Build threads: EAC.....

[jlabrasca]

Its two different typefaces, at least. When I was laying out the skins for my upscale, the closest I could find for the lowercase letters in the club name was a Letraset Helvetica bold varient (didn't think to record the catalog number). The small cap "P" in aerospace is a different typeface.

I couldn't find a good match for VIPER cartouche -- so I just traced it in Illustrator.

 

[kuririn]

Second build: EAC Firecat

Parts:
Body tube BT-50 9.5"
Laser cut fin sheet (from erockets)
Balsa nose cone BNC-50BD
Screw eye
Shock Cord
Kevlar leader (subbing for tri-fold shock cord anchor)
12" parachute (salvaged from another rocket)
Launch lug 2"
Centering rings CR 20-50
Engine hook Standard
Thrust ring (not part of original)
Mylar hook retainer (subbing for masking tape)
Motor tube BT-20 2.75"
Pod tube ST-8F 2.5" (Subbing for BT-48)
Decals (from erockets)




Original pod tube was a BT-48 at .928" OD. Couldn't find a vendor that sells this size tube, don't know if it's even being manufactured anymore so I subbed an ST-8F from erockets. At .921" OD it's 7/1000ths of an inch too small.
Hey, I won't tell if you won't tell.

Assembled the motor mount. Forward ring is notched for the Kevlar. Aft ring is split to allow flex of the engine hook.


Will let this dry overnight. Aft ring is nestled in a piece of scrap BT-50 tubing to keep it's shape.
TBC

 

[kuririn]

The balsa pieces were removed from the sheet and the laser cut edges were sanded lightly to remove the char and tics.
The fins(wings) are an unusual configuration.


Used an angle tool and square wooden dowel to keep the parts at 90 deg. while the glue dried.
(Being careful not to glue the tools to the balsa).


Will fillet after glue dries.
TBC

 

[BABAR]

(Being careful not to glue the tools to the balsa).
TBC

Wax paper makes a nice “buffer” to prevent undesired adhesion of various jigs and supports.

 

[kuririn]

Wax paper makes a nice “buffer” to prevent undesired adhesion of various jigs and supports.

Right you are sir!
BTW I noticed one of the new smileys. Is this you?
I don't remember if Babar was pink.

Got the fillets on the wings


The pod standoff and the raceway piece are on the right of the pic.

Qualman fin guides not only are useful fin jigs, but they can also be used for marking fin lines on body tubes instead of a cut out paper fin guide.
Here a pencil mark is made at the 0 deg. spot. Three more marks are made at the 90 deg left, 90 deg. right, and 180 deg. spots for a cruciform alignment.

The tic marks are extended with an angle tool


The engine hook on the motor mount is lined up with the raceway line and the mount is glued in, tube ends even.


The square dowel is an excellent tool for squaring up the tubes.
Will let these dry, be back in a few hours.
TBC

 

[BABAR]

BTW I noticed one of the new smileys. Is this you?
I don't remember if Babar was pink.

BABAR was originally intended to mean Born Again Born Again Rocketeer. That said, I'm happy to be thought of as a dancing pink elephant!

Square Dowel! Almost sounds like an oxymoron, but I can see how such would prove helpful.

 

[kuririn]

Square Dowel! Almost sounds like an oxymoron, but I can see how such would prove helpful.

I know! Dowels are round, aren't they? But I went with Midwest's terminology since they make 'em.
https://www.hobbylinc.com/midwest-square-dowels-economy-bag-hobby-and-craft-balsa-strips-12
I bought a couple to repair a broken sliding drawer. Comes in handy for this hobby.

 

[kuririn]

The body tube was marked, and the wings, raceway, and pod stand-off were glued to the tube.
Left to dry in a horizontal position.
Good night!

 

[GlenP]

I like the shape of those wing fins, really nice looking rocket. I hope they survive landing!

 

[hcmbanjo]

After looking close at the Estes Firecat kit, I realized the fins (and nose cone shape) were from the old Honest John kit.
That's why the have you cut up the fins for the fin tips. Additional raceway and pod standoff pieces were cut by hand.
The decals are (of course) from the Estes Bandit.
It makes me think this might have been a S.P.E.V.
https://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/estes/est0821.pdf

 

[BABAR]

The body tube was marked, and the wings, raceway, and pod stand-off were glued to the tube.
Left to dry in a horizontal position.
Good night!
View attachment 408934

Looks good.

Lotta lumber to finish.

You aren’t a papering fan, I take it?

 

[neil_w]

After looking close at the Estes Firecat kit, I realized the fins (and nose cone shape) were from the old Honest John kit.
That's why the have you cut up the fins for the fin tips. Additional raceway and pod standoff pieces were cut by hand.
The decals are (of course) from the Estes Bandit.
It makes me think this might have been a S.P.E.V.
https://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/estes/est0821.pdf

I think I've heard that before. In any case it's an *amazing* SPEV job, completely original and bearing no resemblance to the original. IMHO it is the best ever use of the HJ nose cone outside of the HJ itself.

 

[GlenP]

Another HoJoNoCo kit: New in 1990 catalog, Deep Space Transport

https://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/nostalgia/90est46.html


https://plans.rocketshoppe.com/estes/est2034/est2034.htm

reuses some of the Estes Airlines livery decals on similar transport style rockets.

 

[kuririn]

I like the shape of those wing fins, really nice looking rocket. I hope they survive landing!

Me too!

It makes me think this might have been a S.P.E.V.

I got another slick looking SPEV build coming up.
Don't know if I'm going to do a build thread though:

You aren’t a papering fan, I take it?

It depends, I have used the technique several times before.
But I have a lifetime supply of CWF, commercial and homemade sanding sealers so I'm good!


I came across a Gotcha! (as hcmbanjo would put it) in the instructions


Illustration shows launch lug glued to the valley between the standoff and main tube.
I believe this is an oversight.
With the bulbous nose cone, it will result in the rod scraping and deflecting against the nose cone.
I decided to put it inside the pod, for aesthetic as well as practical reasons.



Fillets are on

Optional antenna attached. (Love them chute catchers, if only for the visual appeal).
Recovery gear installed.
Pod will be pre-finished before final assembly, lesson learned from prior builds.
So I'm calling the assembly (mostly) complete.
Filling, sanding, primer, blah blah over the next few days.
Will post a final finished shot of both babies.

 

[BABAR]

Has your shuttle in post 38 background flown yet?

 

[kuririn]

Has your shuttle in post 38 background flown yet?

Sorry, that is a Lindberg plastic model, static display, partially finished.
Oh, wait.
………..….
PMC?

 

[BABAR]

Sorry, that is a Lindberg plastic model, static display, partially finished.
Oh, wait.
………..….
PMC?

Probably won’t glide well!

 

[neil_w]

Another HoJoNoCo kit: New in 1990 catalog, Deep Space Transport
.

Forgot that one, also great.

 

[Mugs914]

I got another slick looking SPEV build coming up.
Don't know if I'm going to do a build thread though:
View attachment 408945

Didn't realize that was a SPEV too. What are the base parts from?

Firecat is looking great, BTW! Wanna upscale that one...

 

[kuririn]

Didn't realize that was a SPEV too. What are the base parts from?

SR-71 nose cone. This came out later, and don't see any other kits that used that nose cone, so I think this kit must be a SPEV.

 

[kuririn]

Filled.
Sanded.
Primered.
Sanded.
*cough, cough*
Basecoat on.

Laters.

 

[SCooke123]

They both look great basecoated!!!!

 

[kuririn]

Masked and applied secondary color:




The yellow on the Viper was applied by brush.
Looks good, decals in a couple of days.

 

[Fishhead]

I cloned an EAC Viper as an 18mm bird soon after I restarted the hobby. First flight was a C6-7 and I found out why the original was 13mm. Floated out of the VOA heading north. Didn't appear to be dropping at all as we watched it disappear.
I also won an eBay auction for an original one around this time. It had started life as a 4fnc bird, but was a 3fnc bird by the time I got it. I still have it and have been thinking about restoring it as best I can. It's so rough that I'm not sure it's worth the effort.

 

[kuririn]

Testors Panther Pink was suggested as a good match to the decals for the third color on the Viper. However I went online and websites were either out of stock or they did not ship paint to Hawaii.
So this morning I went to HD and picked this paint up:


Test spray for comparison to the decal:


What do you all think?

 

[neil_w]

I think that looks good from here, although hard to tell exactly what it's going to look like on the final.

I'm still a little bummed that I didn't get to use Satin Magenta on Alcubierre, so I'm very happy to see it on other rockets.

 

[Speaknoevil]

Swe

Testors Panther Pink was suggested as a good match to the decals for the third color on the Viper. However I went online and websites were either out of stock or they did not ship paint to Hawaii.
So this morning I went to HD and picked this paint up:
View attachment 420310

Test spray for comparison to the decal:
View attachment 420311

What do you all think?

Sweet! I like a good pink. Finished up my Mach1 38mm Daedalus in a Rustoleum Red Currant. Tinge of pink makes it stand out.

 

[GlenP]

you might try it with a base coat of yellow underneath.

 

[kuririn]

In post #14 jlabrasca kindly provided a link to K'tesh's instructions scan of the Viper with a scan of the cardstock display stand. It is the same stand used for the Goonies.
Note to self: Spray clear coat on the assembled display stand BEFORE applying the name decal.
Heh.
Thanks for the comments guys. Well, I'm committed now. Sprayed the nose cone off the rocket and masked and brush painted the fin stripes with the magenta.




I'm going to try something different for the body stripe. There is a launch lug opposite the body band position so instead of masking I'll spray paint a strip of white decal paper and apply that to the body.


Come to think of it, while I'm at it I might as well spray some other color bands too on the left over white decal paper. Might be useful in future builds.

Also, on the Firecat, sanded the paint off the glue line on the pylon and glued the engine pod to the pylon.
Need to fillet and do brush touch-up on the glue joint.
Then she'll be ready for decals.


TBC

 

[Greg Furtman]

Can someone enlighten me on what SPEV stands for? I can usually figure out abbreviations but this one has me stumped. Thanks.