Estes Patriot Build- Finished- Now with launch pics!

I decided to document my build today. Seen a lot of cool techniques and great advice here which opened my mind up. Although this is not my first rocket, more like my 25th(LPR-MPR), I decided to try to hone my HPR skills on this kit. Don't bash me too hard about weight and overbuilding, I keep an eye on weight and really just making sure I can execute my ideas before I try this out on a 50-120$ Kit.

Starting with the Fins. I wanted to try out my band saw skills with cutting fins. I traced the Balsa fins onto 3/32 Basswood. After that, a trip to the belt sander. They came out absolutely perfect and square in every direction. I softened up the edges slightly with 600 grit sanding block as well as the surface in prep for sealing. I cut more for another kit, but i will post that build after this one.







I sealed the wood with my favorite sealing epoxy, 300/21 epoxy. I heat up the wood slightly with a heat gun, brush a coat on both sides, set on wax paper for an hour, hit with heat again, let it cool for 5 min and wipe/scrape it off with either steel wool or a hotel key card. I let them dry overnight. The next day I sand with 600 to knock down any high spots and open up the root edge.

Next up is the centering rings. I ordered a 18/20 aluminum retainer and a longer 18mm MMT with the intention of cutting the MMT a little longer to encase the AT reload case and leave enough tube out the back for the retainer to fit on. I decided that the paper rings needed to go, so this was a great opportunity to try out my centering ring skills! Off to the drill press we go. It took me about 8 tries to get it dead set perfect. Between adjusting the tool, cutting blade and wood thicknesses, I decided to use 3/32 bass wood. Now I weighed the paper compared to the wood CR and the paper was .79 Grams and the wood was .99 grams.
I opened the 18mm center hole with a drill bit and finished it with the dremel drum sander and some 600 grit to soften in up. Perfect fit. I succeeded!

Next is to fit the MMT assembly to the body tube and measure it for center. I also set it in the fin jig to see how well that is going to work for me. I also drew the lines 5mm up and used a circle stencil template to mark the 4 fin lines.

next is mixing epoxy for adhering the fins and filleting them. I used the Jig for this and it came out pretty good IMO. I used 15min epoxy with a bit of milled fibers to make it stronger and thicker. I weigh my epoxy mixes exactly.







While it dries I sorted my paints out... using auto acrylic spray gun primer, and then air brushing acrylic for the rest with a finish of 2 part poly auto clear from the gun.



The fins are dry! Here is it mocked up with the rest of the airframe and the MMT.





More in a bit...

Holy crap! That is a beautiful upgraded build! Built this stock with my daughter and have one in a bag waiting for me. I am taking notes and following along...

One question, at 18mm, you will not be launching at HPR levels. Why not go up at least to 24 mm? 29 probably is a bit too much for this kit but it could take a 24mm FJ

WLViking said:

One question, at 18mm, you will not be launching at HPR levels. Why not go up at least to 24 mm? 29 probably is a bit too much for this kit but it could take a 24mm FJ

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29mm's will barely fit in a BT60 but they will fit, a 24mm is perfect for this kit, be prepared to have a tracker (or electronic tracker) because it will teleport off the pad on a F motor and vanish into thin air. TopRamen did one of these as a 24mm upgrade and fiberglassed the airframe, he also built one as a 2-stager, there are build threads available on them.

To me, the Patriot is a classic. I think it was the second rocket I got starting this hobby 7 years ago with my daughter.

After -one hundred- launches, we didn't keep track anymore. I think it got respectfully retired around 130.

Not the original NC, that part stayed in the tree, long story...




It looks like you are doing a great job, I'm anxious to see the final product, launch pics would be a bonus!

Could have gone 24mm.

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...riot-M-104-18mm-To-24mm-REBUILD-Now-W-Booster!


My next one is going to be 29mm, but there are no fields big enough currently available to me to fly something like that.

I love the Patriot! Great design

It's looking great so far.

Might want to look into a reloadable 18mm Composite for it, or even a single use D-21.

WLViking said:

One question, at 18mm, you will not be launching at HPR levels. Why not go up at least to 24 mm? 29 probably is a bit too much for this kit but it could take a 24mm FJ

Click to expand...

I thought about moving it to 24mm but decided to stay 18mm with the AT reloads or some SU engines. I'm working on other kits now that I'm upgrading to the next size engine. Will post those after this one. Thanks!

rharshberger said:

29mm's will barely fit in a BT60 but they will fit, a 24mm is perfect for this kit, be prepared to have a tracker (or electronic tracker) because it will teleport off the pad on a F motor and vanish into thin air. TopRamen did one of these as a 24mm upgrade and fiberglassed the airframe, he also built one as a 2-stager, there are build threads available on them.

Click to expand...

I saw those threads, that is just too cool!

McKailas Dad said:

To me, the Patriot is a classic. I think it was the second rocket I got starting this hobby 7 years ago with my daughter.

After -one hundred- launches, we didn't keep track anymore. I think it got respectfully retired around 130.

Not the original NC, that part stayed in the tree, long story...

View attachment 280985


It looks like you are doing a great job, I'm anxious to see the final product, launch pics would be a bonus!

Click to expand...

Thanks, did you stick with the Balsa fins? If so how did you prep/finish them? Never had much luck with balsa myself.

TopRamen said:

It's looking great so far.

Might want to look into a reloadable 18mm Composite for it, or even a single use D-21.

Click to expand...

Absolutely. I got a 18mm retainer to use for my AT reload case. Just waiting for the longer MMT to get here.

Way to pimp out this kit. It is one of my all-time favorites and I have a bunch of flights on mine.

I'm really jealous of your rocket building factory. You have some nice toys there. Did you use the kit motor tube (blue) ? You mentioned waiting for a longer motor tube on order; I don't think that's absolutely necessary for the 18/24 reload case BTW.

Thanks, the garage has come a long way, I was so involved in a previous hobby that I had to set it up the way I wanted so I could work efficiently.

I plan on using a longer tube to accommodate the aluminium retainer with out shortening how much tube holds the motor in its entirety.

Rob702Martinez said:

Thanks, did you stick with the Balsa fins? If so how did you prep/finish them? Never had much luck with balsa myself.

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It was really my first 'build', as the first rocket we got was the Alpha with the plastic fin can.

I followed everything by the book (then lol) I used all of the original parts, including the balsa fins.

The double butter trick works great for me. Apply a thin bead of yellow glue to the fin, and set it in place. Then, remove the fin, add another tiny bead, (wait one minute) and then stick it down one last time.

As many launches as we got out of that Patriot, it only popped -one- fin.

Upon closer inspection (bad memory) I see I replaced the motor mount tube as well. I think after hanging in a tree for 3 weeks, it had deteriorated from getting wet.

Rob702Martinez said:

I plan on using a longer tube to accommodate the aluminium retainer with out shortening how much tube holds the motor in its entirety.

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Not sure, but thought I'd mention it. If you plan on using BP motors with a retainer, iirc you will need to either glue a shoulder onto the motor, or just use it as friction fit.

A screw on retainer like Aeropack (or Rocketarium in your case?) will not 'retain' a BP without some mods to the motor.

Somebody correct me if I am mistaken?

Can you just use a couple wraps of 1/4" tape at the business end?

McKailas Dad said:

Not sure, but thought I'd mention it. If you plan on using BP motors with a retainer, iirc you will need to either glue a shoulder onto the motor, or just use it as friction fit.

A screw on retainer like Aeropack (or Rocketarium in your case?) will not 'retain' a BP without some mods to the motor.

Somebody correct me if I am mistaken?

Click to expand...

That is correct about the BP motors, whether you choose to glue a thrust ring on with CA or just build one up out of 1/4" masking tape is up to you. My preferred method is to take regular 1/2" masking tape wrap it 1/8" to 1/4" up from the bottom of the BP motor allowing the excess to overhang then trimming with a sharp Xacto knife.

Here are some updates.

I decided to try to make a baffle in the coupler section. I was successful at making 2 types but did not like the strength of basswood for this use, and decided to not install a baffle and just use wadding. i didn't have the right thickness in birch ply so i scrapped it with weight in mind as well.




I mocked up the engine retainer and engine and found that i could just slide the blue stock MMT out a bit to engage the retainer and it encased the motor in its entirety. COOL!









I also added my fin fillets and glued the MMT in place. Also glued the launch lug in place, no pics though.





Now the fun part begins! Paint and prep!! I used bondo to fill the seam in the nose cone, I smoothed out the body tube junctions, the spirals, the fin fillets and the fin, using bondo where needed. Also keeping in mind weight. I sprayed it with a few coats of white auto primer from the spray gun, sanded with 220, 400 and 600 until i got the finish where i wanted it. I touched up a few spots here and there and realized it wasn't going to completely be perfect so I kinda settled for where i was at, being that i didn't want to break out the gun and prime such a small spot and clean etc.... other than being a perfectionist, at times, it came out pretty good IMO.







I wiped it down with wax/grease remover, taped it up and prepared my air brush for Tamiya Acrylic Red. I set up my small paint booth, ventilation, respiration, thinners, mixing stuff, eye droppers to move paint around, lighting, fired up the compressor, and got busy getting a even deep red.





The red came out good! I let it dry in front of the heater for an hour and moved on to tape up the Gold section using Tamiya Acrylic Gold Leaf paint. I masked the fine area with Tamiya 6mm tape to get a crisp even line from red to gold and gold to white. The gold came out a dullish metallic goldish brownish kinda color and figured when i color sanded it and cleared it, that it would gain tons of depth and true color.



I then tapped up the gold/red sections and prepared to paint white on the rest of the tube and nose cone using Tamiya tape and then masking tape and paper. I used Testors acrylic white opaque paint in the big bottle. worked great and needed no thinning, went on smooth. Here we have it drying, i didn't get any pics of it tapped up.







After a day of drying I lightly wet sanded with simple green and water mix that I always use with 2000 grit to get a nice even surface between the transitions, and to evenly prepare for clear coat. I applied the stickers. I didn't like the stickers and wasn't completely prepared for the type of plastic they were printed on, one didn't line up all the way and another had a slight crease bubble thing going on... I normally use a special spray that allows you to position stickers and decals, but i always use it on vinyl and didn't know if this would eat the adhesive. So on we went, you can't tell unless you examine it in detail, but its good as a 4 foot stand off LOL

I prepped my spray gun for shooting clear in small volumes, adjusted the knobs, mixed my clear and finished it up. The colors are OUTSTANDING! Looks absolutely awesome IMO. I am glad i went with gold instead of yellow.





Next up, recovery system.

She's beautiful!:clap:

Looking good! I wish I could build that good.

Thanks guys. I REALLY enjoy painting. Still deciding my next paint scheme on my next project. Should start this weekend. But should be pretty cool.

I hadn't noticed until you posted the close-up of the fillets that you have the grain on the fins running parallel with the body tube. Even with an epoxy coat, they're a lot weaker with the grain in this direction. They should have the grain going parallel to the leading edge. I hope you have soft landings; you've put a lot of work into a beautiful model.

You know, that's a really good point. I cut a few out and didn't get a grain break when bending them like I thought so I ignored the grain orientation and figured that the 300/21 epoxy I use would be enough to kdep it together. It never was a problem with grain using it building 80mph riggers. But now I'm a bit concerned with such a small area you might be right. Hopefully it lands soft at 10fps or so. I launch at a dry lake bed, I think the softest thing out there is the hood of my truck.

I have fired the Patriot on D13 and D24 for years. Perfect motor and rocket combo. Very nice work Rob. Are you going to Springfest? I would love to see your work.

I plan on going to spring fest and would like to try to get L1 done then if possible, if not at least bring some rockets to launch. Thank you!

Here are the final pics and updates.

Moving on to the recovery system. I am using this on my bigger MPR rockets with much success. Soon I will be transitioning over to Kevlar shock cords to replace all the elastic Im using. Just haven't sorted out all the lengths and sizes I need yet to order in bulk.
Anyhow....Onward!

I use a 5mm carbon tube to hold the Kevlar string I use, I secure it with a little CA at first then lay over a strip of 2oz fiberglass with 15 min epoxy and milled fibers. Add a little heat and it sets up smooth and strong. I rough up the tube section that is cut and chamfer the inside radius. I use big forceps to place it and set the string in place, and a bamboo skewer to move the cloth strip around and roll the epoxy everywhere. I wet the surface out first then wet the fiber strip, then join everything together. I also use a glass bead at the end of the knot so it wont melt, also its small and wont hang up. Tie a loop in the end, attach my ball bearing swivel to my shock cord, use some heat shrink on all the links. I used a 15" topflight parachute.

I also mounted the Rocketarium 18mm retainer and test fit the AT 18/20 case. Here are some pictures. :smile:





















And there it is....Complete. I will get some launch pics when I go out on the 20th and post them out. I will try to use the Burst Shot feature on the camera to get some good pictures.







And here we move on the next build......Its waiting in my build box........




Here is a sneak peak at the paint scheme Im planning for it. Not the traditional scheme :dark: