And then a miracle occurred... Estes Stealth (Fin Templates with Ruler)

Take me to your ruler...

I finally found (on JimZ's site) a scan of the Estes Stealth's Fins (with a ruler no less)... I can now finally finish my build of it (I got it when it first came out, and lost the fins sometime since then). I really should start marking my fins better.

Better Late than Never!
Jim

BTW, I will not be making a .ork file of this rocket until OR's 3D rendering is capable of handling it... Well, I might do one of the body tube lengths, motor mount, and the fins, but not the overall shape.

How are you doing the plastic body and nosecone? I lost mine years ago and would LOVE to have another stealth.

I lost the fins, not the plastics. They've been less than 3' from my computer for over a year now. I tried printing out a scan of the fins from Plans.rocketshoppe.com (IIRC) but it didn't have a ruler to scale it, and I couldn't get a firm answer on the root edge of the "wing" to scale it from. JimZ's site has the ruler, and the printout was already scaled properly (but I had to print it twice as it got cut off at the bottom, but with >1/2 of the parts visible on top, I just need to double it).

Just curious, but couldn't you have matched the length of the recessed area on the body to the fin scans?

I've still got my Stealth - never flown - with most of its fins still intact, though I'll have to replace the lower tip fin on one side. I never flew mine because I never got a good fit between the BT & NC. It didn't seem like I could sand enough off to get it right, and it never fit up flush. I found it in a box a few weeks ago.

EXPjawa said:

I've still got my Stealth - never flown - with most of its fins still intact, though I'll have to replace the lower tip fin on one side. I never flew mine because I never got a good fit between the BT & NC. It didn't seem like I could sand enough off to get it right, and it never fit up flush. I found it in a box a few weeks ago.

Click to expand...

The solution to that problem evaded me too (which is why I didn't finish mine). I read where someone shimmed their stealth to get the NC and Fuselage to line up. I did that to mine (just used CA glue and kicker to create the shim and sanded it down until it matched up), and now I want to finish the kit.

What is it that you're shimming? I can't visualize where a shim could go that would be helpful. Or do you mean you built up the gap?

My nosecone was sitting too high compared to the fuse. So I used the CA on the inside of the top portion of the plastic part to force the body tube down and into position.



Of course the first image isn't the way it appears now, I have to remove the body tube to get it to do that now.

Oh, mine was lined up, but I was never able to get it to sit flush against the fuselage. There was always an 1/8" gap all the way around. That, and the fit was very tight. I suppose I should try to sand it some more. On yours, is the inner body tube distorted (ovalized) inside of the fuselage? Mine is a bit squished and not properly round, probably also part of the problem.

Ok... So yours was like this:



Mine didn't have that problem.

My body tube is a little squashed now (it wasn't before I shimmed it).

Here's how the joint looks now:

Essentially. I'll try to get some photos of it later. This is the photo I've got on hand at the moment, in which it doesn't look too bad...

Kruegon said:

Just curious, but couldn't you have matched the length of the recessed area on the body to the fin scans?

Click to expand...

Due to the roundness of the plastic part, getting a firm number wasn't possible, it would have been just a very close estimated guess, and I didn't want to do that.

EXPjawa said:

Essentially. I'll try to get some photos of it later. This is the photo I've got on hand at the moment, in which it doesn't look too bad...
View attachment 263847

Click to expand...

Why did you paint the Sentinel red?

All the better to see it with. The same reason my Bullpup & Hawkeye were (are still) red. In fact, those rockets have been red (to me) for so long, that I'm always surprised when I see one that is actually painted correctly... By the time I got building my Phoenix, though, I had decided that it was large enough to see anyway, so I actually painted that one white.

I'd love to have a stealth again. One of you many guys out there needs to sell me one. Or Estes needs to start releasing a few new OOP kits each year.