how much does paint weigh - or are estes weights correct?

[SteveF]

Hello - new bar here - last did this in the mid 70's. Put together a few kits now to get back into the swing of things and noticed that the last 2 estes kits are way overweight once done. Built 2 small kits - hiflier and quark and those were a few grams over so no biggie there. but put together a patriot and a stormcaster (4.95 on clearance at michaels - got a couple) and both are about 30 grams over the weight listed on the kit? is this common? the patriot comes close to the max for the suggested engines - flew fine on b6-4's the other day Put together a red river kit at the same time as the patriot (diamond ring - neat tuber!) and that one is only 2 or so grams than the listed weight - it is similar in size to the patriot so not sure what is up with the estes kits - will be weighing more as i build some current kits to get an idea how glue and paint affects the weight

Thanks


Steve

 

[chanstevens]

Yep, it's common, and not just with Estes. Depends on your build techniques, though. I typically come in about 0.2 ounces heavier for a typical 1.2-1.5 ounce bird, but I fill grains and spirals, and am a little thick on the paint when all is said and done.

 

[Zeus-cat]

Welcome Steve,

I never believe the weights posted on the kits, or the max altitudes. I figure they have experts building these things and they do a better job than I ever will. I assume I use too much glue or something, so my weight will always be more than the kit posted weight.

Paint should not weigh a lot if you put it on properly. The drag reduction of a good paint job should offest the extra weight.

 

[SteveF]

thanks - I know I was a bit heavy on the paint on the patriot but it looks nice. was about as heavy on the diamond ring and went lighter on the stormcaster so guess i will keep weighing to keep em light enough


Steve

 

[Micromeister]

Steve:
Depending on the kit and manufacturer the weight on the bag can be either the raw parts estimated weight, a unfinished model weight or the shipping weight of the bagged model including packaging and instructions.

I pay little attention to particular printed mass listing preferring to use the actual mass of the completed, finished model as I built it to do my altitude and/or motor selection projections.