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  #1  
Old 08-11-2018, 09:56 PM
John Brohm's Avatar
John Brohm John Brohm is online now
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Default Space Transporter America

Some years ago I picked up the remains of a Space Transporter America, Estes #1338. Those old cold bones have been sitting around in the shop for awhile, so I thought it was time to see what could be made of them.

While I had the special plastic parts (nose and engine nozzles), the remnants didn't include the corrugated cardstock body wrappers or the decal sheet. Fortunately, the key info about those missing items is available at Scott's plan site here ; it just meant a little more scratch building work.

I crafted the corrugated wrappers from Styrene sheet and strips; they were applied with sparing amounts of Contact Cement. The markings were reproduced in MicroSoft Word and in TurboCad. Searching for matching fonts took a bit of time, but eventually these were pinned down. The markings were then printed on a desktop laser printer.

For the most part the painting portion of the adventure was fairly straightforward, although it took more hours than I care to recount to mask the model for the underside heatshield spray. That heatshield rolls up over the leading edges of the wings and fins, and is also on the underside of the forward canards. Ugh!

The nose cone also had the heatshield extended onto its underside, and I chose to paint the blue windshield. The radome was the final touch.

I have to say that I enjoyed this build, but I must also say I'm not so keen to build another, at least not from scratch. Construction was fairly straightforward, but the corrugated wraps, the masking and paint, and the scratch decals were big time consumers. Time to move onto the next project.
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  #2  
Old 08-12-2018, 12:06 AM
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That thing looks great! The catalog shots never did anything for me, but yours does!
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Old 08-12-2018, 12:40 AM
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I think this will be my next rc rg, with upscaled wings and bt80 based, I was so taken with this model at naram, I never remember seeing it before.
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Old 08-12-2018, 06:00 AM
OKTurbo OKTurbo is offline
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Wow! Excellent job John. That looks flawless. Better that any catalog shot I've seen.

I used to study the old Estes catalogs when I was a kid in the 70's....don't remember that one. Sure looks cool.
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Old 08-12-2018, 08:03 AM
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Good job! Very sharp looking model.

Have the plastic display nozzles appeared in any other kit?
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Old 08-12-2018, 08:27 AM
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John, that is awesome!

I don't recall havening seen this one before but I love the ship and the paint job is as good as any I have ever seen!

What will you fly it on? When you do, you have to get plenty of photos.


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Old 08-12-2018, 09:51 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OKTurbo
Wow! Excellent job John. That looks flawless. Better that any catalog shot I've seen.

I used to study the old Estes catalogs when I was a kid in the 70's....don't remember that one. Sure looks cool.



It came out around 1980. It's not memorable in the catalog, especially with the Andromeda sitting above it.



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Old 08-12-2018, 10:09 AM
zog139 zog139 is offline
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Great build John. Flawless finish as usual. I got to RSO the first flight which was qualified, but needed a bigger motor.
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Old 08-12-2018, 10:18 AM
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Very impressive work. There are a lot of interesting details in that design, I especially like the trailing flaps on the wings.
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  #10  
Old 08-12-2018, 10:23 AM
BARGeezer BARGeezer is offline
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Great job, John. I have a "nekkid" clone awaiting paint and decals.

For anybody who doesn't have the vintage kit and wants to clone it:

Plans are here at YORP:
http://www.oldrocketplans.com/estes/est1338/est1338.htm

The replica nozzles are at Sirius. Kinda pricey but worth it if it comes out like John's:
https://www.siriusrocketry.biz/isho...-sta-1-702.html
(nozzles are display only, removed for flight)

And generic corrugated styrene wraps are available at Apogee:
https://www.apogeerockets.com/Build...acForm_Wrap_Set


The PNC-60MS nose cone may be hard to find. But the balsa alternative is available from Jonrockets and erockets.

Last edited by BARGeezer : 08-12-2018 at 10:42 AM.
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