Vintage Estes Starhawk Build

My next vintage Estes rocket is the Starhawk. The kit is the old Estes die cut wood but everything looks pretty good. The new kits by Estes are awesome but I still like these old school kits without the laser cut parts and working with die crunched wood, call me crazy.

Crazy good builder ! SCIGS30 build threads are not to be missed. Super clean technique and interesting subjects.

samb said:

Crazy good builder ! SCIGS30 build threads are not to be missed. Super clean technique and interesting subjects.

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I agree, I enjoy looking at these build threads

SCIGS30 said:

call me crazy.

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Crazy! But cool, I've been meaning to clone one of these for a while. I've got the decals and a PDF of the instructions. Any chance that you can get good scan of the fins, or take some measurements of the tube length, etc?

You know, I'm a dang good builder. I really am. I look at my finished rockets and I'm very proud of them.

Then I look at guys like SCIGS30 and I'm ashamed of my work. And where is he getting all these vintage kits?

I remember having one of these as a kid and making a royal mess of it.

Kruegon said:

You know, I'm a dang good builder. I really am. I look at my finished rockets and I'm very proud of them.

Then I look at guys like SCIGS30 and I'm ashamed of my work. And where is he getting all these vintage kits?

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Don't be ashamed. I have it on good authority that he's really a strange visitor from another planet, who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. :wink: He's adopted the disguise of a mild-mannered model rocket collector and champion of the clean build. Enjoy his builds. Enjoy your builds. Strive to be clean.


Or... maybe this: https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?104626-My-kits-sorry-long-post

Wow, Thanks for all the nice compliments on my builds. I see many builds on this forum that blows mine out of the water but I am ok with that. I keep my builds real simple with no modifications and using basic building techniques. For instance I never fill my spirals so up close you can see them....barely. For the balsa Aerogloss sealer makes for a grain free smooth surface and one coat of primer takes care of a lot of imperfections. This build was fun but a little challenging with the angles of the fins, luckily Estes provides a template but I still had to sand the root edges for a close fit. Now with the rocket all built all I have to do is add fillets with two passes of white glue and brush on 3 coats of Aerogloss sealer.

Kruegon said:

Where is he getting all these vintage kits?

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Yeah! Where are you getting all these old kits from?

I find these kits online, craigslist, swap meets and garage sales. I should have her done today, took a little longer because I had to fix the paint. I am using Rustoleum and every once in awhile it wants to spit chunks of what ever onto my rocket. Then of course I have to wait for it to dry, sand and spray again. I don't know if it is the new nozzle system or what but its not fun. Of course I warm my can first and shake for a long time before spraying. Testors cans still spray great but they are too expensive so I would like to stick with the larger cans.

I just finished applying the old decals and they were fragile but I managed to get them on with some decal solution. Rusto paint can be a pain in the rear but I really like how smooth and glossy it looks when the rocket is done.

bradycros said:

Yeah! Where are you getting all these old kits from?

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SCIGS30 said:

I find these kits online, craigslist, swap meets and garage sales. .

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OK. Thanks for the info!

I forgot to mention I think your doing a good build on this kit.