Airwalker Clone/Spare Parts Build

[thecapotc]

Overview
This will be a quick/short thread following a spare parts Airwalker clone build. It's the first rocket I had as a kid, and while I will be building a better one eventually, for now this will be a quick spare parts build from the pieces I have found stashed in boxes and drawers while my other projects/tools/rocket stuff has been placed on hold due to this 'taking care of the house' thing my wife keeps talking about.

Model History
By going back through old catalogs it would appear that the Airwalker Kit 1410 first appeared in 1993 and lasted until 2001. During this run it came with a silver finished body tube that held up pretty well to the tube of Testors model glue (ask 13 year old me about that). A fun fact I found while checking catalogs, '93 was the first appearance of the Alpah III in it's current orange/black trim.

The Airwalker was re-released as Kit 7261 in 2017/18 (can't seem to find a 2017 Estes catalog anywhere, even their website) and lasted until 2021. This new release changed to a white finished body tube but appears to be the exact same otherwise.

Build Plan/Parts/Notes
The motor mount and body tube are pre-assembled by a 4H member who abandoned their rocket during covid. I know it was assembled with the 'non-toxic' testors tube of glue but appears to be pretty solidly mounted in the body tube.


The fins, launch lugs, shock cord mount, payload tube, and 'pressure sensitive decal' are most likely from the same kit.


The nose cone and transition look to be from an E2X Bandit (Kit 2060 1992-2003) of unknown origins. I assume Estes had the same nose cone/transition piece molded in a bunch of colors for all the E2X kits that used the pre-punched body tube (Airwalker-red, Bandit-yellow, Heat Seaker-white, Dark Zero-blue are the ones I can think of off the top of my head). By the way 1992 was the introduction of the E2X kits as part of the "22 ALL NEW KITS AND ACCESSORIES" as best I can tell.


The shock cord and parachute are from the drawer of lost rocket parts, origins unknown.


The plan is to find some good chrome finish spray paint for the body tube, use one of the multiple reds hanging out in my garage for the plastic and paint 'er up. As I don't know how strong the non-toxic glue might be I'm going to use some epoxy to attach the fins and launch lugs and let it spread and strengthen the motor mount/fin unit. When it's all done and I've launched it a couple times I'll probably send it home with somebody who doesn't live with me so there's room for the next Airwalker that isn't from spare parts. I'm not sure how painting the shoulder of the nose cone and transition is going to work with the payload tube. Might have to paint the tube to cover it up.

 

[ljwilley]

Nice! I've always liked the simple design of the airwalker and the payload capability. Very neat. It's a perfect rocket to test out altitude detecting altimiters.

 

[Cape Byron]

Here’s a pic, ‘cause I had no idea what it looks like.

 

[5x7]

This is a fun project. Note the re-release uses the pointy nosecone you have. The original used a blunt nosecone that Estes no longer produces, see the picture from the ‘93 catalog.

 

[thecapotc]

Well son of a gun, I never looked close enough to notice that the nose cone changed. Now I guess the ebay stalking for an original kit begins.

Plastic was sanded/smoothed last night and dry fitted so paint will go on tonight.

 

[thecapotc]

First round of painting is done, even if the humidity in central PA is just shy of pea soup parts turned out pretty good so far.

For the body tube I bought a can of Rusto Bright Coat Metallic Finish Chrome at WallyWorld.

Wasn't sure how it would actually turn out but I'm pretty happy. There's one spot down around the motor can that must have been touched with glue at some point because it bubbled a little, but since this is a spare parts build I'm going to leave it.


For the plastic parts I tried to pick the closest red I had to the injection molded red parts, and was just going to deal with coverage on the yellow. What I wound up with was Krylon Dual Superbond Paint and Primer in Cherry Red. I have no clue if this is still around, I bought it a couple years ago at Ollies.


The parts look good so far. Will see how they dry, I'm not going to worry about a second coat on the already red parts as it's closer than I thought and close enough on this one. The transition came out pretty good on the first coat (made heavier by the humidity than I intended). The nose cone needed a quick respray for some spots I missed but is also looking good.



The fins will need to flip over and get some coverage on the other side and barring anything looking really awful it will be time to assemble.

 

[thecapotc]

Dry fitting of the fins, transition, payload tube, and nose cone. I’m really happy with it as is except I’m not loving the dull finish on the fins. I’m sure the pea soup I painted in is to blame (not my lack of patience for better weather).


I’m wondering if a little furniture polish rubbed in would brighten them up.

Also I always forget how much I love the through the body tube shock cord attachment on these E2X models. It keeps the body tube inside nice and smooth and replacing it is really easy.

 

[Back_at_it]

You could try to buff it out using automotive polish but you would need to let it cure for a few days before trying. Another option would be Duplicolor Clear. I've found it to be compatiable with every Krylon paint I have used it with.

 

[thecapotc]

My "fairly quick build" went awry as life got in the way. Finally got time to actually work on this for a few minutes and decided to throw the 'pressure sensitive decal' on. As its a complete body tube wrap that's several inches long I wanted to try an idea out for getting it to align.

I started with some blue painters tape stuck to my jeans a couple times to reduce the stickiness (h/t @hcmbanjo ) and then used my trusty aluminum angle to mark the top and bottom pieces of tape in a straight line opposite the launch lug.

The tape was set at the ends of the backer paper. I scored/tore/cut the backer paper and exposed a strip of the adhesive after marking the backer to align with the tape.

Stuck this on moved it around until it was as straight as I could get without ripping the paint up. Peeled and wrapped it after that. I found some paper fuzzies trapped to the sticker because I'm an idiot and didn't cut through the backer as far as I should have. I also didn't want to try the water/bubbles for ease of movement because time was tight and any misalignment would be hidden by the launch rod.

Inspecting after shows some spots on the paint have lifted, but since this is a 'get the parts out of the rocket stuff' build I'm not going to worry too much. Just some fins and launch lugs to epoxy in now. Hopefully I get some time to finish this one up this week.

 

[thecapotc]

Also attached the shock cord through the tachometer hood (for some reason this part always makes me think of the hood mounted tachs on the Judge) so the rocket now sits almost done-ish.

 

[thecapotc]

Finished this up a week ago but didn't get the pictures up.

Some BSI 15 minute epoxy took care of the fins and launch lugs. Looks good enough to me for this *quick* build. It'll hopefully go home with the 4H'er who's parents donated it to me to get it out of the house. If not it will end up as a wind test rocket for the 4H club.

Young rocketeer for scale, her Airwalker is purple and somewhere in the Rocket Room.

 

[Ronz Rocketz]

A year or two ago, Estes had the rocket on sale for $10. I messed up the MM. Fortunately, I received the rocket quickly in the mail and ordered another one before the sale ended so I have a few spare parts now.