# New 12" Jupiter 2 launch pad kit for Polar Lights J-2 available VERY soon!



## g_xii (Mar 20, 2002)

*New 12" Jupiter 2 launch pad kit for Polar Lights J-2 available NOW!*

Hey all --

For the true collector... I've been working on this for a few years, but could not find someone to do the fabrication for me until recently. The kit is designed for the Polar Lights Jupiter 2, and it has been machine cut (not resin cast) and includes strip styrene that you have to cut to fit (easy!) and pre-fab staircases. The hardest part was the railing, which I promptly broke because I was SURE I would not have to soak it in hot water first... I know better now. Anyway, here are some pics of me putting together the first kit. I welcome comments and suggestions!

--Henry (G_XII)


Parts I got back from my fabricated masters (excluding stairs!):









Gluing on the stair case:









Three staircases, ready! :









Mounting them to the center deck:









Test fit w/ J-2 -- nice and level! Took me 15 minutes to get this far:










Putting on the side flashing (should have done this first!):









Still level! :










Semi-finished product! I still have to put the rest of the handrails on!:









That's all for now. Cult should have them for sale on his website soon -- still working on a price (it's not cheap to get the parts machine cut, but well worth it -- Never even touched the thing with sand paper!). Watch for more!


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## Carson Dyle (May 7, 2003)

Very nice.


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## Semusclebear (Sep 29, 2007)

This launch tower looks really awesome. I have a kit that looks like this one that I got off of ebay about a year ago...I still need to build it. I will be checking Cult Mans site soon for another one. Rick Norcutt


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## flyingfrets (Oct 19, 2001)

*HENRY*!!! Where have you BEEN?!!?  Good to see you still knockin' around!  

Dude, this looks frickin' awesome! I still remember your original prototype from back in '02 when I was working up the masters for the crew. Glad we're finally gonna see it.

Count me *IN*!


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## g_xii (Mar 20, 2002)

Semusclebear said:


> This launch tower looks really awesome. I have a kit that looks like this one that I got off of ebay about a year ago...I still need to build it. I will be checking Cult Mans site soon for another one. Rick Norcutt


Rick -- 

Thank you for the kind words! Here's the difference between "my" kit and the one I think you purchased (on your kit, check the "stairs" which are not even staricases but some kind of slanted ramp). I got one of those kits (that in and of itself is a long story) and the casting was awful, it had pin-holes in it EVERYWHERE, each leg was warped, and whatever type pf plastic he was using was really, really soft. I just glued it together (with better steps), and spray painted it with that rubberized undercoat / sealer you use for truck beds... It displayed the model OK, but just never looked right. I spend a lot of time doing research on the studio model and watching the DVD's, and came up with a much more accurate version. You'll see the obvious differences below (and I had not finished building my kit yet in this photo).

--Henry (G_XII)


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## g_xii (Mar 20, 2002)

flyingfrets said:


> *HENRY*!!! Where have you BEEN?!!?  Good to see you still knockin' around!
> 
> Dude, this looks frickin' awesome! I still remember your original prototype from back in '02 when I was working up the masters for the crew. Glad we're finally gonna see it.
> 
> Count me *IN*!


DON!!!!!!!

I've been lurking.... Honestly, I about damn near gave up modeling when I saw that Spindrift Brent Gair scratch built (I think I spelled his name wrong, but you know who I mean). I was so blown away by what he was able to do BY HIMSELF that I was thinking of quitting it all! Then I ran into a guy that does plastic fabrication, took my masters out to him, and arranged a price to have them machine cut. Man, was it worth it. The parts for this kit are SOOOOO Schweeet! Crisp, identical, and the damn thing almost puts itself together! You'll see. Drop me a line: [email protected] and fill me in on your life these days!

Glad to see you back on line as well!

--H


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## g_xii (Mar 20, 2002)

Cult has these for sale now on his website. I sure would like to include something better than the handrails from Plastruct (they are SO brittle).

Any suggestions?

--Henry


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## Semusclebear (Sep 29, 2007)

*My Launch pad kit*

Hi g-xii, I am not sure who or what company made my Launch pad kit for the Polar Lights Jupiter 2 but it does have stairs. As for the plastic, it is smooth with no pin holes as you had described. Perhaps I just got lucky but I do plan on getting yours in time. It looks great.  Rick Norcutt


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## g_xii (Mar 20, 2002)

Semusclebear said:


> Hi g-xii, I am not sure who or what company made my Launch pad kit for the Polar Lights Jupiter 2 but it does have stairs. As for the plastic, it is smooth with no pin holes as you had described. Perhaps I just got lucky but I do plan on getting yours in time. It looks great. Rick Norcutt


Rick:

Thank you for your kind words. I really don't remember who made the one I purchased a few years back either. I remember I got it from Culttvman's website, and he did have a fair review of the kit posted, listing the kit's shortcomings. But, check out these photos of it! If your's looked better than this, maybe they either retooled the molds or it is another company. Either way, you apparently have more luck than I do! This kit almost turned me off of ever buying a garage kit again. And I would have missed out on that REALLY nice Wilco Proteus, too! 

Anyway, this is what my "purchased" kit looked like right out of the box when I got it about four years ago! I ended up filling in most of the bigger holes, but even after that, it still looked so damned awful that - this pains me to admit - I sprayed it with rubberized undercoating (the stuff they use in pickup truck beds and wheel wells!). To tell the truth, from a few inches back, that actually hid most of the imperfections, much to my surprise. The kit, however, really was about 2" too short, even if it had been cast a bit better. And I don't know what kind of casting material was used, but it looked like Dental Plaster or something! Very soft and sand as you like, it would not yield a really smooth surface... I don't know what it was, but it was fairly soft.

The "stairs" really killed me, though... I threw them away right off the bat and used some from Plastruct that improved the overalll appearance quite a bit, actually! 

--Henry!


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## Nova Designs (Oct 10, 2000)

Man, that looks great, so clean and holds the model perfectly.


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## flyingfrets (Oct 19, 2001)

Yo Henry!

Check your email from a week or 10 days ago. Or better still, drop me a line when you get a chance!

Don


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## g_xii (Mar 20, 2002)

Thanks, Nova! I worked hard on it! It's fairly sturdy, too!

Don: I'll email you in a sec!

--Henry


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## woof359 (Apr 27, 2003)

*got on too*



g_xii said:


> Rick:
> 
> Thank you for your kind words. I really don't remember who made the one I purchased a few years back either. I remember I got it from Culttvman's website, and he did have a fair review of the kit posted, listing the kit's shortcomings. But, check out these photos of it! If your's looked better than this, maybe they either retooled the molds or it is another company. Either way, you apparently have more luck than I do! This kit almost turned me off of ever buying a garage kit again. And I would have missed out on that REALLY nice Wilco Proteus, too!
> 
> ...


I have one of these old ganties from Steve, it wasnt to bad for the price but i took it forever to get just kinda smooth, now its began to warp bad.


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## g_xii (Mar 20, 2002)

Yeah -- I don't know what he used to make them out of, but it was some fairly soft and gritty stuff. Gluing it to a base made of wood helped. But, the warpage is why I went with machine cut acrylic for my kit. It's fairly sturdy (especially if you use the Ambrose Pro-Weld) and holds the model without a problem. I'm waiting from feedback from folks that have built it (other than me!) so if I need to improve anything, I can do it before I get too many of them made up in advance.

At least, that's the plan!

--Henry


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## Y3a (Jan 18, 2001)

SO, I've looked back n forth. Looks RIGHT ON to me.


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## Griffworks (Jun 24, 2002)

Sweet job on that!


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## bert model maker (Feb 19, 2002)

Henry, OUTSTANDING !!!! count me in !


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## g_xii (Mar 20, 2002)

Bert, Jeffrey -- thanks! I just picked up more of them from the fabricator today!

Now, I have a lot of boxing up to do!

--Henry


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## bert model maker (Feb 19, 2002)

g_xii said:


> Bert, Jeffrey -- thanks! I just picked up more of them from the fabricator today!
> 
> Now, I have a lot of boxing up to do!
> 
> --Henry


 I will be ordering mine in the next month or so.


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## Bobman (Jan 21, 2001)

Well _Henry_ that's _my_ kit you've been bashing. As anyone can see in the pics you posted, yes there are pin holes, flashing, and some sanding to do. But we are modelers, aren't we? It was not cast in dental plaster either. Regular smooth-on resin like most garage kits are. I've sold dozens of the kit and had very happy customers.

As for your kit: acrylic is a good choice for your base material. But it _too_ will warp over time. I know what I'm talking about since I've been in the sign business over 10 years now. I've built acrylic displays many times. Lexan would've been a better choice. Stronger and will hold paint _better_ than acrylic. The only things missing from your kit that I can see are the hand rails for the lower sides of the legs, the concrete slab steps that the legs stand on and of course the rivets on all of the legs. Your price is a little high, but that's due to the cost of your parts. Just going by what your saying about the cost of the acrylic parts, sounds like you are paying too much for them. I've used a CNC router many times and the launch pad parts are pretty simple to cut.

Good luck with the kit.

Bob


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## g_xii (Mar 20, 2002)

Bobman said:


> Well _Henry_ that's _my_ kit you've been bashing. As anyone can see in the pics you posted, yes there are pin holes, flashing, and some sanding to do. But we are modelers, aren't we? It was not cast in dental plaster either. Regular smooth-on resin like most garage kits are. I've sold dozens of the kit and had very happy customers.


Well, _Bob, _you built and sold that kit from plans that I freely posted here on this very message board. I feel that gives me the right to point out issues, especially as you never even gave me any credit for it! 




Bobman said:


> As for your kit: acrylic is a good choice for your base material. But it _too_ will warp over time. I know what I'm talking about since I've been in the sign business over 10 years now. I've built acrylic displays many times. Lexan would've been a better choice. Stronger and will hold paint _better_ than acrylic. The only things missing from your kit that I can see are the hand rails for the lower sides of the legs, the concrete slab steps that the legs stand on and of course the rivets on all of the legs. Your price is a little high, but that's due to the cost of your parts. Just going by what your saying about the cost of the acrylic parts, sounds like you are paying too much for them. I've used a CNC router many times and the launch pad parts are pretty simple to cut.


I kind of disagree with you on the use of acrylic. I feel that by using styrene flashing on both the sides and all edges, combined with the use of ABS staircases and additional supports at the top of the gantry legs in the form of two 1/4" blocks should enable my gantry kit to support the weight of a PL J2 without much danger of sagging over the years. 

The photo I've posted is of an incomplete kit, however the kit being sold does include handrails at the base of all the gantry legs. The quality of the parts I am getting from the fabricator make it well worth what I am paying to have them cut. And all the extras (crisp staircases, easy to apply plastruct railings, and crisp styrene strips for flashing/support) should make for a very high quality build. 

As a last form of insurance I have also designed and added a bit of a "spur" on the backside of each gantry leg (both left and right) that will give additional support to the center deck as well as making the model easy to assemble and get level. 

The "rivets" can be added when the kit is complete, either by small pieces being glued on, or via a simple rivet simulation tool that Micromark sells for about $12.00. 

I did not do the concrete blocks (and neither did you, at first, because they were not on my plans!) mainly because that part is easy enough for any modeler to fabricate if they wish, but right now the exact diameter of the assembled kit is 12", and if you mount it to an inexpensive wooden circle (as I have in the pictures) the base is EXTREMLY sturdy and solid.

I will, as you suggest, look into Lexan, but I must confess that I am unfamiliar with the product. If it proves to be close to as cost effective, I will do as you suggest.

In the meantime, I thank you for your suggestions, and I will continue to endevor to improve and learn as I go! 

--Henry


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Cool - Lexan is a bullet-proof acrylic! If I have a burglar in the house I could use the base as a shield while I'm diving for my .45! :lol:


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## g_xii (Mar 20, 2002)

John P said:


> Cool - Lexan is a bullet-proof acrylic! If I have a burglar in the house I could use the base as a shield while I'm diving for my .45! :lol:


That's too good! 

But, more importantly, how well will it hold paint, and does it warp over time?

--Henry


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## Bobman (Jan 21, 2001)

Lexan is only bullet proof _if_ it's thicker than 1" and then it depends on the _size_ of the bullet. Also it takes paint better than acrylic as I _already_ stated. It is cheaper than acrylic too.

Now that you have some parts in hand, you need to do some shopping around Henry. I'm sure you could get a better price on the CNC work.

Also don't use "a simple rivet simulation tool that Micromark sells for about $12.00." It's not the fact that I don't like micromark tools. It's the fact that if you try to "punch" a simulated rivet into acrylic or lexan it _will_ shatter it. Been there _many_ times.

Bob


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## g_xii (Mar 20, 2002)

Bob:

Like I said, I'll look into the Lexan. The punch tool from micromark will work fine -- it is not going into acrylic, but rather into .020 styrene strips that are glued to the acrylic. I know better than to try to use a punch tool on acrylic! The styrene strips are, however, thin and flexible enough to do the job with that tool.

--Henry


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## Steve CultTVman Iverson (Jan 1, 1970)

You could always do up leg masters, add the rivets, etc, then cast them in resin. Something to think about.

Steve


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## g_xii (Mar 20, 2002)

Steve CultTVman Iverson said:


> You could always do up leg masters, add the rivets, etc, then cast them in resin. Something to think about.
> 
> Steve


The problem is, they (the legs) have to be fairly precise or the model will not be level. I tried it with two different people (casting in resin). They came out OK, but not nearly as nice as what I ended up with in acrylic.

--Henry


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