#11
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From your pictures it looks as though the wrap partially covers the cutout for the fin mount tubes, is that correct ?
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#12
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Yes, that's correct. And that's where I realized my mistake.
I looked at the instructions, which say to mark the tube at 4", and slide the wrap (held with tape) to the 4" line, trace both edges. Remove and apply cement between lines and to wrap. Apply wrap. Next instruction - cut out the wrap portions covering the cutouts. That's when I realized that the 'slide the wrap to the 4" mark' meant the -top- of the wrap to 4", not the -bottom- of the wrap. Oh well. The picture shows the worst of the lumpiness. The rest is nearly as good as the first time. One other note: I trimmed the wrap to be -pretty- close to perfect, held tight against the tube. There was a little gap - I over trimmed by a hair. But when laying the wrap down over the contact cement, I discovered two things: even thinly applied, the cement has a finite thickness. Secondly, I couldn't pull the wrap as tight around the tube with the cement as on bare tube. The glue holds, so you can't get that extra 64th of an inch of tightness that you can when you can wiggle it a bit under tension. So the gap is a little bigger than perfect. It also is placed under an equipment pod - so it doesn't really matter.
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Charles McGonegal Ciderwright AEppelTreow Winery & Distillery Ad Astra Tabernamque! |
#13
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Moving on, with mixed success.
Here are the separation rings and the half stage shrouds. The rings are a right pain to sand smooth. They are -really- thin. I looked up the review on rocket reviews that notes the orientation - slope forward. It's not obvious in the diagrams. Here's the good side. And here's the bad side. It's so thin, that if it doesn't lay right, it's a tough recovery. It tears, and/or sticks to itself. I think if I were cloning it, I might build it up in multiple paper layers, and fill the slope. Or from kit, I would be tempted to fill the backside with an expanding glue - just to toughen it.
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Charles McGonegal Ciderwright AEppelTreow Winery & Distillery Ad Astra Tabernamque! |
#14
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Mounted the equipment pods, then used thinner on a qtip to clean up the contact cement.
Added my shock cord anchor and put the mounts in place. First time I've used Titebond no run. I likey. .
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Charles McGonegal Ciderwright AEppelTreow Winery & Distillery Ad Astra Tabernamque! |
#15
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Glued up all the two-piece plastic parts with a thin Tamiya cement. Worked nice - easier to control than a Testors tube.
Thrusters : most of the plastic details have pins that help hold them. I also used the Testors tube cement, as instructed. I figured it seems to have a dissolved solid component that would help hold to the tube. Chase to the gyro cover. For all the detail pieces, I used the part with a little pressure to mark the glassine, then cut holes for the pins.
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Charles McGonegal Ciderwright AEppelTreow Winery & Distillery Ad Astra Tabernamque! |
#16
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Laying out the thruster LOX line. Really loving the Titebond moulding and trim.
Almost forgot the drain vent. Laid out the main LOX line. Didn't glue it down yet - it gets painted separately. And now it's nap time.
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Charles McGonegal Ciderwright AEppelTreow Winery & Distillery Ad Astra Tabernamque! |
#17
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Engine nozzles and launch lugs next.
Cutting them out it only a little tricky. Some of the groves are deep, some are fine. I looked at the parts a lot before I applied the saw. The core nozzle, I cut again. I also cut down one of my printed retainers. I'm still thinking about sanding the knurls off so it looks more like the original. And checking the lug alignment.
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Charles McGonegal Ciderwright AEppelTreow Winery & Distillery Ad Astra Tabernamque! |
#18
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And the capsule. I think it's identical to the current Estes Mercury Redstone kit - but in white.
I can't put the tower together the way the instructions say - two legs, then antenna top then third leg. I put all three together, using the bottom of the escape motor for alignment, then slide it over the antenna top. This means the antenna top ends up black, like the rest of the capsule- I don't think that's a problem. The capsule panels always take a bit of sanding to fit in the base. This time, don't glue it in the base - the capsule sits on top of the transition, not in it. Ready for paint. Note, I'm leaving off the turbine exhaust vent for now - it would make it impossible to stand up like this.
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Charles McGonegal Ciderwright AEppelTreow Winery & Distillery Ad Astra Tabernamque! |
#19
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Working on the paint. The tube has some fuzzies from the re-do of the stiffener placement. So it will take sanding and another coat - which forces about a week of drying time.
I did a little hand touch up of the capsule (under the antenna housing) and the base of the tower. And the separation band. Masking the hand painted acrylic has failed me for the second time. That's the silver lox lines on the transition. I don't know what I'm doing wrong - but it's frustrating. I went back and touched up the silver and rubbed off the paint that wicked under the masking.
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Charles McGonegal Ciderwright AEppelTreow Winery & Distillery Ad Astra Tabernamque! Last edited by aeppel_cpm : 04-24-2017 at 08:22 AM. |
#20
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I see your supervisor was making sure you were building it correctly in one of the photos....
My furrball likes to get up on the work table and bat at my hands as I move..... |
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