August starts where July left off. I feel that the Mars Lander Project is on a roll and I want to keep it rolling. The balsa nose cone that was previously sealed was sanded and primed. The lander’s legs were painted but the fresh cans of Dupli-Color had no sheen. I finally found an old can of Krylon Red in the garage and use that to paint the legs. An old Testor’s silver bottle and brush sufficed for the cylinder and landing pads. I tested a spot on the legs with Dupli-Color high gloss clear coat and again it took the gloss away. Once I repainted the test spot, the completed legs were set aside. Dupli-Color always worked well for me in the past but I think I am going to stay away from them for a while.

The short aluminum braces were cut to length using the supplied template. The three centering rings were installed on the engine tube at the measure marks and the four aluminum braces installed through the centering rings. The rings and braces were epoxied in place and the engine tube assembly set aside.

The lines were marked on the descent stage and the lander leg slots were cut. The gear housings were epoxied and then additional epoxy was added to form fillets along the gear housings. After drying, the remaining length of the slots were cut. The descent assembly was sanded and primed.

One of the 7.5 inch couplers was centered and epoxied to the aft bulkhead. A parallel line was drawn down the parachute tube and the 1/4 inch launch lug was epoxied on. The nose cone was sanded and fitted. The three cardboard shrouds were cut and the fabric paint carefully applied. The fabric paint added a raised detail to the shrouds similar to the vacuumed formed plastic of the original Mars Lander kit. The shrouds were then wind up to form its characteristic cone shape.

The earthquake on August 23, 2011, the thunderstorms, and then Hurricane Iren forced the Mars Lander project back on the shelf while more important things took precedence. I hope to pick the project back up in September.

As August came to end, steps 13 – 26 have been checked off the list. There are 21 steps remaining.