Estes - Lunar Scout (#7290) Built
 

Hola my Friends!

My apologies to all as it has been awhile since the last time I started a thread. Been taking care of my "media naranja" or better half. But was able to slip some building time while she was resting and decided to work on the Estes Lunar Scout. Not on real time but will share some of my experiences.

Mr. Blanche always says to me "Dude, you always do things the hard way..." What can I say, that is me... and so I decided to finish each part of the LS before assembly. And this approached worked for me... From start to finish I think it took me about two week total as I dedicated about an hour each night to address any building details. The painting took place in the morning as it was raining "cats and dogs" here in Bogota, Colombia. Paint (Rusto-oleum) took about two day to cure. I knew that the white and red paints would be no problem to work with but I did not have a good source of gold paint. I decided to try the "gold foil" from pastry trays I had handy and I think it turned out great. I only covered one side for the two rings, the radar dish, and the tree parts that go over the fins near the central BT. The exposed areas for those part were painted black.

Finishing and Assembly
 

The middle BT was left without paint. I made sure that all edges that were to be glued were not exposed to paint, and were also later sanded to ensure good fiber contact. On the Big Ring, the locations where the fins were to slide over, the white paint was carefully scratched and removed.

Wood glue was used to attache the gold mylar to the rocket parts because as when I removed it from the card, it still had some paper fibers attached to it. This worked great and I was happy with the results. I also used wood glue to attach the red BT to the white BT.

Assembly did not take long, only waited for different sections to dry and cure before handling it. I carefully used Medium CA to attach the parts. After the SL was assembled I applied a thin line of Medium CA as "fillets" to the fins and let that cure for about 48 hours. Lastly I applied Future to all the gold and black parts.

I am happy with the results and I can say "Yes, it can be painted before assembly with good esthetic results..." For now it is part of my shelf queen rocket display. Not sure when or where I would attempt to fly it as I have no motors for the LS... USPS/DPO regulations would not allow me to order motors from the states. Also, if I fly it I hope that the CA holds this thing together at least for one flight. If it flies and "disassembles" in the air then it would be a "show to see"!!! It would also be an excuse to build another one.

Well folks, how you enjoy this little story. Keep building and Keep flying!!!!

- Raul

That’s a really nice job on the Lunar Scout. I built ONE and I won’t build another because of the difficulty in painting and/or coloring the parts. It’s virtually impossible to color or paint the model after it’s assembled.

Indeed! That turned out very well. Neat little model.

Raul,

Very nice! Gold foil looks like an excellent substitute for gold paint.

I have an unopened kit, but I think it will get gifted to someone that has the patience to build AND put a finish on it. :D

Thanks Jeff, John, and Lee! A friend of mine and I are toying with the idea of an upscale version of it. So far the ring alone would be 10 inches in diameter!!! Every time I put together something he goes "upscale, upscale"...

- Raul

Someone on one of the FB rocketry groups did an upscale. I’ll try to find a picture.

EDIT:

Found it. Builder is Val Derkach. I am not sure if the picture of it painted is the latest.

That’s an awesome upscale!—and his work area is even a bigger mess than mine! I am not worthy.

Since October is winding down on me, and since today is supposed to be the last sunny, rainless day before the month ends, I went up to B6-4 Field today and flew a box of saucers and other draggy birds. One of them was the Lunar Scout. It was the only mini engine powered bird, but it outflew four C6-0 birds. :cool:

I actually just finished building the Lunar Scout earlier this week! It was a pretty easy and straightforward build . Looks pretty good in its unpainted state but, hindsight being 20/20, I probably should have tried to paint it before assembling. I can tell I'm going to have to be patient with the masking and will be using paint pens as well. I'll try to post a pic once I'm done.