Build Thread Dragon Rocketry 4” Starblazer X20

[OKTurbo]

WOW, Thanks for all the pictures.

Hopefully the pics aren’t too much. I like to see how others build things….so there you go.

I think it’s ready for paint. I may go ahead and set up the shear pins, but all the guide rails and vent holes are done. I’ll sand the nose cone to get rid of the seam, the spray it with adhesion promoter. Then comes the prime/ sand / prime cycle for at least a week…depending on the weather. Humidity has hit Oklahoma.

 

[OKTurbo]

Bondo putty and primer. Current state. Epoxied in some brass shims for the shear pins.

 

[OKTurbo]

I’m giving Kustom Canz a try on this one. Still have lits of primer and sanding to do…

 

[OKTurbo]

Some base white before the blue. Yellow for the nose cone.

 

[OKTurbo]

Not sure how I feel about the blue. It looks much darker than I thought it would be. Supposed to be Ford ‘Kona blue’ but it looks darker. Maybe it will look lighter in the sunlight.

it soaked up a whole spray can. This thing has a lot of surface area. I’m going to have to buy more paint to finish this thing.

 

[Highpowerrocketyahoo]

Nice! Thanks for tge build thread. I always learn best from seeing and doing. Tell me about the wiring in your av bay. Where'd ta get it?

 

[OKTurbo]

Nice! Thanks for tge build thread. I always learn best from seeing and doing. Tell me about the wiring in your av bay. Where'd ta get it?

You’re welcome! I like the pics too. Wiring for this is included in the kit. I only had to extend a few wires for them to fit. I’ve got a box I keep extra hook-up wire and other electrical connectors in for such occasions . The Dragon Rocketry kit includes all you need for the electronics bay except the actual altimeters…and batteries.

 

[OKTurbo]

Well the Kona Blue is much darker than I thought it would be…even with a white primer base, but oh well. It’s growing on me. Looks almost black. Kind of ‘midnight blue’. Next step is the vinyl graphics after this cures for a day or two.

 

[Hobie1dog]

I've not seen Kona Blue look that dark, especially out in the Sun.

 

[OKTurbo]

Since the paint is so dark, I’ve cut some of the vinyl details in a lighter grey. The black vinyl just wouldn’t show up good on the dark blue. I‘m hoping it will still look OK. We’ll see. This can be the special ‘night fighter’ version of the X-20.

 

[OKTurbo]

Vinyl graphics are on! Let that settle for a day or two so the Vinyl can de-gas, then it’s clear coat time.

 

[DragonRocketry]

I like it!!!!! Video it when you fly it.

 

[OKTurbo]

While in dry dock, X-20 was fitted with new launch skids.

 

[neil_w]

Really really beautiful. I love that design, should think about building one, although not that big.

Hey, is this a piece of forgotten transfer tape?

 

[OKTurbo]

Really really beautiful. I love that design, should think about building one, although not that big.

Hey, is this a piece of forgotten transfer tape?
View attachment 584671

No.. I re-did the original graphic with a grey background. Original was black and wouldn’t have shown up well with the dark paint. You can see the original on the sheet I got from Stickershock. I cut new ones on my Cricut.

 

[OKTurbo]

1st coat of 2K clear. We’ll see if it needs another coat after this dries.

 

[neil_w]

What does the "HN" or "NH" stand for on the fin decals? I've been staring at this a while and have come up empty.

Also: would you be willing to share your decal art?

 

[OKTurbo]

What does the "HN" or "NH" stand for on the fin decals? I've been staring at this a while and have come up empty.

Also: would you be willing to share your decal art?

Hey Neil,


I can’t figure out what the “NH” is for either. here’s the blurb from the 1980 Estes catalog. It reminds me of the Navy carrier jet tail markings.


Wow! $4 seems pretty cheap today, but that was a lawn mowing job back then when I was 15 yrs old.

The major part of the vinyl came from Stickershock. I cut some with my Cricut just using the instructions I found here. https://plans.rocketshoppe.com/estes/est1342/x20decalNEW.jpg
Snipped image from the screen. Imported into Cricut Design and turned it into a cut file for the vinyl. I suppose I could share the Cricut file…but I’ve never tried that before. Let me know if you can use a Cricut file.

 

[neil_w]

I can’t figure out what the “NH” is for either. here’s the blurb from the 1980 Estes catalog. It reminds me of the Navy carrier jet tail markings.

Oh, interesting. I'm building an OR file for this rocket (this thread has me kind of fascinated with it (maybe "infatuated" is a better term... pondering a 24mm upscale). As I've stared at it, I've decided that it's not really a military craft, more likely a racing vehicle or something like that. It looks very hot-rod-ish to me. But whatever.

The major part of the vinyl came from Stickershock. I cut some with my Cricut just using the instructions I found here. https://plans.rocketshoppe.com/estes/est1342/x20decalNEW.jpg
Snipped image from the screen. Imported into Cricut Design and turned it into a cut file for the vinyl. I suppose I could share the Cricut file…but I’ve never tried that before. Let me know if you can use a Cricut file.

I'm not sure if I could do anything with that. Was hoping for a vector art file of some kind... but no worries. I too have been working off the image you linked; it's just a bit rough in some areas.

Anyway... great build. I really like the black/white inversion of the decal colors you did with the darker blue. Maybe not what you originally intended, but it ends up being a little different from all the others, while still being 100% faithful to the original.

 

[OKTurbo]

Thanks Neil. The dark blue ended up being a happy mistake. I really like the darker look to it.

I’ve been out in the shop on my Friday off finishing up a bunch of the ‘bits’. Shear pins are in. Rail buttons on. I filled it up with the recovery harness and the biggest 38mm case I have. tracker in the nose cone.

With all that she’s at 8.6 lbs. Now I need to get some parachutes ordered.

 

[OKTurbo]

Put on the flat black vinyl anti glare. This took a lot of fiddling to get straight.

 

[OKTurbo]

Getting closer to flying this thing. I just uploaded a new video showing the ejection charge testing.

 

[OKTurbo]

Patiently waiting for the next launch. I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to set up the redundant charges. I don’t want the initial charge to ignite the backup. Here is the OKTurbo solution. I’ve installed charge wells for the backups. I know…not earth shattering, but I usually don’t put charge wells on my rockets.

 

[OKTurbo]

Tulsa Rocketry launch for today was cancelled. We had some bad storms last week and there was a lot of damage and power outages.

Next launch is scheduled for July 9th.

 

[ljwilley]

yeah! really nice build! I built a dragon rocketry 3" Laser Lance kit. It was a really great build, with great decals and lots of good quality parts. It turned out really nice. Nice job to dragon rocketry!!

 

[OKTurbo]

It finally flies!

The recovery was NOT ideal. Repairs are in order.

 

[neil_w]

Oh man what a bummer. It looked perfect going up. Hope you can get her back into flying condition.

This is why I take a lot of pictures of my rockets before they fly.

 

[DragonRocketry]

Man that was a nice build. That is a real bummer on the landing. Hit me up if you need parts to repair it.

 

[ljwilley]

Ouch, that's terrible! That thing looked so cool finished!! Really too bad that it had that landing. I really hope you can repair it.

 

[Back_at_it]

This is a really great build. I saw a post about a year ago that someone was going to be making a 2.0" upscale version of this but it never seemed to come to market.

Might need to build one myself as I love the design.