Estes E2X lauch lug question

Okay, stupid question of the day:
I just got a Sky Twister and noticed that the plastic launch lug was glued on but also had a piece of tape holding it down. Was this just put on to hold the lug in place until the glue dried? It seemed to me to be the answer so I pulled it off, now I'm second guessing that decision.

Perhaps Mike from Estes will weigh in. I suspect that the tape lets the Chinese assemblers move on to the next step while the hot glue is still soft....so you should be OK. That said, there's no reason to take it off. It won't bind on the launch rod if you leave it on.

BEC said:

That said, there's no reason to take it off.

Click to expand...

It's like with a scab, I couldn't help but pick at it.:cyclops:

You leave the tape on.

I recently built an Orange Crush E2X model and the instructions have the builder apply the tape over the plastic launch lug unit.

Since it is just Tape, you can always just get another piece and re-apply it.

Most of the RTF/ARF models and many of the E2X have this tape now.... you remove the tape and there is a good chance you will have the lug fall off! :eyepop:

The E2x kits have you glue the plastic lug to the finished cardboard tube with model plastic cement. Thus the need for the tape. You can use a bit of epoxy or CA as a better adhesive and forget the tape.

Just yank the lug off to re-glue or reinforce with CA.


Jerome

Yeah... my 9 year old daughter and I are building a free-fall (between her other stuff like VBS that she's at now) and the launch lug calls for gluing it on with model airplane glue and then applying the tape over it to "seal the deal" and reinforce the bond...

They're not using a "launch lug" per se, in the tried-n-true small paper tube type lugs we're mostly accustomed to, but a "plastic shoe" type lug with a pair of small cast plastic rings on either end that slip over the launch rod. The lug itself is about maybe 3/8 inch wide by about 2.5 inches long, with a pair of small "nubs" protruding out the back. The instructions call for slitting the tube where these "nubs" protrude so they can nestle down into the tube wall to further strengthen the joint, applying the airplane glue to the lug, pressing it firmly onto the tube, and then applying the "reinforcement tape" over the lug between the rings on either end of it and burnishing it down tight to the tube.

Seems like a lot of rubbish just to get around having to glue on a little paper soda-straw tube... LOL Oh well, "progress" I guess... LOL

If it were me, I'd just cut a strip out of clear packing tape and reapply it over the lug and call it good... these rockets really look more like "one shot wonders" than the rockets I'm used to building (say from back in the 80's when ALL kits were still "builder's kits"...) Given the twist-lock fin can motor retainer and stuff, it looks like these are made to make a few flights and crap out and get tossed, or end up on top of a school, top of a tree, or rotting on a power line...

Oh well... at least she likes the parachute guy and the color is neat...

Later! OL JR

All righty then. Some packing tape goes back on, maybe all the way around for maximum strength.
Thanks guys.