Beta builder for Ares I rocket
 

I need a beta builder for the upcoming Ares I kit. Scale is 1/144. The kit is very simple, and requires few special skills. The only thing to know is that it is round, so if you are adverse to curves this is not your kit :D It should stand about 2ft tall when finished. Let me know here and I'll e-mail the parts to you tomorrow. :)

Ares I as in the new rocket for NASA? Hmmmmm. What's the time frame?

Yes, the very same. There's no specific time frame as long as its "reasonable." ;) Wanna give it a go?

I'm in the process of building Ton's Ares I from The Lower Hudson Valley Paper Model Giftshop at http://jleslie48.com/index.html Original is 1:96. I scaled down to near 1:144 (printed at 67%). Colors are sort of washed out a little when I reduced it. I wouldn't mind giving it a go. I only started the Constellation Project rockets while waiting for the next ISS section from Ser Alfonso at Welcome to AXM Paper Space Scale Models , the Mobile Base system for Canadarm2 - STS-111.

Sure, what the hay! I've been looking for a model of this rocket for the museum i work at. Yippee!.

Cool... I plan to build an Ares model in the near future, likely one off The Lower Hudson Valley Paper Model Giftshop website:D.

I started the beta build with the first stage SRB engine nozzle (1st photo). Second photo shows most of the remaining parts of the SRB with the upper part rolled and glued into a cylinder. I made my own glue tabs internal to the cylinder, since I'm so poor at edge glueing.

The first stage is about done. I just need to add the fairing to the second stage, the instrumentation duct, some stripes around the lower portion of the SRB, and a few fiddly little bits around the engine cone. Next, the second stage.

It may me the 67 lb paper I used, but the stripes that go around the lower SRB are about 1/16 inch too short. It's not very noticeable once the instrumentation duct is in place. Well, that's what a beta build is for. Finding opportunities for improvement, that is. Over all, I have to say this is a very well designed model. I think I'll have to invest in one of Shrike's Rolly Sticks after this build. A narrow diameter 8 inch long rod would have been just the thing for helping to join the edges of the cylinders.

Here's stage 2. Just the upper parts left. I think it's a test capsule. Avery didn't design the Orion spacecraft yet for this beta. There is an escape tower on top, but it doesn't match the tower pictures I've seen for Orion.