Estes Expedition

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gldknght

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Greeting everyone. I picked up one of these at Hobby Lobby. Has anyone done a build thread? I'm concerned about the paper tail cone. This will be the most likely impact point at landing, and it seems flimsy.

If there is interest, I will do a build thread since I'm just getting started?
 
I built one. It is a bit flimsy. I haven’t flown mine yet though so I can’t comment on how it takes landing. The motor hook does protrude quite a bit so it should take most of the landing.
 
I'm building one now & have to agree that the paper cones are flimsy. I have a question that one of you might be able to answer. There is an orange spacer, part W that is nowhere mentioned in the assembly instructions. What the hell is it for? To confuse people? ;)
 
It is a 24mm motor kit yes?

Estes E's are longer than Ds, the orange spacer goes in front of a D so they can fly without shooting up into the mount tube
 
Hey guys brand new member and first time builder here. I am a little ill equipped in the glue dept. I have modeling cement, CA glue and a glue stick. Unfortunately for all the cards stock im using a file stick lol. The very first step is to cut out and curl the engine shroud and glue it together. Mine is to small and the two guide rings that are supposed to get glued at the inner edges don't fit inside. Should I sand down the cardstock guide rings or put a bigger piece of ther flimsier index stock on the inside of the shroud to extend its size?
 
It's flimsy for sure, but the three struts glued to it give it strength. Do the rings not fit like this?

1590389060423.png

I know this is an old post, but the hardest part is gluing the angled tubes to the main body. I tried TBII which warped the cardboard. I used wood filler to make it smoother and fill in the gaps between the angled tubes and the body tube. Added some weight but looks great. Some say that white glue works better. I wonder if CA is best in attaching the sides to the main body.

5.png

 
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Greeting everyone. I picked up one of these at Hobby Lobby. Has anyone done a build thread?

I built one over the winter, but don't recall if I did a thread about it.
If was a fun, and involved build.
End product pic is here: https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/coronavirus-work-from-home-build-thread.158551/#post-1980836

I'm concerned about the paper tail cone. This will be the most likely impact point at landing, and it seems flimsy.

The cone's exterior is paper, so it's not excessively hard. You can coat in in CA if you want something harder.
But it's only there for looks, and to (slightly) reinforce the motor mount tube (MMT), so the bulk of the landing momentum will be born by the MMT, not the decorative shroud.
As is the case with all exposed MMT models, those stubs are surprisingly sturdy.

The side half-tubes also look suspect at first glance, but once you epoxy them in, they are rock solid.
The whole model is on the heavier side, so I would not expect it to go too high.

If there is interest, I will do a build thread since I'm just getting started?

Go for it.
If nothing else, having a thread will motivate you to finis the build faster than you otherwise would!
 
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