Fliskits Spitfire - Beer Can Version - Build Thread - FINISHED

I'll just throw this in... Perhaps a mod of the actual kit, or just a "keep this in mind" kind of thing... Mark the red alignment and the black alignment marks on the CR's too. So, that way, if you messed up like this, you'll be able to ID the problem quickly.

K'Tesh said:

I'll just throw this in... Perhaps a mod of the actual kit, or just a "keep this in mind" kind of thing... Mark the red alignment and the black alignment marks on the CR's too. So, that way, if you messed up like this, you'll be able to ID the problem quickly.

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That's a good tip! Somehow I got it in my mind that the alignment notch was always on the black line. Oops.

Of course, I'm assuming gluing the CR in backwards was the only thing I did wrong. I guess we'll find out this week when the replacement body tube from the tiger team arrives. It's traveling from Birmingham to Atlanta so it shouldn't take more than a day. I hope.

Kicking it out the door priority mail as soon as I can tomorrow morning. Sorry that your build has to wait another day or two.

Kruegon said:

Kicking it out the door priority mail as soon as I can tomorrow morning. Sorry that your build has to wait another day or two.

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Hey, it's my own fault that I didn't pay more careful attention to the instructions, I'm just glad that it can get fixed and that you're helping me be able to do that. If it weren't for you the build would be delayed even longer waiting for replacement tubes to arrive from somewhere else which would probably take a week or longer.

I definitely owe you a beer!!! Thanks for helping!

Bah. I've been helped. Twice now, people have sent me parts I needed for free. Several times they did it for a small charge. Saved me money, time, and effort both ways. I'm just paying it forward.

Any chance you're coming to NSL? I'd love to see the finished rocket in person.

Kruegon said:

Bah. I've been helped. Twice now, people have sent me parts I needed for free. Several times they did it for a small charge. Saved me money, time, and effort both ways. I'm just paying it forward.

Any chance you're coming to NSL? I'd love to see the finished rocket in person.

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No chance. Mostly because I don't know what NSL is but I'm assuming it's a rocket launch in Alabama? I do go to launches with SoAR, the Southern Area Rocketry club here in Atlanta, sometimes. But I don't really travel too far for their launches. Due to family and other issues my distance to travel is about an hour each way.

There was a launch a month ago south of Atlanta, which would have been about a 4 hour drive each way, and I was planning on attending that one but unfortunately the weather forecast was for rain on the day I could go so I didn't risk it. I'm pretty sure it didn't rain that day and I could have gone anyway but that's how life goes sometimes.

Do you ever make it to the Atlanta area for any reason?

NSL is the NAR National Sport Launch. It moves around every year. This year it's being held in Manchester, TN. It's about 30-45 mins from Chattanooga, TN. It's over the Memorial Day weekend. There will likely be hundreds of flyers there.

That actually sounds like something I would have considered... but I have summer vacation plans that start on Memorial Day that will keep me from attending that weekend. Dang it.

So, the mailman brought me something today...



It's a 6" section of BT-70 cardboard tube. Thanks Kruegon!!! The build can now continue!!

Yeah! Can't wait to see where it goes from here!! op:

The paper ring from post #7 was used again.


I was able to get it on the tube and made tic marks.


Using the aluminum angle I drew lines all the way down the tube.. badly. I'm not sure if it was the way I was holding the angle or because I had not sanded off the glassine. So I erased the lines, sanded the glassine mostly off, redrew the lines, and was much happier with it. I put the guide on to check the line locations. As before I had drawn one solid and one dashed line.


Everything seems to line up fine, so with the guide in place I drew the top and bottom curves onto the tube.


I can see a section 3 emerging from the tube.


A few minutes with an Xacto knife and the ends were cut off, and as I posted in post #8 I sanded each end of Section 3.

I carefully put Section 3 in place to see how well it fit the CR below and it was as good as I could have hoped.


I also placed CR 4 in place, both of these without glue, to test fit. It's amazing how much better this works when I put it in the correct orientation.


Just to be sure I didn't do it again I gave myself a note. A little glue in the tube and the CR is positioned carefully so it's halfway out. When that dries I'll add more glue inside the tube to really anchor it in place.


Now I'm officially back to where I was before I screwed up this build. Thanks Jim Flis for helping me figure out what I'd done wrong, and thanks Kruegon for the body tube replacement!!! You guys rock!

So I've not yet looked at the instructions, however when putting the labels on. Are you using heavy paper and gluing, or using full sheet label paper and gluing?

Glad to hear progress is back underway.

good save Mushtang....nothing the Tiger team couldn't handle!

After the little bit of glue dried to hold CR4 in place a fillet of glue was added along the inside of section 3 to really hold it in place. When that dried I was able to glue it to the top of section 2 and it's CR.


Before the glue set up I checked the alignment with a launch rod again, inside the tiny holes near the motor tube. It slid easily in place so I know it's all aligned correctly - so far.


Section 4 and it's CR will be done a little differently than the first 3. I cleaned up the CR and dry fit it in place, but on this one I will not glue it in before gluing the section onto the top. The section really needs to be glued in place first and the CR can then be put in place. Doing it the other way around could cause issues with the section fitting (which I discovered while dry fitting everything together).

NJRick said:

good save Mushtang....nothing the Tiger team couldn't handle!

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Thanks Rick! A few bumps and we're haulin' the mail!

The next step is to cut out the fin guides.


All 4 are cut out and ready to use to draw outlines on the balsa.


The fin patterns show a little diagram to indicate where to place the patterns on the balsa, with two patterns per sheet. I'm going to deviate a little bit from the instructions and go with 1 and 3, to keep a larger piece of balsa in my scrap pile. Deviating from the instructions never hurt anything... right?

Mushtang said:

The next step is to cut out the fin guides.
View attachment 288837

All 4 are cut out and ready to use to draw outlines on the balsa.
View attachment 288838

The fin patterns show a little diagram to indicate where to place the patterns on the balsa, with two patterns per sheet. I'm going to deviate a little bit from the instructions and go with 1 and 3, to keep a larger piece of balsa in my scrap pile. Deviating from the instructions never hurt anything... right?
View attachment 288839

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This is such a fun kit to build! Yours is looking much better than mine did, I definitely rushed it. Was always a crowd pleaser, however, until i flew it on a C11-3 that had a shotgun style ejection charge. severed the shock cord, and the airframe augered in, displacing the BT-50 MMT/stuffer. It still sits in my shop, but won't fly again

So the beer can wraps also include fin covering beer can images, because obviously whoever built a crooked rocket out of beer cans used some flattened cans to cut fins out of. I guess. Let's just go with that.

Anyway, this means gluing paper on balsa fins. That's essentially papering fins, which I HATE. I've never been able to do a good job papering fins. I've read lots of threads about how to do it and I've tried several different ways, but the grains always seem to show through the paper. As I understand it, the whole point of papering fins to to avoid having to fill the grains, primer, paint, and all the sanding that goes along with it, and it also adds strength to the fins.

But since the point of these wraps is to end up with the image on them, and it has nothing to do with avoiding the above, I'm doing some of the above. To avoid having the grain show through the paper I'm going to brush watered down CWF, sand it smooth, and then cut out the fins. This will make it easier for me to glue on the paper images. The rest of you that are actually good at papering probably won't do this part.

CWF was brushed onto the balsa where the fins would be cut out, and then set between heavy cookbooks overnight to really dry and remain flat.


After the CWF was sanded smooth with a palm sander and 330 sandpaper I outlined the patterns again.


A new blade was put into my Xacto knife and the fins were cut using the edge of my metal ruler.


Then they were stacked up so all the root edges were down, and they were sanded flat. The fins won't end up at a wonky angle without doing this, but it does result in more surface of the fin root edge to be in contact with the rocket, so probably makes it slightly stronger.

I'd consider printing those out on full sheet label paper. Laying them down and then maybe just tacking the edges with something. Not sure CA would work as it might wick into the print and ruin it. I tried the whole glue paper to balsa thing three times and like you, I did NOT do a good job. On the Zooch Shuttle I used label paper and it worked really nicely.

One idea for using label paper: before you affix the labels to the balsa, use some blue tap like a tack cloth to pull as much of the balsa dust off the fins as possible. Should improve the stick of the labels at least a little.

Disclaimer: I thought of this after my last papering job and haven't tried it yet.

Now that section 3 has dried I was ready to glue on section 4.


Glue was added to the CR around the motor tube, and around the edge of CR 4 so that section 4 tube can be attached. I used my finger to made a fillet around the motor tube because I had a little too much on it.


Section 4 was pressed onto the CR 4 below it. Unlike the previous sections I did not glue the CR above it into place. CR 5 will wait.

The wrap for fin 4 was on a separate sheet from the other three, so I carefully cut it out along the black lines. On the back I put some marks so I could line up the leading edge of the fin easily when glue was added.


The other three fin wraps on the template were made so that they'd overlap the fin, and after they're glued on I'll have to trim them. You can see the overlap in this picture, as well as the note on the template telling me about it. This has the benefit of me not needing to cut out the wraps carefully. The only places I did have to be careful when cutting were on the top and bottom of the leading edge. The little notches are used to line up the fin.


After a few minutes the wraps were all cut out and ready to be glued in place.


Glue was added down the leading edge.


And the leading edge was pressed onto the back of the wrap, aligned as required.


It didn't take long to get all 4 fins glued on the leading edges, and set aside to dry. I'll add glue to the fins and press them in place next.


Now that the wraps were fully glued to the fins I put them all under a stack of cookbooks to completely dry overnight.

They look like they fit this time. awesome.

Now that section 4 had dried it was time to glue CR 5 in place. From the dry test fitting prior to gluing the section in place I realized the CR was pushing on the motor tube so I figured it might need some shaping. The fat area away from the motor tube hole was sanded, test fit, sanded, test fit, etc. Eventually I decided it was good enough.


I ran a line of glue around the inside of the body tube and slid the CR into place, resulting in glue along the bottom edge of the CR.


It's currently resting upside down for the night so that the glue would run back onto the CR/tube corner instead of down the inside of the tube uselessly.

kcobbva said:

They look like they fit this time. awesome.

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The wrong fitting section was correctly installed back in post number 76. I'd already forgotten all about it, thanks for the reminder. While you're at it, why don't you give me a nice paper cut and pour lemon juice on it?

Ha! Just kidding. I'm being way more careful now and reading all the instructions each step before I move forward.

BTW, your printed wraps look great on the fins! Coming up soon the other wraps will be glued to the body tubes. I can't wait!!

awesome build threat Mushtang....including the missteps but it really helps us looking at this kit and thinking about pulling the trigger...will help us build this little gem....know where to look for potential difficult parts of the assembly.

When the fins came out of the cookbook stack all the glue had dried and they were nice and flat. No horrible grain grooves like I've seen in previous papered fins I've done without the CWF.


The fins do have about an 1/8" overhang, give or take, that had to be cut off before the fins were glued in place.


I laid a fin flat on the cutting mat and trimmed one side off...


Flipped it over and trimmed off the other side.


After doing this to all the fins looked great and are ready to be glued onto the rocket.


Here's the root edge of a fin after the wrap has been trimmed.


How do they look?

Mushtang said:

How do they look?

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... as if you don't know they look amazing