I’m thinking this forum needs a dedicated “Builds” section as I feel like I’m cluttering up the normal forum with all my restorations.
Well it’s been about a week since I wrapped up my last resto project of the Estes Yankee and with the exception of some painting projects, the work bench is empty but there are literally hundreds of rockets waiting for some attention.
I decided to dig through the box of broken rockets I picked up locally to see what was next. There were two that caught my attention right away and it came down to this Black Brant II or the old Nova Payloader. Looking at my choices, this Black Brant seems to be in better condition so we’re going with it this time. The Payloader is coming but will require a bit more work as it’s missing parts and has a crushed tube.
I like the lines on the Black Brant II. It’s simple but purposeful with nice details around the tail with coupler and cone. This is another rocket I built as a kid and lost. I recall having several good flights on it using B6 and C6 motors. I let me dad talk me into a D12 and the last time we saw it was when I pushed the button.
The plan for this build is to put it back together visually stock but incorporate all of the little tricks we have all learned over the years. This one will get a Kevlar and Elastic shock cord. I’ve also recently purchased some baffles from Qualman Rockets that I’m looking to use so one will be going in here. With the amount of plastic on this model I’m strongly considering Epoxy for the aft section. Basically use it for all of the lower plastic couplers and to attach the fins as a part of them connect to the lower cone.
OK, Let’s get started.
Pic 1 and 2 - At first glance the rocket doesn’t look bad. One fin is broken off cleanly and the other two show signs of repair and are loose. The tube is in good shape and everything seems to be there.
Pic 3 – After pulling the nose cone I can see that the parachute is missing but the shroud lines are present and the shock cord has been pulled out of the tri-fold mount.
Pic 4 – Thank you Estes for telling people to use plastic cement to assemble this model. Literally every part with the exception of the paper coupler has pulled apart with absolutely no effort. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Don’t use model cement to build rockets. But thank you to all of those out there that did back in the day as you make my life much easier today.
Pic 5 – Here is something I didn’t expect and missed on the initial inspection. The motor mount tube is missing. I see where it was glued in place at one time but is MIA now. It looks like it pulled out cleanly. I wonder if this is a result of motor mount failure during launch. That would also explain the broken shock cord and missing parachute.
At this point I took measurements of everything for future reference including the dims on all of the decals. I’ll include them at some point during this resto.
The resto looks to be pretty straight forward on this one. Going to need to address the motor mount issue but otherwise this should be a matter of sanding down the old parts and reassembly.
That’s as far as I got last night. Will pick up the project again later today.
Well it’s been about a week since I wrapped up my last resto project of the Estes Yankee and with the exception of some painting projects, the work bench is empty but there are literally hundreds of rockets waiting for some attention.
I decided to dig through the box of broken rockets I picked up locally to see what was next. There were two that caught my attention right away and it came down to this Black Brant II or the old Nova Payloader. Looking at my choices, this Black Brant seems to be in better condition so we’re going with it this time. The Payloader is coming but will require a bit more work as it’s missing parts and has a crushed tube.
I like the lines on the Black Brant II. It’s simple but purposeful with nice details around the tail with coupler and cone. This is another rocket I built as a kid and lost. I recall having several good flights on it using B6 and C6 motors. I let me dad talk me into a D12 and the last time we saw it was when I pushed the button.
The plan for this build is to put it back together visually stock but incorporate all of the little tricks we have all learned over the years. This one will get a Kevlar and Elastic shock cord. I’ve also recently purchased some baffles from Qualman Rockets that I’m looking to use so one will be going in here. With the amount of plastic on this model I’m strongly considering Epoxy for the aft section. Basically use it for all of the lower plastic couplers and to attach the fins as a part of them connect to the lower cone.
OK, Let’s get started.
Pic 1 and 2 - At first glance the rocket doesn’t look bad. One fin is broken off cleanly and the other two show signs of repair and are loose. The tube is in good shape and everything seems to be there.
Pic 3 – After pulling the nose cone I can see that the parachute is missing but the shroud lines are present and the shock cord has been pulled out of the tri-fold mount.
Pic 4 – Thank you Estes for telling people to use plastic cement to assemble this model. Literally every part with the exception of the paper coupler has pulled apart with absolutely no effort. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Don’t use model cement to build rockets. But thank you to all of those out there that did back in the day as you make my life much easier today.
Pic 5 – Here is something I didn’t expect and missed on the initial inspection. The motor mount tube is missing. I see where it was glued in place at one time but is MIA now. It looks like it pulled out cleanly. I wonder if this is a result of motor mount failure during launch. That would also explain the broken shock cord and missing parachute.
At this point I took measurements of everything for future reference including the dims on all of the decals. I’ll include them at some point during this resto.
The resto looks to be pretty straight forward on this one. Going to need to address the motor mount issue but otherwise this should be a matter of sanding down the old parts and reassembly.
That’s as far as I got last night. Will pick up the project again later today.
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