Airbourne Survellance Missile, Estes kit #0867

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SMR said:
Very well explained. Thank you. Using the insulating effects of distance as a piston. Makes perfect sense, and also explains why we add vent holes in the coupler when gap staging. Good looking rocket, enjoying following your build.
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Aw...shucks! Thank you for your positive feedback. I've been following your build also. I've never built anything that large or with the materials your using. I am impressed by your skills and explanations. Very, very good job.
Now get back to work!
 
Indeed ,thanks Slickwilly.These plans will come in very very handy :cheers:

Well......thankyou too Bradycros ;)


Paul T
 
Todd,

Here is just a sample of some stuff I`ll get posted (in chronological order of course)
Just need to sit down and git`r done.Also need to take some more pics and download more from the camera.
Brother...do I have pics.Pandora`s box is what you opened !

A appreciate your patience in this matter :D

Humbly yours;

Paul T

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sodmeister said:
Here is just a sample of some stuff I`ll get posted. Pandora`s box is what you opened !

Paul T
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You been hold'n out on on us. Your a craftsman. Now that the box is opened, what are you going to unleash upon mankind?

The Bull Pup and the Harm look absolutly beautiful. Where in the world did you get decales for them? I don't know what the other missile is, but I can obviously see it's already a clean build.

Now I know who to ask for build tips for the Launch Pad kits. Those birds really look good.
 
Todd ,

The first pic is the aft end of my scratch 4" diam. IRIS (it`s finished ,but need to take pictures....this week for sure)
The Harm decals are from Mark of Stickershock23 as are the US AIRFORCE decal for the Bullpup.I had Mark make me a bunch of screw heads (silver & black) as well as assorted bolt heads.I find these add a lot of needed detail to scale builds.I believe Mark now sells the screw heads and bolts on his site.The rest of the markings are made of Monocote and pin stripping.I love those TLP kits and always add extra detail and use Basswood instead of the balsa.
The other rocket with those big fins is the Madcow Seawolf.This kit is great fun to build.The rocket is finished and I will take pics tommorow ,as I`m flying it on Sunday.
I have a bunch of projects on the table ,just need time.As I mentioned, I`ll get things together and post some build pictures as time permits.

OBTW-I will get some shots of the HoJo ,but at the moment ,it`s in sickbay (underpowered flight ,ground ejection = snapped G-10 fin) but it`s going to fly this Sunday as well.
Thankyou for your kind comments old chum !

I`ll try to get some pics up this weekend.

Regards

Paul T

PS -you may have noticed I pulled a boner on the HARM and got the GUIDANCE and WARHEAD decals in the wrong place.......oops ;)

PPS -When it comes to waterslide and vinyl decals ,all my needs are met with Stickershock23 and Gordy of Excelsior.As well ,Mark will make you custom work as he has for me many times, and Gordy makes me some awesome custom nosecones.Don`t know how I would get by without these two fine gents !
 
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sodmeister said:
The first pic is the aft end of my scratch 4" diam. IRIS (it`s finished ,but need to take pictures....this week for sure)


QUOTE]

Did you make the nose cone yourself? How long is the nose cone? What's the length of the whole rocket? I really like the look of the IRIS. Speaking of looks, I'm thinking it will look great after you finish applying your skills to it.
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bradycros said:
I'm still waiting to see the promised pictures of your Honest John.


Alright then old chum ,here are some pics of the HoJo (wow...that took awhile :eek:)
As you can see ,it took a bad first flight (underpowered) snapped off a fin ,but it`s back on as of today.Those G-10 fins are pretty tough ,but not tough enough.A couple on the pad before the fiasco !One picture is a closeup of the launch shoes I made.
Printing is from Mark of Stickershock23.

Paul

PS- I have others before paint.Did you want to see those Todd ?
PSS-I have a build sequence of my 4" diam. scratch IRIS project.I`ll start a new thread here if you would like to see them.Plenty of pics to see ,but hate to bore you.

Sincerely

Paul T

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sodmeister said:
bradycros said:
I'm still waiting to see the promised pictures of your Honest John.


Alright then old chum ,here are some pics of the HoJo (wow...that took awhile :eek:)
As you can see ,it took a bad first flight (underpowered) snapped off a fin ,but it`s back on as of today.Those G-10 fins are pretty tough ,but not tough enough.A couple on the pad before the fiasco !One picture is a closeup of the launch shoes I made.
Printing is from Mark of Stickershock23.

Paul

PS- I have others before paint.Did you want to see those Todd ?
PSS-I have a build sequence of my 4" diam. scratch IRIS project.I`ll start a new thread here if you would like to see them.Plenty of pics to see ,but hate to bore you.

Sincerely

Paul T
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Despite having been wounded in action, your Honest John still looks good. What's the color and type of paint you used? It looks gray-ish green, or is that a trick of the light?

I havn't worked with G-10 material yet. My understanding was that G-10 was some tough stuff. A field of clover busted the fin off? What's up with that?

Are the stand offs your design? The combination of shapes and sizes of the pieces make it look more military then just a block of wood would look. I was in the military for twenty years, I know what I'm talking about. The design is more appealing to the eye.

Although it was quite a length of time, it was worth the wait to see your finished Honest John. You built a fine looking missile, again. I would like to see as many of your build picture as you would care to post. I'd bet alot of people would enjoy seeing them. I'm sure I'll learn something from them.

That includes your IRIS build.
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Todd,

I used Dupli-Color gray primer and Krylon Camouflage "Olive" #44293.It`s probably the light ,as the color is actually a dark olive green.I used Krylon crystal clear gloss to finish .I would like a flat finish ,but I`ve learned a gloss finish is so much easier to clean and does not mark as easily.
Although the main rocket is all fiberglass ,the G-10 fins are pretty thin,but then again ,it did freefall for some 200 feet and land on it...clover or no clover.As mentioned, my stupidity for not using a bigger reload for the first flight ,and too long of a delay (although it would not have mattered :()

I did not like the kit plywood standoffs...too simple and to my eye ,not going to be strong enough.I took some 2.6" diam. phenolic tube and cut two strips 1 1/4 x 1 1/2 and epoxied some styrene " I " beam onto it.I beveled the forward facing edges and reduced the size of the "I"beam tops to 7/16" and filled in the sides with styrene strips to add some thickness for the rail button screws and to add strength,I added a strip of styren to the top to give a bit more clearance for the big `ole nose cone.

I use a lot of styrene bits and parts in my builds.It adds so much more depth and detail and is plenty strong when glues together with Tenax7 or Ambroid Pro Weld.I`m fortunate to have a good number of hobby shops in my city to meet all my detailing needs.......but not so much for kits (except Estes.....which are great also)

I`ll look to see if I have a pic of the standoffs before paint.

Todd,

I feel rather bad for kind of hijacking your build thread.Shall I post elsewhere ?

Paul

Found them .....As you can see ,I always drill & tap the screw hole for the rail buttons ,then epoxy.

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Sodmeister, Feel free to post where you decide it will reach the most viewers.
 
I used a Q tip to soak thin CA into the body tube. It keeps the tube from delaminating and lends some strength. Sanded CA smooth so centering ring will still slide into place. See picture one.

A bamboo skuwer (you can get a bag of 'em a Wal Mart for like a buck) was used to get/apply JB Weld down into body tube. Before the adhesive was applied, I put the centering ring in place and traced out where its attachment point would be. I like using JB Weld because it stays where you put it and gives you lots'a working time. The adhesive was placed a little above the line so the centering ring would smear the glue on to its self as it is pushed into place. See picture two. Expand the picture and you'll see the adhesive has been applied with no mess.

A dowel's used to tap the centering ring real close to where it needs to be. See picture three.

A small straight edge is slid thru the fin slots and used to push the centering ring into the final and desired position. Look closely and you can see where the centering ring did its self shmearing thing around the edges. See picture four and expand.
 

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Hey ,I used the Q-tip trick just awhile ago to fix up some very minor damage to my Seawolf (edge of the aft end) and my damaged G-Force /rebuild project.

I`m liking the use of JB weld for certain applications ,like those deep down CRs and the fact you don`t get the runny epoxy mess......NICE !

I`m with you ,I always apply thin CA to all edges of body tubes (like where the nose cone goes into the BT) aft end of BT (unless I forget :blush:) ,couplers and engine tubes fore & aft (even phenolic) as it tends to flake after awhile.

Cheers

Paul
 
I want the centering ring to have more strength, so I'll apply partial fillets now. Later when the fins are cemented into position, the fillets will be completed. Fillets are an arch, lending strength to a structure by redirecting the load. The Golden Gate suspention bridge is an arch that is upside down, the Hoover damm is an arch on its side and Roman aquaducts are a series of arches. Cathedrals are full of arches that allow rooms to be full of open space...if the arch works for these man made structures, it'll work on centering rings.

The adhesive was applied with a long, skinny and pointy stick again.

I used the spoon from a 4pc. spatula set available at www.hobbylinc.com/htm/squ/squ10705.htm to make the fillets. See picture one.

As the spoon smoothes out the adhesive and forms the arch, (again, JB Weld stays where you put it) excess glue is pushed out the sides of the spoon forming little beads. Only two of the four fillets were started when the picture was taken. See picture two and expand to see the differance.

The spoon was turned over and used as a scraper to remove the beads of excess glue, the fillets were not touched. Only a little can be scraped up at a time, the spoon has to be wiped off alot or the glue just gets pushed around and makes a mess. The residue left from the glue can be cleaned up with a Q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol, leaving a pretty fillet behind. See picture three and expand for a better view.

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Checking my drawing, visualizing in what order the needed tasks are to be preformed.

Checking the measurements. The centering rings between the BT-52H and BT-60 were put in place mucho days ago and the adhesive is cured.

Applied adhesive. Covered top of the small centering ring with a short, round and pointy stick (tooth pick).

Cramed the large ring down. Gave it a twist to seat it. Adhesive oozed out. This ring is going to be the bottom of the baffel.

Made a fillet out of the adhesive that oozed out. Used the spoon from the 4 pc. spatula set.

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Adhesive was applied to the top of the centering ring, again with the short, skinny and pointy stick.

The glue was shaped into a fillet with the convex part of the spoon and the excess glue beads were scraped off using the concave part of the spoon.

The glue residue was cleaned off with a Q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol. Don't rub the fillet with the Q-tip.

The tubes and centering ring are presented in profile, showing minimum use of JB Weld (it stays where you put it) and a clean build.

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This baffle area of the build is a busy place. Lots of parts coming together in one place.
 
Did some work on my scratch 3" Fat Boy before I get back to work on the ASM. See post # 89 for tech tip.

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Now come on,one thing at a time ,you know how easily confused i get.

BTW-those sure are some clean epoxy joints !!

Paul
 
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Doggonewild said:
Beautiful work as usual. How'd you make the rivets?
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By gosh.....I did not see the detail on the SOB :shock:

Superb work ! Indeed ,how are the rivets formed.....glue dots ? I really do like the hatch covers ,would be great on TLP kits.Could you tell me what type of material you used please.

I can see ,I`ll have to lower my sights when it comes to detailing my stuff ,can`t touch that one !!


Paul
 
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sodmeister said:
By gosh.....I did not see the detail on the SOB :shock:

Superb work ! Indeed ,how are the rivets formed.....glue dots ? I really do like the hatch covers ,would be great on TLP kits.Could you tell me what type of material you used please.

I can see ,I`ll have to lower my sights when it comes to detailing my stuff ,can`t touch that one !!


Paul
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You'll have to "lower your sights", eh?
 
To expand the photos of the Fat Boy without loss of detail, do this:

You need to place the curser on the photograph and right click the mouse.

Then select the "Open Link" option.

A larger window with the same photo on it comes up.

Move the curser down to the bottom right hand corner of the screen. To the right of the percentage box is an arrow.

Click on the arrow.

Select 125, 150 or 200%.

Change back to 100% when finished viewing.
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