Latest build - Estes V2

[Tarasdad]

The latest project on my building bench is the Estes V2.

The parts inventory

Tail cone trimmed - a razor saw comes in handy, as does a new #11 blade

Fins sanded

Motor mount parts with tube measured and marked

And assembled

Motor mount installed in the body

Detail showing shock cord attachment

And a look inside

Tail cone glued in place

More pics later.

 

[bradycros]

I's gots'ta get me one'a doe's. V-2's rock!

 

[weboide]

Looking good! One thing I noticed when I built mine is that the slots required squaring of the rounded ends in order for the fins to fit correctly on 6 of the 8 slots, and that my slots wound up much wider than the fins.

 

[tibadoe]

Makes me want to drag my V2 kits out of the closet and start building!!!

 

[sodmeister]

I built one just recently ,brought back fond memories ,as I lost mine last year in a tree.I found the build simple and quick ,did not do too many mods ,Kevlar like Tarasdad ,no elastic and a thin mill nylon chute and swivel as well as rail buttons.

I plan on getting a few more :wink:

Paul T

 

[Tarasdad]

Fins attached

End view

Getting there. Tube spirals filled and sanded.

Fins coated with thinned CWF - needs to dry and then sanding time. Yay. :bang:

Once the fins are sanded it'll be ready for paint. Going to go with the kit scheme of yellow and black.

 

[Boosterdude]

Nice looking build, the V-2 is a sharp rocket. Mine flies great on the E9's, cant wait to try it on the E12's.

 

[JPVegh]

I really enjoyed building my V2 and it is a great flyer. I am always amazed by how high it goes. I over built mine with lots of balsa filler, sanding sealer and epoxy. It still flys great on a D12-5, it will deploy way to early on a D12-3. It handles 24mm RMS loads like a champ, just don't use the E11-3 unless you want to strip the chute.

Even though I put a ton of paint on mine I hurried the finish and went with a free form camo paint job. It looks nice but I really wish I had taken the time to do a proper paint job on it like you're doing. The yellow and black will look awesome.

Great build so far! I will continue to follow your progress on this one.

 

[Tarasdad]

Got two of the fins sanded last night before I had to call it a night. Just too darned...whatever...to tackle it today, at least so far! :caffeine: No energy to deal with it. Shame, because I want to get it ready for paint. Really hoping I can get it ready to launch along with my Tomahawk.

--------------------------------------

No progress to report. Just haven't felt like messing with it today, then had to run into town for some errands. Totally shot what little energy I did have.

 

[Tarasdad]

Got everything sanded and it's now wearing primer. Next will be the yellow. Going to have to let that cure for a bit before I try to mask for the black. Going to be a pain to try and interpret the Estes painting guide - would have been much easier to visualize with a couple of orthogonal views as well as the four side views.

 

[georgeb]

Great job there. The photos are beautiful,solid documentation,I love build threads with a lot of pics. Did you have any gaps between the fins an the boat tail?

 

[Tarasdad]

Some, but with a bit of careful marking and sanding they mostly went away. I used wood glue on the tabs and thick CA where the fin glued to plastic. The combo worked extremely well, and th CA also filled any remaining small gaps. I applied a very small amount of Molding and Trim glue at the tail cone as well.

 

[Tarasdad]

Got the yellow on this morning and by lunch it had cured nice and hard, ready for marking and masking for the black. Easier said than done, that's for sure! I decided it would have to be done in sections - tail cone and fins first, main body second, nose cone last. Masking the lower section for the roll pattern was an unmitigated PITA, let me tell you! The compound curves of the boattail are bad enough without the vent protrusions contributing to the problem. As hard as I tried to get everything burnished down there was still a small amount of bleeding. Haven't decided yet whether I'm going to try and clean it up or just say the heck with it and go with it as is. Anyway, here's how it looks at the moment:

V2 with roll pattern started

(The line down the side is a guideline for masking the body tube.)

 

[qquake2k]

It looks great from here!

 

[Tarasdad]

Thanks, Jim! The bleeding isn't all that bad, really. I'll most likely leave it be rather than risk making things worse by trying to correct it. Either way I'm afraid it's going to have to stay like that for today. I'm working on hour 28 of being awake - not conducive to good masking and painting.

 

[qquake2k]

Thanks, Jim! The bleeding isn't all that bad, really. I'll most likely leave it be rather than risk making things worse by trying to correct it. Either way I'm afraid it's going to have to stay like that for today. I'm working on hour 28 of being awake - not conducive to good masking and painting.

Oh man. I think you need a nap. What kind of masking tape did you use?

 

[Tarasdad]

3M Blue Painter's Tape. Works okay but I really wish I had something a bit better such as the Tamiya flexible masking tapes.

Every once in a while I get hit with bad insomnia that makes it impossible for me to go to sleep. Last night was one of those episodes, complicated by stuffed up sinuses. Can really make getting into anything resembling a normal sleep schedule impossible.

 

[qquake2k]

3M Blue Painter's Tape. Works okay but I really wish I had something a bit better such as the Tamiya flexible masking tapes.

Every once in a while I get hit with bad insomnia that makes it impossible for me to go to sleep. Last night was one of those episodes, complicated by stuffed up sinuses. Can really make getting into anything resembling a normal sleep schedule impossible.

I'm very sorry to hear about your insomnia. I'll certainly say a prayer for you.

Lately, I've been using Scotch Delicate Surface tape for edges. It's been working great for me.

 

[NJRick]

Great job!! she looks awesome!!

 

[ksm2001]

Very nice build! I like the way you did the kevlar shock cord. The yellow and black pattern your doing looks great!
How is the nose cone seams on yours? I'm just building my V2 also and found the seams were so far off to the point I had to use a lot of squadron putty to fill and sand to get rid of the sharp seams but yet keep the nose cone round. I emailed Estes and they said they looked through a batch of nose cones for the V2 and were all the same like mine due to and old mold. Just curiouser how yours was.

 

[Tarasdad]

There were definite seams that needed filling but nothing too excessive. The mold halves also seemed to be slightly out of register for mine requiring a lot of seam scraping and sanding. If the mold is as Estes says then I'm surprised they aren't worse. Still, that's what makes building model rockets building rather than assembling, right?

I did finally get the rest of the paint done and decals applied. I'm sure the quality suffered due to fatigue but it meets my GEFM (Good Enough For Me) standard so I'm happy.

 

[Westonner]

It has been built nicely as it is recently launched is very pretty to fly. the kevlar shock cord that is included in it i like much.

 

[bradycros]

The paint looks good to me.

 

[ksm2001]

There were definite seams that needed filling but nothing too excessive. The mold halves also seemed to be slightly out of register for mine requiring a lot of seam scraping and sanding. If the mold is as Estes says then I'm surprised they aren't worse. Still, that's what makes building model rockets building rather than assembling, right?

Thanks, I just thought maybe mine was molded on a Monday morning, just seamed (no pun intended) to me a seam step that took a 1/2" wide fill to smooth it out was a bit much.

 

[bradycros]

What motors do you plan on using?

 

[Tarasdad]

"Whatever will fit in the motor tube!" :lol:

Seriously though I'll probably be sticking with D and E impulse Estes or reloads. Been concentrating too much on getting it built to even think about motors yet. Right now it'll be whatever I have in my range box that will work - D12-5 and AT E15-7W. Don't have money for anything else.

I'll take pics and post them in a bit. Among the random stuff going through my very tired brain last night was a possible fix for the spots where the tape didn't stick well.

 

[Tarasdad]

Well, here it is in all its yellow and black glory:

Now to launch it!

 

[Scotty Dog]

Gloriuos!

 

[NJRick]

man that looks FANTASTIC!! well done!!

 

[Orion14ed]

Great looking rocket! When looking at the tail cone I was a bit confused... but then I got it. Was there anyway you could have put a different retainer on to let it have more types of motors? Video please