Estes Bullpup questions

[bjphoenix]

I found a couple of old kits that I'm going to build. The kits have a bit of water damage so I'll have to make one set of fins, one set of decals might not be usable, etc.

Question 1- the nose clay is dried out and hard as a rock, probably not usable. Is it necessary to use the weight if I don't go beyond a B6 motor? I found a rocksim file so I'll play with that too. Since I have to make some fins I thought about upscaling the rear fins a bit to see if that would help without needing to make them to far beyond scale.
Question 2- were any colors used other than white? I searched these forums and good searched, everything I found was white except for one missile on static display that was white with blue fins.

 

[markg]

#1 - Rocksim will answer this. I built mine with nose weight and have had good flights on A8 and B6 motors. I don't tend to fly small rockets like this one on a C6 as I'd prefer to get it back.

#2 - I don't know about official colours, but paint it however you'd like. I went with blue body & white fins.

cheers - mark

 

[kuririn]

I've reconstituted dried out nose clay in TLP kits by adding a few drops of water and sealing it in a baggie and leaving it overnight. Knead it until it's uniformly pliable.
OR
Sub an equal weight of plasticine. That stuff never dries out.

 

[Back_at_it]

You can replace the nose weight with BB's and epoxy which is preferred over clay that will eventually dry out and come loose anyway.

The bull pup does require the included nose weight on the B6-4 and C6-7 motors. You can get away without it on the A8-3 but it's not happy with the added weight of the B6 in the tail.

 

[RokitFlyr]

You can also install the fins 1/4"-3/8" rearward. The "look" is still there, and no one will ever notice. . I have one with a 24mm motor mount I built this way. Flys great on D12's.

 

[bjphoenix]

You can replace the nose weight with BB's and epoxy which is preferred over clay that will eventually dry out and come loose anyway.

Does epoxy stick better than clay? I've never done clay but I was given an old nose cone with clay in it and it was stuck in there pretty well. I did steel pieces and epoxy in a MPR LOC nose cone but I used some small nails as pins to hold it in.

You can also install the fins 1/4"-3/8" rearward. The "look" is still there, and no one will ever notice. . I have one with a 24mm motor mount I built this way. Flys great on D12's.

I've been intending to spend a bit of time with OR to check out things like this but haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

[mh9162013]

Does epoxy stick better than clay?

It should at least be comparable, if not better You can scratch the inside surface of the fin to help with the bond. The biggest benefit of the epoxy is that it won't soften in heat the same way clay will.

 

[bjphoenix]

It should at least be comparable, if not better You can scratch the inside surface of the fin to help with the bond. The biggest benefit of the epoxy is that it won't soften in heat the same way clay will.

On the bullpup this is for the inside of the tip of the nose cone but I agree- I can glue some sandpaper on a stick to get way up in there.

 

[mh9162013]

I can glue some sandpaper on a stick to get way up in there.

Just use an adequately stiff metal rod or wire with a sharp tip. I used the tip of my round needle file on the second Bull Pup I built (the first one had a nose cone payload bay). I did have to slightly enlarge the nose cone hole, though.

 

[Back_at_it]

Does epoxy stick better than clay? I've never done clay but I was given an old nose cone with clay in it and it was stuck in there pretty well. I did steel pieces and epoxy in a MPR LOC nose cone but I used some small nails as pins to hold it in.

In my experience yes. After clay chunks came loose on a couple of my Estes builds I searched and learned about using epoxy. When using it it smaller low power builds I’ve never found the need to do rods or screws to hold it in place and I’ve never had one come loose.

With mid and high power i feel you do need to do something better to hold it in place as I have had weight come loose on a LOC build but only once when the nose cone detached and free fell. The cone survived but the nose weight was loose.

With mid and high power these days I’ll either do an adjustable weight system or fill the cone with expansion foam behind the nose weight

 

[kuririn]

You can also use foaming PU glue to hold in your weight.
Add a few drops of water.

 

[BigMacDaddy]

As far as weight goes, you can just glue pennies or a fishing weight (or just about anything that is heavy) in the nosecone with crazy glue. Don't go crazy salvaging clay from old rockets.

 

[Titan II]

Question 2- were any colors used other than white? I searched these forums and good searched, everything I found was white except for one missile on static display that was white with blue fins.

https://digitaltmuseum.no/021025646406/agm-12b-bullpup

 

[rcktnut]

You can also use foaming PU glue to hold in your weight.
Add a few drops of water.

+1 No need for sanding or pins.