Explorer&Space Station Aquarius downscales

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GlenP

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Possibly one of the most distinctive nose cones from yesteryear, I thought I would make an attempt at making a cardstock version. This template is a rough draft, I haven't built the entire rocket yet, just some test parts. The tubes can be rolled around engines that are wrapped in a layer of copy paper glue-sticked together, or an appropriate diameter dowel wrapped in wax paper to avoid sticking. I like doubling up the paper for tubes, and then have a little extra overlap for strength. The seams should be hidden when mounting the tanks to the main body tube.

Downscaled roughly 72-75% to 24mm main body tube, 18mm engine mount, and 13mm Tanks...You're welcome.

I am not that good at InkScape, the glue tabs are not very pretty, I usually just freehand cut those by tracing the edge of the part, but you get the idea.

10 page PDF is too large to attach, bummer. I might try to upload one page at a time.

24 mm main body tube, coupler, nose cone shoulder, 18 mm engine mount
View attachment Explorer Aquarius Body Lower.pdf
View attachment Explorer Aquarius Body Upper.pdf

13mm Tank templates, print 3 pages of the 3, LL has mount lines for a launch lug on the top of 20 and bottom of 25, laminate the end caps 3 layers, the 1/4" strips are for thrust rings. I aligned the top two 20 and 22 tanks so they can be rolled at once, then cut to split.
View attachment Explorer Aquarius Tanks 3.pdf
View attachment Explorer Aquarius Tanks LL.pdf
View attachment Explorer Aquarius Tanks USA 2.pdf
View attachment Explorer Aquarius Tanks USA 1.pdf

Update: exported to PNG to get file size down, added 1-inch square reference
Nose, PNG version rev A (TRF converts to JPG)
Explorer Aquarius Nose.jpg

Fins
Explorer Aquarius Fins.jpg
 
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even the one page PDF of the nose is too large to upload to the forum. First prototype I built the entire cone, then cut open and installed the window. This time I am going to build the 1 to 4 parts separate from the 5 to 8 parts to make installing the window a little easier, since I can access the inside of the top part of the cone. After cutting and inserting the window, then I will glue the bottom and top portions of the nose together. I did not mark on the template where to cut out for the window, I sort of eye-ball it.

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Now it’s a party. Just some test parts for an initial mock up. Going to have to figure out how to make a fin jig, or tank jig to glue all these on straight. Not sure if any other kit used that cone. Probably easier to carve from foam or balsa and look better, but I like the challenge of paper modeling, especially after those droids. I will try to do a downscale for the space station Aquarius next with a 13mm engine mount.

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initial scratch work on measuring the transitions used for the nose cone, then printed with the transition tool from PayloadBay.com. Reminds me, I need to work out a nozzle. Might be able to fashion one that can stay on during flight.

View attachment scan_09122017.pdf
 
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Main body tube is rolled in two 6.5 inch lengths around 3 D engines. A 2 inch tube will be split along the length and formed into a coupler/baffle, another 1 inch tube will be the nose cone shoulder. 18mm engine mount with an engine hook from a wiper blade. I had to tweak my main body tube template a little after the first test to get the tank and fin marking guides lined up right.

I already printed my tank pages, and realized that I should have lined up the two short top tanks so that they could be rolled out as one tube, then cut to split them. I did that for a Groove Tube model and it worked fine. I may change the template for future builds, but will go ahead and use the sheets I already printed. Going to be fun rolling 18 tank tubes, could have just been 12. The 13mm tubes are pretty easy to make, once you get going on a roll...
 
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Haven’t had this much fun since building the Zooch Saturn 1b. My work is cut out for me now.
 
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End caps are 3 ply 110# cardstock, slightly thinner than typical fiberboard. To give these a little extra glue surface, I am also making a kind of thin thrust ring for the tops and bottoms of all the 13mm tank tubes, just to make the end of the tube a little thicker wall to stick onto the end cap better.
 
kind of avoiding finishing up the nose cone and trying to take care of the bulk of the standard rocket parts. Fins to the left, fins to the right. I liked the facecard logo, so I added that to the backside of the otherwise blank fins. These are 5 ply 110# cardstock. I think the embedded decal sheet in my Inkscape file is making the file size too large, 3.1MB seems just too large to upload to TRF as an attachment, even tried to .zip it, but it can't really compress it any further.

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I like to keep a little extra margin so I can sand down the tube ends and fin edges to the exact length. This will remove the black cut-lines for final sizing. Finally just about kitted out, except for installing the nose cone window. I have an idea for that I might experiment with, just not sure how many times I want to build that thing by trial and error.
 
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Another experiment for the window. I probably should have attached the #4 ring for extra strength while cutting the window hole, but it is much easier having access to the inside of the cone when fitting the window. My first experiment I only had the 24mm shoulder opening at the bottom of the cone to work with when I was installing the window.

I basically used the same window template as the first prototype, but trimmed in half the outer transition and used as a concave collar instead of a continuation of the convex window. This gives a more recessed window like the original. I could probably tweak this a little, but I think this is a keeper for now. I don’t have the window hole marked in the template, I sort of pencil that in and trim a little to fit the window, then lightly sand out the scissor marks before gluing in the window. Not a bad copy for a cardstock, but most might prefer a 3D printed or carved reproduction that is more accurate to the original nose cone.
 
Hang on, I assume the new one is the one on the left? That's not "not a bad copy", it looks nearly perfect. Your cardstock work never ceases to amaze me. I gotta try it sometime.
 
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Great work on a very involved card stock build!
I noticed the "17" fin decal (with yellow background) is the same used on a recent Star Speeder build.
I don't think Estes had many available fonts in Penrose.

Star Speeder 60.jpg
 
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Many thanks. I really like the rockets from that era with cardstock canopies or unique nose cones, like the Star Rider, etc.

I made the window a little small since I could not cut the hole in the top half without leaving some margin. I should have added another ring to the top part. Here are the top and bottom joined together on my scrap body tube. When you clear coat a cardstock model it really brings the colors out, I like semi gloss. Hopefully I can figure out how to get the pdf file size down so I can upload the template to share it here. I think the corporate logos I added make the file size larger. I need to resize the images in GIMP before importing into Inkscape.

On each end of the 13mm tank tubes I glued a 1/4” thrust ring, just another rolled tube cut along the length and curled inside like a coupler. Still have to do some final sanding on each end, then will glue the end caps on the tanks.

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All kitted out. Only remaining part is the display nozzle. I may use a Zooch method for that. And the launch lugs, I always forget those. Not bad for 10 pages of cardstock.
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This is Awesome! I love that paper nose cone/canopy. I think I'll try to make one from your png image.
 
This is Awesome! I love that paper nose cone/canopy. I think I'll try to make one from your png image.
I am not sure what size the png will print since it is just a screen grab, I should have put a 1 inch square on each page for scale. I can try to upload a new template, maybe converting to png will get the file size down so I can post it here.

For some good practice, and better instructions, check out the nose cones in the Project Paper thread here and the Eric Truax paper nose cones, I pretty much follow those techniques.
 
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Thanks! This was a fun and challenging build. Should look close enough on the launch pad. Need to remember to glue on the launch lugs before I get ahead of myself and clear coat it. Not sure how many times I have done that before. Might have oversized the Estes and facecard logos on the fins. I might shrink them a little and update the template, of course the originals are blank on that side anyway. The main body tube seam falls right in the gap between the lower tanks, I could have hidden that better by shifting it an inch either way.
 
I am not sure what size the png will print since it is just a screen grab, I should have put a 1 inch square on each page for scale.

not a problem since the first one would be for practice. a 1 inch square would be nice for a real build.
 
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Thanks! This was a fun and challenging build. Should look close enough on the launch pad. Need to remember to glue on the launch lugs before I get ahead of myself and clear coat it. Not sure how many times I have done that before. Might have oversized the Estes and facecard logos on the fins. I might shrink them a little and update the template, of course the originals are blank on that side anyway. The main body tube seam falls right in the gap between the lower tanks, I could have hidden that better by shifting it an inch either way.

Nice job! do you have any detail how you put it together? can you get glue fillets on all the tanks? ... looks crowded. glue fins before or after tanks?
 
Nice job! do you have any detail how you put it together? can you get glue fillets on all the tanks? ... looks crowded. glue fins before or after tanks?

Once I had all the parts kitted up, I pretty much just followed the Estes instruction sequence: engine mount, fins and fillets on the fins, then the tanks. I put a healthy stripe of glue on the tank lines and let it set up for about 30 secs. They seemed to grip pretty well with enough working time to fine tune the alignment. I did not try to add any more glue or fillets on the tanks. I installed every other tank at the top, so the first three were spaced between their adjacent lines, then the final three installed in between the first three tanks. I let the first batch of six dry before the next batch of six so they would not get shifted by handling. Kind of hard to use the markings when they get covered up by the tank itself, but this every-other-one method helped keep them uniformly spaced. I thought about gluing thin strips of cardstock to either side of the marking guides to help seat the tanks in position, like a wheel chock you know, and give more glue surface - that might be a good idea for upscales to use balsa stringers, but I thought they were easy enough to line up if you just take your time.

Since I have a coupler/baffle to join my two 24 mm body tubes, I put in another thrust ring in front of the baffle with a Kevlar cord tied to it, kind of like how you would typically attach a Kevlar shock cord to an engine mount centering ring, and glued that in when the tubes were joined. Nothing really special to the assembly once the cardstock parts are put together, it goes together like any regular kit. Just no painting or decals required, only a clear coat. I have not weighed it yet, but will probably add some nose clay.

https://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/est2016.htm
https://plans.rocketshoppe.com/estes/est2016/est2016.pdf

I have my eye on the sister kit next, the Space Station Aquarius.
https://plans.rocketshoppe.com/estes/est1902/est1902.htm

Not sure how I got started with this build, I was planning on doing the Currell V2 paper model converted to an LPR rocket, but got sidetracked by the challenge of that nose cone. I just saw it in the window and I couldn't resist.

Will get to this one eventually: https://www.currell.net/models/v2.htm
 
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Launch Lugs! Because that’s how I roll.

PS - One thing that is kind of unique to a cardstock build, is to spread a little glue on the edges of the fins to prevent delamination. It does not take much, just spread a little on and wipe it off with a finger tip. I like to layer these up and just scissor cut them, then sand the edges square, rather than using the fold over method, it looks better on square fins like this.

PS-PS- this was a kind of test build and I learned a few things that I hope to incorporate into the printable templates. The main body tube coupler seam will be moved so that it lines up with the bottom of the Center Section #22 tanks rather than smack-dab in the middle of that tank gap. This will make the 24mm tubes more like 6.25" and 6.75" instead of both 6.5". The backside fin logos were a little too big, I will scale those down, but you can always leave those sides blank like the original if you prefer. The window should be larger to match the original cone, and I found some better pictures of the nose cone in other build threads here which gave me a better idea of the shape of the collar, and I will try to mark the outline of the cut-out on the template as a guide. I may make another test cone to try it out. Although I am pretty happy with how the shape of this one turned out, just want to try to get the window size a little closer to the original.
 
starting on the missile pod fins (kind of like tank fins) for the Space Station Aquarius 72% downscale (13 mm engine mount), screen grab of InkScape, instructions say paint colors are yellow and red, face card scan looks different, but I will stick with the primary colors for this template.

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Three 13mm dia tubes are rolled at once, then you can Xacto cut to separate them in to their final 2" lengths, same size as the engine mount tube. Leave a little margin for fine sanding of the ends. My decal downscale left a little gap, need to tweak it to fit, but the seam will be hidden anyway.
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They call these missile pods, so why not have one of them aft facing? Maybe I should stick to the face card artwork. End cap discs are two ply 110#. After cutting discs I took a red marker around the white paper edges. Engine mount is 13mm 2” long tube, same size as pods.

Aft end of rocket should be painted silver. Metallics are a challenge with cardstock models, hard to find ink jet printable paper, I am trying to stick with regular cardstock. I have an idea...
 
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Main body tube, 18mm, about 9” long, and a transition to payload tube at 24mm, .72” long. Still need a fin can tube of 30mm, the payload tube, and nose cone, which is pretty standard. Light grey portion of body will be silver metallic.


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My attempts at using metallic paint as a pre-ink-jet-printing coating have failed, and now this pretty much gives the same result. The metallic sharpie ink seals the paper, as does any paint, so the ink jet printer really can’t print over it, the ink just stays wet and streaks. Not really possible to make your own metallic paper, I give up on that approach. Metallic sharpie can be used after ink jet printing, but those fins solar panels will have to stay white background. The lower tubes can be covered with some metallic sticker or trim monocote, metallic sharpie leaves too many streaks, or maybe some metallic acrylic paint.
 
Last time I searched I was only finding metallic printer paper that was like $1 a page, seems like there are some better options out there now that I might give a try. I wish I could get an assortment of the colors: gold, silver, bronze, copper. With shipping a little less than $0.50/page

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N7JMUKY/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

just not sure if regular White Glue or glue stick will hold to it, might need to score through the metallic coating to get a good glue bond. Some reviews suggest it might just work: " glue stick easily attached other paper to it" "Great paper to do the Willie Wonka Gold Ticket Idea" Just wonder if rolling it will cause creases. I will finish this build with regular white cardstock paper to tweak the templates, and maybe order some of this metallic silver and build the fins and lower body tubes printed on this paper. I could always cut the lower part off the first prototype, then join it together with the new bottom section with a coupler/baffle. Will leave out the 13mm engine mount for now and not attach the missile pods... still might use 18mm min dia friction-fit engine mount, will have to see how heavy it is when finished.

Yeah, I know I could just resort to spray paint that part of the rocket and apply inkjet decals with better looking results, but I just wanted to experiment to see if I can make this cardstock model totally ink-jet-printable, even with the metallic silver portion.
 
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