Estes Snitch

[JAL3]

This one may not even be worth doing but I'm going to try anyway.

I have an Estes Snitch. Its one of my earliest rockets. I went digging for it to use at an exhibition at my church where space is at a premium. Besides, the kids always seem to like it.

I noticed that the plastic body has a crack in it. I want to repair it even though it would make more sense to replace it.

What kind of glue would work best with this plastic? SHould I try the tube stuff? Plastruct? Epoxy? CA? Boiled horse hooves?

Has anyone messed with this stuff?

 

[Gillard]

plastic weld works really well on plastic, a friend of mine does alot of model car repairs and he swears by it.

 

[CharlaineC]

I agree plastic weld. and id you wat to hide the repair you can do it from the inside

 

[Micromeister]

Just about any of the solvent welding materials can work to repair the snitch.

When I did my two stage LED illuminated versions I used Plastic-weld or MC (Methylene Chloride) on the initial joint applications followed up with plain old 5 minute epoxy on the D12 adapted parts and LED installations. It and my original Estes UFO altered for 2-stage flight the same way years ago still flying well with no regrets
Hope this Helps

 

[JAL3]

Thanks everyone. I'll get it done.

 

[JAL3]

Well I took the Snitch and looked it over. The break looked pretty clean but went all the way through the shell. When pressed into place, though, the crack was just barely visible.

 

[JAL3]

I got out the Plastruct, held the break closed and painted it on. It did not seem to soften this plastic as much as some but, eventually, it stuck.

When the solvent had evaporated and everything had hardened up a bit, I was still distrustfull of the joint. I tooks some course sandpaper and went over the joint on the inside of the shell to roughen it up a bit. I then painted on the dregs of a batch of 15 minute epoxy from another project over the crack to strengthen it further. I have no idea if this actually helps anythign but I figured it could not hurt.

 

[JAL3]

As I was about to put the Snitch away, I noticed another crack in the shell. This one was only beginning but I decided to take some platruct to it as well. It got no epoxy. I'll be interested to see how the 2 hold up under flight.

 

[TheRocketNerd]

I'm sure the epoxy will help reinforce the joint more than you think.

 

[JAL3]

I'm sure the epoxy will help reinforce the joint more than you think.

That's my hope but I don't want to "think" too much since my wife says I'm not very good at it.

 

[JAL3]

The Snitch came out to play today for the first time since the shell repair. I loaded it up with a C6-0 and set it on the pad.

 

[JAL3]

It took off, performing better than I had remembered, inverted on schedule and drifted back down.

 

[JAL3]

It landed none the worse for wear and the patch job on the shell held up fine.

 

[JAL3]

The Snitch few again on Friday, this time as an example of aerobraking for my church's Vacation Bible School.

It was loaded with a C6-5 and placed on the pad with an Estes UFO Invader. The Snitch flew but the Invader was on strike.

 

[JAL3]

It ascended well, flipped over and made a perfect 3 point landing in the handicap parking slot.