F-32 Avenger Build (8486)

[Back_at_it]

About a month or so ago I put up a poll asking what to build next. Out of the options given, the F-32 was the runaway winner. Since flying season has returned I've been out on weekends and Unfortunately doing repairs everything I broke during the week. This past weekend our club launch was cancelled so I was able to finally get the work bench cleaned up and all of the old repairs wrapped up.

It's time to build the F-32 Avenger. I first saw this years ago when someone had one at a local park I flew at. At the time the rocket was well worn and I always thought it was a good looking rocket. Unfortunately for me Starlight was out of business so I couldn't get my hands on one. As soon as I saw Starlight was back in business I grabbed on. Website is https://www.starlightrockets.com/ They also have a Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076021395090 I picked mine up from Ollie-OOP.

I also found a SIM file out on Rocket Reviews. I have not checked this for accuracy so proceed with caution. I will verify the components and DIMs during the build.

Lets get started. The face card.



Parts from left to right.

- Dowel Rod. Appears to be 1/16 dia.
- Mylar Parachute. Looks to be a 12".
- Motor Mount centering rings.
- Motor Block
- 18mm motor tube.
- 1/8" launch lug.
- Shock Cord mount.
- Tubular elastic shock cord.
- 18mm motor hook.
- Plastic nose cone. This is a two piece cone. The molding is nice without any major seams.
- BT20 tubes for side pods. 2.75"
- BT50 tube for main tube. 12" Description shows this to be a 1.0 inch tube but it fits the normal BT50 nose cones.
- Instructions. These are extremely well detailed. Some of the best I have seen.
- Laser cut fins. Looks to be 3/32 Balsa. Quality of the wood is great. It's nice and hard and the fins are laser cut but I do see a slight misalignment of the cut on one wing.
- Decal sheet. Well printed and clear water slide decals.



Instructions. As stated, these are very clear and simply to follow.

 

[Back_at_it]

Started the build with the motor mount. First step requires the motor tube, motor retainer, two centering rings and the motor block. The motor tube was marked per the instructions at the 1/4" and 1/2" mark from one end then flipped around and marked 1/2" from the opposite end.



After looking at the fin design I decided to leave off the motor clip as I like my rockets to stand up on their own and the fins do not extend past the motor hook. First step of assembly was to insert the motor block. Using an old motor case, I marked the case to leave 1/4" of the motor exposed. The motor block was glued into place using TBII. Next step was attaching the centering rings. These line up at the 1/2" marks I made earlier at either end of the motor tube.

With the motor mount assembled, I added fillets to all of the rings and let them dry.



Next step required the main body tube and the completed motor mount assembly. The body tube comes pre-marked for the fins at one end. Check to make sure you are inserting the mount into the correct end of the tube.



Using TBII the motor mount assembly was inserted until the rear ring was flush with the end of the main body tube leaving 1/2" of motor tube exposed.




With the motor mount drying I turned my attention to the nose cone. For this step I needed the upper and low pieces of the nose cone. The inside of the cone and the shoulder of the lower section was sanded with 100 grit then wiped with alcohol before gluing them together. The instruction want you to use plastic cement but I don't have any so I mixed up a tiny batch of BSI 5 mins epoxy and spread it around the inside of the cone. These were pushed together and clamped to allow this to cure.



Will be working on the fins today.

 

[Back_at_it]

Cut the fins out and sanded them to match. Interestingly the front two fins were different shapes so I just sanded them to be the same. All of the other fins looked good.



Next up was sanding the body tube. The tube comes pre-marked for the fins which is a nice touch. I wanted to sand the attachment points so I first extended all of the lines forward on the tube so I had the reference point. Next I sanded the area where the fins would attach then extended the marks back down to the end of the tube.



The fins went on easily. I started with the two front fins. I wrapped a piece of tape around the body tube to keep the rear of the fins in line then attached then using TBII and let those dry for a couple of hours. The fins attached 4.25" from the rear of the tube. Next up was the rear wings then the tail. These attach flush with the end of the body tube. After letting the glue dry I added a fillet of TBII to all fins and I'm allowing that to fully cure before adding the side pods.

 

[Hobie1dog]

A most excellent build thread, keep the pics coming

 

[Back_at_it]

With the fillet cured, I added the side pods. The tubes attach to the main body tube and sit flush with the end of the main tube. They attach to the main tube and the top of the main wings. These were attached with TBII and allowed to dry.



Next was the shock cord. I've never used this type of shock cord mount and was looking forward to testing it. I did upgrade from the included tubular nylon shock cord to Kevlar. I'm using 4' of 200# Kevlar. A knot was tied in one end of the Kevlar then weaved through the mount.



The shock cord was inserted approx. 2 inches inside the body tube. I then coated the top of the shock cord with a thin coating of TBI to keep the inside of the tube smooth.



The launch lug was then then attached. The instructions say to attach the lug on the red line but the illustration shows the end of the lug even with the forward end of the side tube. I attached it 2.75" from the rear of the main tube.

At the same time I cut the included dowel into 4 pieces. The instruction tell you to cut two pieces 2 inches long then cut two piece 3 inches long.



The 3 inch pieces are attached beside the launch lug 2 inches from the rear of the tube.



Last thing I did was attach the dowels to the wing tips. These were left to cure over night so I don't have a pic of that.

 

[Back_at_it]

I've had a very productive weekend. Using T88 Epoxy I attached the dowels to the outer edges of the wings. As I found with my A.S.P. build, wood glue doesn't really work all that well with dowels but epoxy holds them extremely well. After letting the dowels dry I was considering how I wanted to seal things up. From past experience I know that thinned epoxy works very well for sealing the insides of tubes when they need to be painted. I've used this on my Pegasus and Super Neon XL with great success so I decided to try something different and seal the entire rocket with thinned T88 epoxy.

I mixed up one oz. of epoxy in a cup then added 5 drops of 91% rubbing alcohol. With the mixing cup sitting in hot water to thin the epoxy I mixed the epoxy for about 3 mins. I then warmed the rocket with a heat gun as my shop was rather cold. The epoxy was applied with a 1/2 brush in long even strokes. I did need to apply a little more heat as again, it was cool in the shop.

The end result is a very smooth almost gel coat finish on the entire rocket. No need to fill spirals and all of the grain is as good or better than I have done with wood filler. An added benefit is that the fins are now very stiff and the fins/dowels are all one piece. The rocket was set out in the sun for a day and allowed to cure.






After the epoxy cured I sanded a couple of spots that had bumps with 400 grit then went over the entire rocket with 600 grit. The rocket was then shot with two coats of SEM high build and is currently curing.



I'm going to do some finish sanding with 600 grit before applying paint later today.

 

[Hobie1dog]

Thanks for the pictures

 

[Back_at_it]

As promised. Paint was applied last night. I shot on two coats of ACE Brand Gloss White. This stuff dries hard as a rock but it takes some time to fully cure. It's dry enough to handle this morning but needs a couple of days to cure before I can add additional colors.

 

[Back_at_it]

Finished the painting over the weekend. I prefer to add a bit of details as I feel like the design gets lost in a solid one color paint job. I'm going to cut my own decals for this one but i'm going to stick pretty close to original designs.

 

[PDawg]

I like that even more than a Pegasus, 3 fins.

 

[Back_at_it]

I like that even more than a Pegasus, 3 fins.

This one is screaming to be upscaled. Even a BT60 version would be nice. Might need to add it to the upscale list but that is a very long list at this point so it would be at least a year away You should build one. I can give you the fin scans at the launch Saturday.

 

[Back_at_it]

With stuff in the shop I haven't gotten a chance to do any more work on the F-32 but I did attach a shock cord and took it to this weekends launch. It flew perfectly on a B6-4. Nice altitude that was high enough to be entertaining but remained in sight the entire flight. Nice close recovery on a 12" Chute.

 

[Back_at_it]

Been pretty productive this past week with getting some lingering projects wrapped up. I was able to spend a couple of hours yesterday and get some decals and vinyl applied to the F-32.

Went with my own design but did a mix of the original decals and my vinyl. I'm happy with the results.

 

[neil_w]

Beautiful paint and decal job, bravo.

However, I have a complaint:


Not only do you have a huge cutting mat that is in good shape and not filled with crap (seriously what is up with that), you also have some unnaturally open bench space directly behind it. That space should be filled with wood scraps, bits of used blue tape, various glue bottles, crumpled up paper towel, chopsticks, sandpaper, and several tools from at least three rockets ago that have not yet been put away.

 

[Back_at_it]

Beautiful paint and decal job, bravo.

However, I have a complaint:
View attachment 595817

Not only do you have a huge cutting mat that is in good shape and not filled with crap (seriously what is up with that), you also have some unnaturally open bench space directly behind it. That space should be filled with wood scraps, bits of used blue tape, various glue bottles, crumpled up paper towel, chopsticks, sandpaper, and several tools from at least three rockets ago that have not yet been put away.

Neil, During the build phase of my projects that is exactly what it looks like but you forgot to mention sanding dust. Lots and LOTS of sanding dust.

One of the reasons it takes me a while to do the vinyl on some kits is that I need to do a pretty good cleaning of the work bench before I start as the 651 Vinyl I use is sticky. Anything that gets near it is there permanently.

 

[ljwilley]

love the paint job!

 

[mr. bob]

This one is screaming to be upscaled. Even a BT60 version would be nice. Might need to add it to the upscale list but that is a very long list at this point so it would be at least a year away You should build one. I can give you the fin scans at the launch Saturday.

A birdie told me there may be a 3X upscale coming early winter with a 38mm motor mount.

 

[Back_at_it]

If that happens you will see it built here.

I’ve been playing with OR and considering a BT80 version of this rocket

 

[mr. bob]

If that happens you will see it built here.

I’ve been playing with OR and considering a BT80 version of this rocket

Already have a bunch of 3" flexable phenolic just need to catch up on all the new kit releases. Should have them bagged up just before NSL east in Nov.
starlightrockets.com

 

[Back_at_it]

Already have a bunch of 3" flexable phenolic just need to catch up on all the new kit releases. Should have them bagged up just before NSL east in Nov.
starlightrockets.com

Let’s talk. I’d love to buy and build the first one on this site.

 

[DymondY2K]

Would you mind me asking you how you painted the inside of those side pods? Did you brush paint them?

 

[Back_at_it]

Would you mind me asking you how you painted the inside of those side pods? Did you brush paint them?

Yes. Used Tamiya paint that is water based. I painted on two coats by hand.

To get the tubes smooth, the inside of the tubes were coated in thinned epoxy.

 

[ECayemberg]

Let’s talk. I’d love to buy and build the first one on this site.

Did you end up getting one at NSL East?

 

[neil_w]

I have brush-painted the insides of pods before. It's a bit of a pain, but I don't know another straightforward way to do it. I suppose if the tubes are large enough you might be able to maneuver an airbrush around in there.

When I've done it, I pre-paint the pods, then mask them off for the remainder of the painting. Then at the end I will run a touch-up brush (or one of my preferred micro-sponges) around the edge, using the exterior color, to clean it up.

The end result is always pretty slick if there's a bright color on the inside. See: any Kraken build.

Here's my most recent example, before and after coloring the edges:


Not perfect but still pretty good if you're not looking from 2" away.