Vintage Estes Rigel 3 Build

My next build is a vintage Estes Rigel 3 kit that I have had sitting on the back burner for sometime now.

Cool kit. Decals make me think "Starship Vega."

Cool!

Just did a clone recently with the new nose cone. Modified with TTW basswood fins, and 24mm motors. Decals rebuilt from the ground up, clearer and crisper than the originals.

Waiting for its first flight.

FC

Great to see that you are building this rocket. It's one of the Estes kits that ranks in the top list of my favorites. Just a beautiful rocket and 2 stage to boot.

I had one of these as a 1st time BAR in the early 90s. Flew it as a single stage a bunch of times, unfortunately the first two stage flight both booster and sustainer were lost.

I always liked the look of this rocket, but I am a sucker for dowel supports.

Very good choice - a great design. I'm looking forward to your build!

I have the Rigel all built and in the process of brushing on 4 coats of Aerogloss balsa sealer for a grain free finish. The die crushed balsa is a challenge but that is what makes these vintage builds fun. With a little sanding the parts actually fit together pretty nice. There is a slight gap between the booster and main fins but that gap will get tighter with primer and paint. When the weather gets better I will start painting.

I finished the Rigel 3 today and she is ready for flight. I am trying to learn how to speed up my builds since I have a ton in the QUE so I tried something different. I use old Krylon Paint so recoat times are not an issue and that helps a lot. I brushed on 2 coats of Aerogloss sealer instead of 4, sanding after 15 min. I want a nice looking model but decided I don't need a catalog finish so a little grain is ok. Even with 2 coats you have to look pretty close to see the grain and that is with old die crunched soft balsa. To speed up painting I used regular primer no the filler or sandable primer. I sprayed one coat with just a couple of spot sanding for the dust bunny that landed on the rocket. Then once dry I shot the white the same day. I let this dry overnight to prevent fingerprints and then applied the decals today. These are the original decals and they went on horrible, but that's ok since it is a vintage build. If they fall off I will put new ones on from my Alps printer. As you can see I am also building a new Estes rocket at the same time and a Guillows P-47......plus family, plus work, plus mandatory Code-9.

Great job on the rocket!
I love P-47s, are you building it for flight or display?

Wow, looks great!
I really like that design

Even when you "cut corners" the end result is still outstanding. :clap:

Very nice!