Estes Supernova build

[OG1959]

This is a kit I bought on eBay in a lot of four Estes kits. Got a pretty good deal on them but...

As you can see, the body tube got crushed a little but I had some BT-50 tube on hand so all I had to do was cut a new tube to length.

First order of business is a few coats of clear on the balsa wood fins before I cut them out. That way I can easily sand them smooth, spray again let dry, sand repeat until I get a nice smooth finish. I'll worry about the edges after I cut them out.

 

[OG1959]

Assembled the engine mounts today and got them glued in the booster and main body tubes. After applying some black primer to the fins to better see what I was sanding, I shamfered all the edges and gave everything another coat of sanding sealer.



You may wonder what's up with that thumb nail?? Well, I fully slammed it in my car door 10 days ago. There was blood, swear words and a lot of pain. Still a bit sore!

 

[OG1959]

After sanding the fans I glued them to the lower stage tube. I made a simple 3D printed handheld jig to hold them in place perpendicular to the tube. I attached them with Afix super glue and activator, then laid down a nice bead of wood glue as a fillet and allow to dry.

 

[lakeroadster]

Nice attention to detail. Thanks for posting the build photo's.

Will you be painting it "Champagne"?

 

[neil_w]

Excellent photos. Who's your accomplice photographer?

 

[OG1959]

Cell phone on a tripod, self timer.
Paint will be chrome silver body, black fin section, red nose cone and first stage section. Plan on using the supplied decals.

...I can't stand Oasis.

 

[OG1959]

Four coats of primer and drying in the sun. I used Krylon Colormax primer. Dries pretty fast and builds well. Also discovered a use to recycle empty Pellegrino bottles.

 

[Huxter]

I do like the black primer idea to see the fin bevels - they stand out very well - great job on those bevels!

 

[OG1959]

It's been a busy week for rocket building! I finished up the Supernova this morning. I like the booster section with the fins pointing down rather than up. Went with a variation on Estes color scheme.

Fully loaded up and balanced with a C6-0 booster and a C6-7 upper stage it weighs 4.4 oz. Payload section is holding an Estes altimeter.

I'm refining my builds as I go and learning from mistakes. When I set the rocket on the bench it does sit a bit crooked because I got so fixated on getting my fins perpendicular I neglected to make sure they were all equidistant from the bottom of the tube. Not to worry, next time I'll do better.

Tomorrow is lunch day!

ko

 

[OG1959]

Details...

 

[OG1959]

It flew great! Both stages ignited fine and the first stage landed right side up. It went pretty high, maybe 1200' but I'll never know because I forgot to tape the nose cone to the payload bay! OOPS! Lost the nose cone and the Estes altimeter. Lesson learned.

 

[mbeels]

Congrats on the flight, that's a beautiful rocket. Recovering both stages after a C to C flight is a good accomplishment.

 

[BABAR]

It flew great! Both stages ignited fine and the first stage landed right side up. It went pretty high, maybe 1200' but I'll never know because I forgot to tape the nose cone to the payload bay! OOPS! Lost the nose cone and the Estes altimeter. Lesson learned.

ouch, sorry about the cone and especially the altimeter!

For next try, put a wrap of clear cellophane tape around the forward edge of the body tube and the rear edge of the nose cone once finishing is completed. This gives you a durable “base” to wrap and remove another piece of tape crossing the tube/cone seam for each flight, without risk of peeling off paint or decals or sometimes even delaminating the tube.

 

[OG1959]

Thanks BABAR! Good tip.

 

[OG1959]

Yeah mbeels it was quite impressive!