Estes Arrow #1983 Clone Build

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wagondriver42

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Well its been a while since Ive done any building or done a build thread, so here we go. This time around I am cloning the Estes Arrow #1983. They posted a pic of it on their FB page, and needless to say I liked its looks. Its some what basic except for the 6 fin design, but a sharp looking rocket none the less. I have my parts all laid out, time to throw in disc 3 of "The Pacific" and get to work :)

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Huh. I looked it up and can't remember seeing this kit before. Cool. Keep us all posted on your progress...

Rob
 
Rob, it isn't listed in their archive. I looked also. Here's a link to the plans. https://www.oldrocketplans.com/estes/est1983/est1983.htm
So far I have the BT cut to length, the motor mount together with one fillet so far, and all the fin pieces cut out. I am going to sand them to shape tonight but that will be about it for tonight. Ill report in my progress and post more pics tomorrow.

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Motor mount is installed and I have the fin pieces glued together. BT is marked, time to start scabbing fins on.

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Mine still flies after all these years, been repaired a few times, great flyer, obviously stable. You'll love it.

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Brady, thankya sir. Mlytle0 looks good for an "old" bird. I got the fins on tonight. I am going to put one fillet on them then call it quits for the evening. But she's looking good so far. :D

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Well I managed to get some more done tonight. I got the fins all sanded after sealing them the other night, mounted the launch lug and sanded the nose cone all nice and smooth. Gonna wait till morning to do one more fillet on the launch lug and prime it when I get home tomorrow evening. I will get some more pics of it tomorrow after I prime it.
 
Thanks Gerbs. Got it all primed, now to wait 2 or 3 days, sand it all down and prime it again. But I have a Super Alpha Kit I've been working on also that is ready for a base coat of white so that will keep me busy for a little while.

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Thanks guys. Itll set drying for another 36 hours or so before I sand it down. I did spend a couple hours last night and cleaned up the decals that can be found in the link in post #4. Really happy with how they came out. The attachment in this post is my scan after I printed the decals and sealed them.

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Are you able to post your clean drawing of the decal? Thank you. David
 
Wow!
I somehow miss this model back in the day. The Arrow Looks Very close to the USAF SkyBolt xagm-48a. a rocket that's been on my To build list for several years. The kit nosecone looks to be almost perfect.
 
Brady, well sir, I saved the image of the scan, and simply edited it in MS paint. I just zoomed in as close as I could and started taking out the gray color from the original backing in the scan. After some time and a little frustration VIOLA! lol. I am getting ready to sand down the primer now. Then it gets reprimed and a top coat of paint after a light sanding hopefully tomorrow or Thursday. Ill post some pics in short order.
 
First coat of primer is all sanded down nice and smoooooooth. Now to cover it with primer again lol. I went over the nose cone with 600 and am calling it good. I was able to sand the seams pretty smooth before I primed it and it looks pretty good so Im going to lay the black paint on it tonight. The rocket will get a base of white on Thurs.

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Cool bird.
Interesting spray booth set-up you have for applying pigment.
 
ANd we have pigment! YAAAAAAAAAAY lol. Gave the second coat of primer a light sanding to make it nice and smooth and applied the white. After a 48 hour curing period I will lay down the Rustoleum Lobster Red on the fins. I love the finish work, I hate the hurry up and wait par though lol.

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Finito! :cool: I got some orange peel in the fins, but it wasnt to bad so I called it good. Came out pretty nice, I cant pick this one apart to much lol. The paints I used were: Rustoleum Gloss White, Rustoleum Gloss Black, and Rustoleum Lobster Red.

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Finito! :cool: I got some orange peel in the fins, but it wasnt to bad so I called it good. Came out pretty nice, I cant pick this one apart to much lol. The paints I used were: Rustoleum Gloss White, Rustoleum Gloss Black, and Rustoleum Lobster Red.

Well done! This rocket projects a "beefy" image, which I like.
 
Thanks Brady. And thats a good word to describe it. I couldnt quite put my finger on a word for it at first but you sir have done it. Ill post some better pics of it later.
 
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