Back to business: Starship Excalibur build thread

I forgot to document that I put the launch lugs on. The forward one is encased on balsa, while the rear one has little wood dowels that go on either side of it and a small fin on top. I glued top one on using a piece of launch rod material as a guide to keep it straight and then did the lower one, making sure I got good alignment so the rod won't bind up.

Next thing to work on was the tail cone.

I cut it out and glued it into a cone shape following the instructions.



The only problem was that between my cutting and gluing, it wasn't a perfect fit.



It was too big at the base and too small at the "tip" to allow the motor mount through.

So I had to trim it a bit at each end.



After this it fit nicely.



I put a ring of carpenters' glue around the base where it mates, slipped the tailcone on, then put a bit more glue around.

For my next step, I wanted to seal the nose cone with some CA.

But, I thought it would be cool to dye the CA, so I could monitor its penetration into the balsa.

Here's a thread I started on the subject, in which I got some very good input from Micromeister. I finally got around to trying his suggestion.

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?123613-Dyeing-CA-(while-it-is-liquid)

I will be updating the thread shortly, with this week's results. But briefly, I put a few drops of Castin' Craft opaque black epoxy dye into a small container of CA (which was partly used up anyway). I mixed it and got very good dispersal of the dye into the CA. It did not immediately start to set up or anything (at least, not over the course of an hour, but see below).

I used the CA to seal the nose cone:



After full cure I sanded it down using a sanding sponge:



Next I coated in drywall spackle, then allowed to dry



Eventually I sanded off just about all the spackle, leaving a bit in the pores of the balsa.



The great thing about the dye in the CA is that I didn't have to worry about cutting all the way through the CA... as long as the tint was still present, I knew I still had sealed hard CA present.

The next day, I checked the remainder of the CA in the container, and it had set up to a jelly-like consistency. So, CA with the dye in it can't be stored... it has to be mixed and used up within a few hours. Another day later, the stuff had set up completely hard in the bottle.

I decided the easiest way to get a good finish on the fins was to do a papering with CA.

I used label paper for convenience. I cut sections to fit then trimmed the edges. It was pretty easy:



I then applied CA, letting it soak in. I made sure all the edges got soaked too.

You can see grain showing through the paper after the CA treatment.



See how shiny the CA is after it sets up in this picture. It's got some rough spots and needs a good sanding with 220-320 grit.



But the sanding goes easily and very quickly the fins are nice and perfectly smooth.

No time to sand down the prime and clean up imperfections this weekend. But here are some pictures of the bird with now thoroughly dry primer:



There are plenty of imperfections to fill.

Some notes about weight:

The rocket weighed ~70.5 grams after everything was glued on. This includes the shock cord (I'm using a Kevlar one).

I used filler in some areas and also I CA-sealed the nose cones, and papered (with CA) the fins after everything was assembled. This added about 9 grams.

The Primer added another 10 grams, prior to being sanded down. It will probably amount to 5-6 grams once sanded. However, there will be filling of gaps and additional work, that will add some more weight.

It stands around 90 grams; this is probably pretty close to the final pre-painting weight.

Marc

Any progress on this project?

I did sand down the first stage of primer. Then went out of town for 10 days with the family visiting my Dad on the east coast, so no further progress. If I get time today (my last day off) I might putty up the imperfections. Thanks for checking!

Just a quick update here. I put some putty on the areas that needed a bit of build-up. I'll have a picture hopefully this weekend, and then I'll sand it down. Lots going on in life; not much build time.

Hey, life gets in the way. Hobbies are second to all other important life issues and commitments. Don't sweat it. We just wanna see your process and watch a vid....at some point.

Looking forward to it!

Last weekend was a no-go for rocket stuff due to three soccer games, and then an overflowing washing machine that caused major water infiltration into my house. That took all day Sunday to sort out. Yesterday there were a pair of soccer games and in one of them my son hurt his ankle and had to go to the ER... turned out just to be a sprain. Today a minor "change the filters in the RO system" turned into a pretty major operation. It's amazing how little things eat up planned hobby time.

Nonetheless I was able to get the putty I put on her sanded down. I've got a picture, but not on the computer yet. I then put a light coat of sandable primer on it (heavy in a few places where there were still defects). I'll polish it down one more time before paint.

Marc

Good to know your still plugging away at it. Hopefully Jr's ankle mends quickly.

I am enjoying reading about your build and hope that your family are all recovering quickly and completely!

Thanks for the support guys! This one isn't too far from the finish line!

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

Marc_G said:

I did sand down the first stage of primer. Then went out of town for 10 days with the family visiting my Dad on the east coast, so no further progress. If I get time today (my last day off) I might putty up the imperfections. Thanks for checking!

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Does the putty still stick well since it is going on over primer?

BABAR said:

Does the putty still stick well since it is going on over primer?

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Yes, quite well! The Tamiya putty (either basic gray or white) sticks very well to the Rustoleum auto filler primer, whether the primer has been previously sanded or not. The putty has a solvent that is similar to the primer lacquer solvent (stinky!) and it bites in nicely.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for bearing with me this summer. It has been a very low-build set of months. My wife remains on disability due to her concussion, but is gradually being able to do more. I haven't had much energy for building, but I have attended the local club launches and even got out on my own a couple times to the park. Starship Excalibur has been my only build this whole summer, and even that has been just a few minutes at a time.

But, I'm happy to report that as I type this, a coat of Future (or whatever it's called these days) is drying on it. Let me catch up with a few pictures.

After the first coat of sandable primer several posts up (the most recent picture above), I did the usual first round of sanding. Here she is, and you can see lots of imperfections remain:



I hit it with Tamiya white putty (white just for visual contrast), let dry, and sanded down. This actually took me 3 weeks in real time due to busy life. But here is the sanded down putty:



I went back in with a second round of putty (gray this time as I recall) and filled in a few remaining spots. Sanded down, and shot with sandable primer once more.



This got a super light buffing type sanding with a 320 grit sponge (and old one, not very toothy) and some 320 grit paper.



That done, I shot it with Auto Air white. Didn't bother with a coat of "sealer white" due to the many pre-primings and such. Two coats of opaque white and she's ready for decals:



I put the decals on last weekend; this morning I got around to brushing on the future. Next pic will be the glory shot.

While going through the priming, sanding, puttying, sanding and so forth, I kept an eye on the weight. It went up and down of course but ended at I believe 89.1 grams before I shot paint onto it. I forgot to weigh it after painting. I will get the final weight with Future once it's dry.

As promised, the glory shot:

Mighty impressive! You did a great job on this. I hope you get a video of the flight.

Thanks!

It had a great first flight at the AMOREA club in Indianapolis on Sunday, on a B6-2 to be safe (it was a bit windy out and I didn't want it to blow into trees behind the flight line).





At deployment I got a shot of some burning grit blowing through. You can see the burning stuff emerge from the dog barf cloud in the second deployment picture. Pretty neat.

Safe recovery for a great first flight!

Marc_G said:

As promised, the glory shot:

View attachment 272618

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Looks like you've worked out the bugs and got a handle on building these things! Good look'n build Marc.

Thanks Bradycros. I feel a bit exhausted by this build. It was not hard but took all my rocketry energy to push it over the finish line.

My next project of significance will be a scratch model I think will be called "Dark Passenger." It will be the second in my Dexter-themed rocket series, following on the now-lost Blood Atonement rocket I made a few years ago. While I prep for Passenger, I may do something simple just to get the juices flowing.