Apogee Star Lift Mega Lander Build

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RocketGeekInFL

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So I got some Christmas gift certificates for Apogee and kicked in some funds of my own and got the new Star Lift Mega Lander. Got the kit in usual lightening fast manner that Apogee has always shipped to me in. Apogee is one of the quickest vendors to fill orders in the business!! Cannot say enough about the engineering that is very evident from the moment this kit is opened. Tim Van Milligan really outdid himself on this one. Here are some pics of the packaging and parts.

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This kit has a lot of parts. The precision of the laser cutting is some of the best I have ever seen.
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All the parts
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The decals are top notch. And die cut to boot.
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Detail of the laser cutting.
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And finally the instructions.
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There are 23 videos included on the DVD that make up the video instructions. Most of the videos are in the 3-5 minute range with a few in the 11-15 min range. All the videos are also available on YouTube.

A quick glance at the instruction sheet reveals that this will need to be painted ahead of time and that the wood parts are done with wood stain. The value of this kit is very evident once I took look at all the parts.

This will be a fully detailed build thread on this kit. I wanted to get these pics up now though in case anyone was on the fence about buying one of these for their winter build piles (not a problem for us Floridians however.)

Give me a week to get all my supplies together for this build and I will start posting build pics. I will build this kit per the Apogee instructions with two exceptions, I will use nylon chutes and I will use a threaded retainer.
 
Just seeing those balsa sheets got a subscription. Can't wait to see this one come together.
 
Got started on the build for this over the weekend. This kit is going to be built in a slightly different order than I usually put a kit together. All the main components will be painted/stained first. I unpacked and inspected all the parts. This kit has an immense number of parts. Mostly the very precise laser cut plywood pieces that will get put together to form the legs and the leg locks. This kit goes together very much like a 3-D puzzle does. If you have built a QCC explorer you will see some similarities.

First up will be the body tubes. These are thin walled BT-80 tube that have been laser cut with opening for the fins as well as attachment points for the leg locks and stringers. Also cut into the tubes are spaces to line up the launch lugs perfectly.
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I do a light sanding on the tubes first. Then using a mechanical pencil I score and mark the seam that needs to be filled. This helps to see the seem during this process.
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Using a hobby knife that I dip into thinned wood filler I lightly drag it through the crease just lightly scoring the seam and depositing enough filler to fill the seam.
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Once the filler has setup I sanded down the tube. This only takes a few minutes. I finish sanding the tubes with some 400 grit sand paper to prep for prime.
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Next will be placement of the launch lugs and then adding fillets to them. You can see the laser cutout for the positioning of the launch lug. There is another equal space on the other end of the bottom tube.
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After the glue dries and then some light sanding these will be ready for prime and paint. I also ran a bead of thin CA around the inside of the ejection end of the bottom tube and the cone end of the top tube to give these areas a bit more strength.
 
It is necessary to stain the pieces of this kit. Painting them would make the tolerances for the moving surfaces very difficult to measure since everyone has a different style of priming/painting.

I did a quick sand on all the sheets. Try to keep the pieces together as much as possible as it makes this first stain much easier to do. I covered my work surface in plastic and wore gloves. You can see by the pictures this can get messy, and I am generally very clean when I build, but keeping a clean surface when working with stain has always eluded me. I am using MinWax ebony stain for this project. Since I have time to allow the pieces to dry this was a good choice for me. I like the durability that MinWax has and It penetrates deeper than many other stains. (There are a few pieces that do not get stained that I removed. These are some spacers and some glue sticks that are used to wipe away excess glue in areas where the articulating parts might sit up against.)

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I let these pieces dry overnight and the following evening I placed all the sheets out on the table and put the pieces back where they popped out from to compare them to the parts legend that comes with the kit. I am going to try to get the best pictures possible during the next several steps, though with the parts all being black it will be hard to get the exact picture of what I am talking about. I will do my best to get the best picture possible.

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All of the pieces in this kit pretty much pop out of their sheets with very little effort. I only had to use my hobby knife maybe 4 times to release pieces from the sheets. The cutting on this kit is so precise.

I am going to do one leg at a time and only pop out the pieces necessary for each component that is being assembled. First up will be the first of three legs.

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All of these pieces are glued together using Titebond yellow glue. I used as little as possible and only on the contact surfaces. All excess was either wiped away or scraped away with one of those glue sticks I mentioned earlier.

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These legs go together very much like a Puzz 3D puzzle does or similar to the fin pods on the QCC Explorer.
 
Here are the leg locks that go on the upper section of the airframe being glued together. This is the spacer that was removed prior to staining earlier. It is not glued into place, but only acts as a guide to keep the parts in correct placement while the glue dries.

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I let all the components dry over night. All excess glue was either wiped off or scraped off. I was very careful to use the bare minimum glue on all parts. I even used a syringe bottle glue applicator to make glue dispersal as exacting as possible.

The following day I did a light sanding on all the parts to remove as much glue residue as possible without taking away any material from the actual component. Then I applied another staining to the parts. The three smaller parts to the left also had a spacer that was used to keep them in the correct shape.

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Next up is the motor mount. First I sanded down the motor tube to allow for better adhesion. Then I measured from the top of the tube to mark where the upper centering ring placement goes. This has a notched out set of rings that the fins set into which was very well though out. I set everything in place to insure that the default spacing would work for the Aerotech 29mm retainer I am planning on upgrading this kit with. Once I was satisfied that the spacing was correct I marked the inside of one of the notches in the upper ring and then repeated the mark on the remaining three notches. Then using a piece of angle aluminum I marked three lines down the motor tube. This will be used to line the fins up later on. Once this was done I double checked that everything was straight and that the lines matched up perfectly on both ends. I simply took the centering ring and used it on the other side of the motor mount and checked the alignment on the other side. Once I was satisfied that everything was right I put in the shock cord mounts and glued them in place. These will get a dab of epoxy later on for further strength.

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Sure looks like an interesting build.
The two massive eyebolts for the shock cord seem a bit overkill for a paper/balsa rocket, though!:confused:
Subscribed.
 
While that glue was setting up I turned my attention to the coupler and parachutes. I know I said earlier that I was planning on swapping out the chutes but now that I am into the build I may just use the ones that come with the kit. they are good sturdy plastic chutes and this kit is very lightweight. Based on the amount of drag this kit will have due to the legs, I want to keep the weight down as much as possible in order to get as much altitude as possible. Coupler is pretty straight forward BT-80 coupler with a bulkplate and screw eye. I did a coating of glue on the edge of the bulkplate and on the inside rim of the coupler, then married the two pieces together. I wiped away all excess glue as quickly as possible and was very careful not to get any adhesive on the outside of the coupler. Once the parts were together I used a dowel to make a fillet around the edge on the inside of the coupler where the two pieces came together. I also glued the threads on the screw eye.

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The chutes are a 24" and an 18" hexagonal heavy duty plastic variety. Some assembly required. I first placed the hole protectors on the six corners of the chute. Then using a leather punch and a piece of card stock I punched holes through the center of the hole protectors. I like this method better than cutting an x with a hobby knife. It is cleaner and doesn't give any place for the shroud line to snag on. Each chute comes with one piece of shroud line that needs to be cut into three equal pieces. I accomplish this by folding the line over into three segments, then pinching the end between my thumb and forefinger while wrapping the loop around my middle finger and repeating with my other had on the other end. Then I simply stretch out the line till I have three taught lines. Then simply lay each end on my mat and cut across all three lines. Then I tie the lines onto the chute using a double overhand knot. tying the middle line across the chute and the other two going hole to hole. Then I double check that all the lines even up with the shroud and make adjustments as necessary. Once I find the middle of the shroud line I tie all of them into a loop, then I attach a snap swivel to the loop.

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Sure looks like an interesting build.
The two massive eyebolts for the shock cord seem a bit overkill for a paper/balsa rocket, though!:confused:
Subscribed.

I thought this too. However this kit will need to be as balanced as possible even during recovery in order to land on the legs and have all three hit the ground at the same time. TVM engineered the shock cord mount this way so that it would be balanced right up the center of the body tube. I will be doing the shock cord tonight and will post pics of the that tomorrow.

BTW, there are no balsa parts on this kit. All the wood parts are plywood.
 
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Returning to the motor mount, I once again checked all the parts measurements and markings. Then I tacked on the upper centering ring with CA. Then inserted the fins into their respective tabs and put the rear centering ring on, and once again checked that the lines drawn down the tub matched up with the notches in the rear centering ring. The rear centering ring is not attached at this time. Once I was 100% satisfied I tacked on the fins with CA, and again checked with the rear centering ring. Everything lined up perfectly. I then mixed up some 15 minute epoxy and made internal fillets along the fin/motor mount attachment point and around the attachment points to the upper centering ring. I also did a light coating of epoxy on the top of the upper centering ring to protect the ring from ejection gases. I was very careful not to get epoxy on the rear fin tabs or on the rear part of the motor tube, since the rear ring is not being set at this time. I was also extra careful not to get epoxy on the fin other than the root edge. The video directions call for using yellow glue through out the build, but I wanted to go with epoxy for this part, and this is the only part of the build where I will use epoxy.

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After my filling, priming sanding routine on the body tubes they were both painted white along with the nose cone. I test fitted the lower body tube on the fin can prior to doing the final coats of paint. Then I masked off the lower tube to do the black band that runs around the bottom of the lower BT. I do a spray of the base color over the tape line prior to painting with the final coat. I find I get no paint runs under the tape and a much sharper paint line.

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After that first coat has a few minutes to dry I hit it with the black 2-3 times.

While that is drying I turned my attention to the upper tube. The upper tube painting is complete so I can now install the body coupler and cut out the notches that match up to the notches for the leg locks.

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I will clean up the edges with some sanding sticks I have and will smooth out all the edges of the cuts in the notches as well as those at the end of the bt that I noticed after blowing up the picture.

I then attached the shock cord harness to the motor mount/fin can. I took a measure the length of the top BT and folded it back over to get a good length for the "y" harness, then tied an end to each of the shock cord eyelets, then stretched them out got the middle and tied a knot. I lifted the part by the knot and verified that the legs are balanced.

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I let everything dry for a few days in my garage after the second staining. I also finished the painting of the black on the lower body tube.

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First thing I did was started to attach the leg lock pockets on the upper body tube and the stringers on the upper bt. As the tubes were already painted I chose CA for this step. Using a Tamiya Q-tip with a pointed tip, I very carefully spread the CA on all the surfaces that would be attachment points. I used medium CA for this step. When the parts were set, I went back over all the parts and place a small amount of CA into each of the locations where there were notches in the tube to strengthen the bond.

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Next I replaced the rear centering ring. This was not yet glued in. It is just there to give the tube something to shape against while doing the tape dams for the internal fillets. Once this was in place I dry fitted the lower body tube to make sure all was well and get a final measurement for my dowel to apply the glue inside the tube. I applied glue to the inside of the tube using the dowel and then slid the tube over the fin can. It was very important to make sure the end of the tube fit over the rear centering ring. This took a little fidgeting to get just right. Once it was in place I checked the inside of the tube from the top to make sure there was glue in the right place and sure enough my measurement was right on as I had a nice little bead of glue around the upper centering ring. I let this dry then I placed tape dams across the line where the fins meet the tubes. Since there are no external fillets on this kit this step is very critical and needs to be done just right to get it to look right. I made sure the tube was but up against the fin and then placed tape at an angle to basically lock it into this position. Once I did this on all three fins I went back and re did two of them as they separated a little bit. This step was done once more until I was 100% satisfied that I had everything in the best position I could get it in. Then the rear centering ring was removed and using a thin dowel I place internal glue fillets along the seams where the tube meets the fins. I let this dry for just a few minutes, then went back over the entire area again with another layer and this time I also glued the rear centering ring in.

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As the body tube internal fillets dried I turned my attention to finishing the build process on the legs and the locking levers for the legs. First thing was to test fit all the pieces and make sure they would be able to go with their respective motions. I had to do a little sanding and adjusting here and there to get all the pieces to function correctly. A dowel is used to make the hinge for the legs and a smaller one for the locking levers.

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By design these dowels are meant to extend beyond the surface of the legs, and there is a space for them in the holders on the upper airframe. This is so there is glue surface on the outside of the legs and so glue would not have to be applied inside the hole. That would be bad for the center piece if it got glued into place.

I removed the tape dams from the legs/tube and thankfully not a speck of paint lifted. Yay!!! Then I did glue fillets to the rear centering ring junction at the tube and at the motor tube. This will be painted by hand later on.

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I gave the glue ample time to dry then turned my attention to the Aerotech retainer. These are good retainers and the price is right. I still prefer Aeropack retainers, and now especially that the price has been lowered on them. I used JB Weld to attach the retainer. As always I tape my threads when installing a retainer.

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I let the retainer sit up over night and cure along with letting the legs dry, though with the lower BT upside down I installed the leg lock levers. These use the same method as the swing out feet on the legs but with a smaller dowel. This dowel is also cut a bit wider than the opening for the same reasons with the glue adhesion.

You can see in the picture the cutouts for the dental bands that will actuate these levers.

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Now that the retainer has cured I will attach the legs. These use the same size dowels as the feet on the legs, and are cut to the same length.

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Once the leg glue setup I did touch up paint to all the dowels on the model and any other areas that needed paint. This was also when I painted the rear centering ring. Since stain does not soak into wood glue very well I used an acrylic hobby paint to cover these areas. This one one area where I am not 100% satisfied with the end product as you can see the differences in paint when you look close. This will probably get sanded and redone somehow.

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Next I rigged the recovery system. First adding another length of the Kevlar with the kit to the main Y harness and attaching the chute to the end of this. Another mod I made to the stock kit was to add snap swivels to the chutes. One additional mod was to add a small piece of Kevlar to the upper section and attached the chute to this instead of directly to the screw eye. Tim calls the upper section "The Penetrator". I am hoping I only penetrate the grass on our launch field. I will have to add some protective coating to the nose cone.

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Getting close to finished now. Next thing I did was rig up all the rubber bands. There are six in total. Three for the articulating feet at the ends of the legs, three for the legs themselves and three for the locking levers. I had tested these joints all along the way during the build process with a test band so I know they are all functioning properly and that the gluing of the dowels did not cause any of the joints to seize up. The band for the feet is the trickiest of all. There is a small piece that is installed during the construction of the legs that is in the top frame of the legs in between the two outer pieces that make up the legs. This is a pin like structure for looping the band around on one side and then there is a notch in the foot side. All the other bands attach to notches on each end. You will see from the pic of the locking lever the paint problem that is bothering me. I am going to have to figure out how to fix that without messing with the integrity of the movement in the parts.

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Then to test everything I released my temporary band holding the legs to the tube and the legs swung out and locked.

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I released all the bands and will store the kit with the bands released. I did get more bands in case one breaks at the field during prep. The kit only comes with enough bands to rig and have an extra.

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After wiping the tubes down with a tack cloth I set out to apply the decals. These decals are high quality printed vinyl. Apogee prints these in house on a special vinyl printer and Tim says during the video that they are one of the most expensive parts of the kit, so don't mess it up, cause they are expensive to replace. 30 minutes to print one sheet. To show what attention to detail Apogee provides they included another set of the decals that go just above the black band on the lower tube. Whatever is used to cut the decals was not aligned properly when the main sheet was cut and these got messed up a bit. Apogee included another set of just the decal that didn't pass QC on a smaller sheet. The video instructions walk through applying each of the decals. They are precision cut to fit in between many of the parts on the tubes.

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Here is a screen shot of the vinyl printer in action. I need to find one of these.

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And here it is, completed kit.

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This was a fun and challenging kit to build. The instructions are very thorough and made the build very smooth. Tim has clearly put a lot of thought, time and passion into this kit. Every little detail is well thought out. I would highly recommend this kit!!

I can not wait to fly this kit!! Though it is so beautiful it is one of those kits you don't want to fly, but fly it will.

Next weekend it will fly at FSA and I will have more pictures to add to the thread as well as a full flight report.
 
Very nice end result. I don't know how you build this fast. I would have been lucky to finish an Alpha in this time.
 
Nice build!

Question, how exactly are the legs deployed when they are help by the bands? Unless that is just for storage/travel and the legs are seated to the locked position for flight.
 
The legs are stored in a holder in the upper section of body tube. They are the three rectangular box looking things at the base end of the stringers.

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When the ejection charge separates the two body tubes the upper body tube will deploy away on its own chute and the legs deploy. The bottom tube glides down on its own chute. I have a band around the legs to keep them from deploying when the tubes are separated in the pictures. I will upgrade this to a piece of two sided velcro that can be used for the same purpose. Will help when prepping at the field so the legs don't deploy when I am packing the chute and dog barf.

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Oh I see how it works now, thanks for clearing it up! Can't wait for the flight!
 
Well we had our club launch this past weekend and this rocket got a lot of compliments and looky loos. What it didn't get was any altitude. The winds were just too much for this kit on this day. I will try again at our next launch though.

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Tim has started putting the build videos on line. I am guessing one a week for the next several weeks.

[video=youtube;Mf0JisW1EoA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf0JisW1EoA[/video]
 
I absolutely hated building the QCC Explorer. The only reason I did, was because it was a birthday present from my nephew. It's definitely not a kit I would ever buy for myself. So I guess it's still "worse".
 
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