A Protostar is born

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FishnBeer

Nerds!
Joined
Dec 19, 2020
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Location
CA
Bought a few rockets when estes had black friday sale, I think I got the protostar for under $10. This was the most challenging rocket I have built thus far.

Laser cut fins, but each fin is 2 peice, and needed one edge contoured to fit the nose cone properly. Getting everything on straight was a challenge, glue the nose cone to fin first, then fin to body and when its all together it is pretty obvious when something is off. But I took my time sealing the fins and filling the body tube spirals and they came out good.

Even painting was a challenge mostly due to the weather, it has been cold and humid so had to wait weeks between primer coats. I used metallic silver rustoleum, first coat looked uneven so I hit it with scotch brite pad and the second coat came out great. The fin decals were fighting me too, ended up placing them where I wanted and not using them all and I am not really into the 'rivet' decals on the fins. Still waiting on another warm day for clear coat but I am happy with the result. More pics later, I just took a couple this morning
 

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Looks great!

I got one too, price too good to pass up

wondering if you may want to try your clear coat on a test piece painted with same silver paint before doing it over the silver?
 
That kit just pisses me off... What a waste of perfectly good Alien/Torellian Invader nosecones!
 
Looks great. I love that rocket, I'm a sucker for Silver spaceship looking rockets !
 
Nice model! Liking the 50s vibe there. Love the Sci-Fi style Estes models.

What engine are you using?
 
I was able to sneak out of work early yesterday and got the clear coat on. It looks really good but I am going to let it sit another day before I move it.

Not sure when I will get a chance to put it in the air but I got some d12-5s with her name on them.
 
I had one, lasted 5 launches before a tree ate it. Biggest problem was the fin pods breaking off upon landing. I believe the problem was that I used superglue gel to hold them on, figuring that I would rather have one break off absorbing energy, rather than a fin. Well that turned out to be wrong, as 2 of 4 landings resulted in a pod breaking off, with some fin damage to boot. Were I to build one again, I'd use epoxy to hold the pods on. Otherwise, a good flier, and I always got good comments on the paintjob (metallic blue).DSC02004.JPG
 
I had that exact thought about the pods since they are likely to be the first thing to hit the ground every launch. I papered the fins first, then roughed up the contact point on the plastic real good and did a thin bead of super glue to get it set, then hit each joint with multiple wood glue fillets. In retrospect, epoxy would have been a good choice but it feels pretty strong the way it is
 
I strengthened mine I little differently :)
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