RodRocket
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2011
- Messages
- 575
- Reaction score
- 6
I thought this was an interesting kit so I tried one.
It is a level 2 kit and does take some patience to assemble. I used Elmers Wood glue for assembly and built stock with kit components. Will substitute a length of kevlar for the shock cord.
This rocket launches on standard size engines. Package card says B6-4* first flight and C6-5 as recommended engines.
Body tube is BT-50, three BT-20 tubes need to be trimmed before gluing. The kit includes a paper marking guide for main tube and for the BT-20 angle cuts, just use a sharp pencil to mark tube at one end and cut with hobby knife. A sanding board cleans up the cuts nicely.
I used my marking guide to mark the three lines for the tubes and one for the launch lug. The BT-20 angle marking guide also lets you make tick marks so you can extend lines down the BT-20 that are 180 degrees apart for gluing to main body and fin location. I extended the marks to the inside of the tubes for easier aligning with the BT-50 marks.
The patience comes in when you start gluing the tubes together. A thin line of glue was put on the BT-20 and the tube was placed into position and held until the glue took hold. I waited maybe 10-15 min before going to the next tube to let glue set up so I wouldn't bump out of position.
Once all three tubes were on, I did the same procedure for the fins. One at a time and held until glue took. This particular kit will not fit in the guillotine fin guide. Just not enough room. I could have waited before installing the motor mount and tried to couple a second tube to see if that would have worked, but the glue set quickly enough that it wasn't a problem.
There is only one minor issue with the kit that I have and that was the plastic nose cone was molded off center. The two part cone is thicker in one area and doesn't match up well with the body tube. In the pic the kit nose cone is the one to the right next to the card. The center cone is a Mini Max plastic, and the red cone is a spare cone I had left over. I could use the Mini Max cone but it is going on a Mini Max kit currently in progress so I may use the red cone to get by with until I can check the hobby shop and see if they might have a BT-50 cone that will work.
The decals are nicely printed and water slide. They are red and will look great on a dark grey, kit recommended color, or black paint color. Silver is suggested for nose cone and fins. Getting the decals on will be a time consuming task also.
I will go with kit colors. Probably a matt grey and silver.
Not really much else to show until I get it painted and decals on.
See ya,
Rod
It is a level 2 kit and does take some patience to assemble. I used Elmers Wood glue for assembly and built stock with kit components. Will substitute a length of kevlar for the shock cord.
This rocket launches on standard size engines. Package card says B6-4* first flight and C6-5 as recommended engines.
Body tube is BT-50, three BT-20 tubes need to be trimmed before gluing. The kit includes a paper marking guide for main tube and for the BT-20 angle cuts, just use a sharp pencil to mark tube at one end and cut with hobby knife. A sanding board cleans up the cuts nicely.
I used my marking guide to mark the three lines for the tubes and one for the launch lug. The BT-20 angle marking guide also lets you make tick marks so you can extend lines down the BT-20 that are 180 degrees apart for gluing to main body and fin location. I extended the marks to the inside of the tubes for easier aligning with the BT-50 marks.
The patience comes in when you start gluing the tubes together. A thin line of glue was put on the BT-20 and the tube was placed into position and held until the glue took hold. I waited maybe 10-15 min before going to the next tube to let glue set up so I wouldn't bump out of position.
Once all three tubes were on, I did the same procedure for the fins. One at a time and held until glue took. This particular kit will not fit in the guillotine fin guide. Just not enough room. I could have waited before installing the motor mount and tried to couple a second tube to see if that would have worked, but the glue set quickly enough that it wasn't a problem.
There is only one minor issue with the kit that I have and that was the plastic nose cone was molded off center. The two part cone is thicker in one area and doesn't match up well with the body tube. In the pic the kit nose cone is the one to the right next to the card. The center cone is a Mini Max plastic, and the red cone is a spare cone I had left over. I could use the Mini Max cone but it is going on a Mini Max kit currently in progress so I may use the red cone to get by with until I can check the hobby shop and see if they might have a BT-50 cone that will work.
The decals are nicely printed and water slide. They are red and will look great on a dark grey, kit recommended color, or black paint color. Silver is suggested for nose cone and fins. Getting the decals on will be a time consuming task also.
I will go with kit colors. Probably a matt grey and silver.
Not really much else to show until I get it painted and decals on.
See ya,
Rod
