickr

Thanks again for this design!

Edited June 23, 2017 by danial

[NathanR]

Wow, it's fantastic to see this in real life!  It's amazing to think how far NASA was able to go in just 8 short years.

I've updated the design on mecabricks, it now has a display stand for a separate Mercury capsule, and a slightly different engine structure for the Redstone booster.  It will still rotate, since I've had to use a 6L bar  to mount it, but it should be ok.  I will post pictures/details when my bricks finally arrive 

 

[danial]

Yea, the size difference is still hard to believe. I've actually seen both full size rockets at Kennedy Space Centre, Florida - but they're not next to one another.

I actually swapped a piece to a Plate 2x2 Round, which has the axle hole rather than a round one, which prevent the engine structure from rotating when using an technic axle with stop. However, with the new engine flame design (which I think is rather clever) it'll still rotate like you said.

It also turns out I didn't arrange the red parts on the escape tower correctly. Once I've updated the parts to the final model I will update the photos as well!

[NathanR]

My lego bricks arrived today... unfortunately the "updated" model isn't as good as I'd have liked.  

Firstly, it breaks easily at the joints between the three axles that are supposed to keep it rigid.  Secondly, I forgot to order the 6x6 round base plate  And thirdly... It turns out I've built it to the wrong scale.  The Lego Ideas Saturn V is 1:110, not 1:100 as I'd assumed, so the entire rocket is about 2 bricks too short.

So, I guess it's back to the drawing board.  Who knew a stack of 2x2 bricks could be so difficult? 

[danial]

Oh dear! I did think it was 2.5cm short, as it measures at 20cm. Although, if it's too short doesn't that mean it's more like a scale of 1:125? If you line the axles up so they kind of interlock between bricks, it works well enough. 

Let me know when you've returned from the drawing board!

[NathanR]

Yeah... The problem is that I went for 1:100 as the Mercury capsule was 2m wide, but to check the rest of the rocket height-wise I had to resort to print-screen and then photoshop onto a blueprint image.  I think this is where I've gone wrong, as LDD has a camera field-of-view and perspective, which distorts the image a bit.  Also, scaling the image by just one or two pixels has an amazing effect on the apparent height of the rocket, given how tall and thin this one is.  Another issue I've had is that every picture showing the markings and United States logo seem to have the rocket a different height.

I'll figure it out.  Eventually.,..