Friday, March 29, 2024

Estes Skytracer Clone #1361 Build, Part 14, Detail Paint & Sand


You always seem to find more work after paint is applied.

Just like launch lug bubbles, I found some where the dowel met up with the trailing edge of the wing fin. 
More glue fillets!


Here's the "thruster tube" standoff glue strip with the masking tape removed.
There's a bit of a rough edge where the paint was over the tape.

For a smoother fit and stronger joint, some 400 grit was rolled around a Q-tip for softer sanding. This leveled the raised paint edge.
I sprayed the thruster units off the model. It would be hard to get good inside coverage if these were glued on the stabilizer fin.

The upper picture shows some rough paint when the strip of tape was removed. 

A little sanding and the edge is cleaner for the glue joint.

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Estes Skytracer Clone #1361 Build, Part 13, Mask & White Paint




I masked off the glue line for the thruster assemblies. Look close and you can see the thin masking tape line.




The model is ready for the first white coats. In the front end a rolled up paper towel keeps paint out of the tube.

Easy paint - most of the model is an overall gloss white. The small nose cones in the thruster units aren't glued in yet, they will be painted black separately off the model.




Enlarge the picture and you can see some ridges down the fillets.









The glue fillet ridges can be lightly sanded with some 400 grit.  Don't sand into or dip into the balsa! Just knock off the high glue spots.
 
In the picture you can see the paint and fillet have been dulled with the sandpaper.

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Estes Skytracer Clone #1361 Build, Part 12, Gluing The Canopy

I glued up four canopies to get a good one. I from each try and got better at making them.
   
The back end of the canopy is 1" from the back of the shoulder lip.

I tacked down the front and rear of the canopy using medium weight (not thin) CA glue applied with a toothpick.


After the front and rear are adhered,
Hold the sides down against the nose cone and apply more medium CA using the toothpick to draw a line of glue down the joint.

The canopy is in place!

Be sure the back edge is 1" from the shoulder lip. For whatever reason I set the canopy 7/8" from the back of the nose cone. Later on, this affected the placement of the red stripe decals.

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Estes Skytracer Clone #1361 Build, Part 11, More Canopy Forming

A little break from the canopy forming - 
.25 oz. of clay weight is rolled into little balls and dropped into the hole at the base of the shoulder. The small balls of clay settle easier into the nose cone tip. Easier to level these small bits of clay than chasing around a "clay snake" with the flat end of a dowel.

I did have to widen the shoulder hole diameter with a knife and half round file.




It takes very little glue to close the canopy tab. Use a thin "skin" of glue.

A flat faced needle tweezers held the canopy tab closed as the glue dried.








On the left is how the canopy looks after gluing 
But, to fit the nose cone, the canopy folds are pinched closed making it sit higher on the nose cone.







Here's the back end of the canopy - 
The squared back was rolled over a Sharpie barrel to fit the round nose cone.

Monday, March 25, 2024

Estes Skytracer Clone #1361 Build, Part 10, The Canopy




I used the canopy pattern drawn up by Greg Poehlein.
You can use this cardstock pattern to make the proper canopy on a Crossfire style nose cone.
To see it: CLICK HERE

Excuse the distortion in the picture, that upper horizontal line is straight, not tipped down.
TIP: Before cutting out the canopy - 
Pre-emboss the tow long fold lines and the short glue tab. You won't be able to get a sharp fold if you cut out the piece first.

I go old school, a smooth tip (not serrated) butter knife and straight edge. This embossed line method goes back to the old Estes Saturn 1B cardstock fins. 

I cut out the long sides with a straightedge and knife. The rounded sides were rolled over using scissors.

The rounded sides were cleaned up by sanding on a piece of 400 grit.







I started coaxing the folds setting the lines directly on top of the edges of my triangular engineers scale.

A Sharpie barrel was pressed down onto the fold line.

Continued in the next post . . .

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Estes Skytracer Clone #1361 Build, Part 9, Root Edge Scrape & Details



On the left I've scraped the filler/primer of the fin root edge glue area.
On the right - 
NEWBIES: Extend the alignment line over and around the edges of the tube. You can't see the pencil line when the root edge of the fin is set over it.







Here's the pencil line drawn around and a little inside the laser unit tube.






The balsa standoff brace is glued to the bottom of the thruster assembly and even with the rear edge.

Saturday, March 23, 2024

Estes Skytracer Clone #1361 Build, Part 8, Filler/Primer & Dowel Detail



After sanding smooth the CWF - 
The wing fins, standoffs, launch lug and standoffs were taped to scrap cardboard and sprayed with filler/primer.









After drying and before sanding - 
You can see some dulled areas of the balsa needed another shot of filler/primer.




The wing fins were glued onto the main airframe tube.

I thought the dowel went all the way from the engine tube to the outside edge of the fin rear. But - 

The dowel end is about 3/8" from the outside edge. I checked the instruction drawing this time.