Estes DOM Moonik-I

[JAL3]

A hold was called in the countdown so Todd and Juan Diego could get a closer look.

 

[JAL3]

When they finished feasting their eyes on the splendors of my accomplishment, the countdown was resumed.

 

[JAL3]

When the count reached 0, a loud bang was heard.

 

[JAL3]

When the smoke cleared, the Moonik was still there on the rod, at least the part that wasn't hanging by the ribbon or blown to smithereens.

 

[JAL3]

The CATO left nothing of the motor but the casing.

 

[JAL3]

The kids loved it but I was less than thrilled. This chapter is closed.

 

[sodmeister]

What rotten luck John....

I was looking forward to a nice launch picture.Can you rebuild it ?


Paul

 

[hcmbanjo]

Sorry too hear about it John, I've been following this thread.

From the picture, It looks like a fairly clean break. I would probably just glue it together, even if there is a small chunk or two missing, to see it fly.

Good luck with the repairs!

 

[JAL3]

The break is pretty clean but there are some chunks missing.

Last night I had no plans to rebuild. Today, I am not so sure. That light weight spackle might help but I don't have enough budgeted for Maalox right now. I'll think about it.

 

[dragon_rider10]

The break is pretty clean but there are some chunks missing.

Last night I had no plans to rebuild. Today, I am not so sure. That light weight spackle might help but I don't have enough budgeted for Maalox right now. I'll think about it.

I wonder how Job would have done if he was into Model Rockets....

 

[JAL3]

I wonder how Job would have done if he was into Model Rockets....

Better than me. He was not as much of a complainer as I am.

 

[JAL3]

My first thought after the maiden flight CATO was to throw this thing away. After some time, though, I decided that I wanted to make a go of it. Christmas holidays got in the way but I had a chance to take a closer look on the 2nd day of Christmas after services were over.

The ball was blown into 2 main pieces. I thought I could fix that.

 

[JAL3]

A closer look at the tube junction showed that the joint was not all that I had hoped. I figured I could seal that better as well.

 

[JAL3]

The first order of business was to seal the hole and I started by laying a piece of sacrificial masking tape over it and tamping it down.

 

[JAL3]

I knew the tape would not stop much of anything but I wanted it to support the epoxy. I mixed some 5 minute epoxy and brushed it all over the tape and especially around the edges. When it had set, I did it again.

 

[JAL3]

When the sealing of the miter was done, I mixed some more epoxy and brushed it along the surface of one side of the sphere. I then pressed the 2 pieces together and used some tape to hold them together overnight.

 

[JAL3]

After removing the tape, the Moonik still looked pretty bad. Heck, the Death Star looked better at the end of Episode 4.

 

[JAL3]

The first thing the great pit needed was to be filled in. I started packing it with lightweight spackling. I did not bring it all the way to the surface.

 

[JAL3]

After packing the pit with spackle, I used FnF to start filling in the great crack around the circumference.

 

[JAL3]

The spackle got to dry for a bit more than a day and then more was packed in, again, not coming all the way to the surface.

 

[JAL3]

After it had another day to dry, there were some ridges over the surface and those were gently sanded down a bit.

 

[JAL3]

Figuring that Elmer's FnF would be more durable than the lightweight spackling, I slathered a coat on top of the pit.

 

[JAL3]

The FnF was given a day to dry and then it was sanded smooth.

 

[JAL3]

There was still some more buildup to do so I added another coat of FnF.

 

[JAL3]

With another day to dry I got started sanding and this time the result was better. It wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination but it was good enough to let me show up in public.

 

[JAL3]

While I expected the FnF to hold up better than the ultralight spackle, I still did not expect it to be highly durable. To improve matters, I drizzled thin CA over the patch and allowed it to soak in and harden things up.

 

[JAL3]

From there I took it to the booth and gave it its first coat of the hammered silver paint.

 

[sodmeister]

Glad you decided to make the repairs John ,and it looks like the effort is paying off !

It would have been a shame to trash it ,glad you`re fixing it.

Couple more coats and it should look good as new.....or at least very close.

Paul

 

[JAL3]

Couple more coats and it should look good as new.....or at least very close.

Paul

Looking "good as new" sets a pretty low standard when talking about this one.

 

[JAL3]

2 more coats of the silver paint and the Moonik was beginning to look like before, although you can definitely tell that the great pit is not as spherical as it should be.