Quest Tomahawk???

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lipp

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Has anyone built the Quest Tomahawk item no. 3007????? Iwas just wandering if anyone had trouble with the paper boat tail tail peice or if it's just me that thinks paper stinks????????? should have been plastic...
 
other folks have posted here saying they were unhappy with the paper tail cone... it's not structural so don't worry about how strong it is. you can strengthen it with a thin coating of yellow glue or CA. personally I didn't have any problem with mine. don't be afraid to start again: if your tail cone is ruined, cut another one out of heavy stock.

if it were plastic or balsa you would need to add noseweight. the tomahawk already struggles with noseweight.
 
If it were mine, I'd scan the pattern, print one out and try it on 110 lb. card stock. I'd soak the card stock with thin CA. In my experience, this makes them as stiff (or stiffer) than thin styrene.
With the pattern scanned, you wil always be able to build a new boat tail it you don't get it right the first time, or if it gets wrecked.
 
I am not a big fan of paper transitions of any kind.
I am starting to get a little better at it but that takes alot of practice and a few less than perfect outcomes.
Good luck with your build.
 
Ditto ! Plastic tailcones or none is my moto :) Im glad estes kits have plastic ones. I've only ever built 1 Tailcone that was cardstock in a Physics Of Flight Alarm , it was easy to build , and it did have a centering ring inside to support it's structure.

Coat it with thin CA or Whiteglue like others have suggested and it should be fine.
Karl
 
Originally posted by lipp
Has anyone built the Quest Tomahawk item no. 3007????? Iwas just wandering if anyone had trouble with the paper boat tail tail peice or if it's just me that thinks paper stinks????????? should have been plastic...

Welcome to TRF, lipp. I've never done a paper tailcone, but I have seen people do what Karl mentioned, put a centering ring inside to keep it aligned and nicely circular.

Also, just btw, one or two question marks would have worked just fine. ;)
 
Hi,
Just a tip... Whenever I have to deal with a paper transition I hold it over a pot of steaming water as I roll it. It actually makes it curve quite nicely.
 
i do have to give the kit one thing it did come with the centering ring. I guess scanning it would have been a good idea, if i was useing my head before hand... about all the question marks; guess i got a lil happy with the question key, sorry if i offended anyone.:D :D hey everybody thanks for the tips!
 
I've made many paper tailcones out of cardstock and I think they are fine.

This was made with a cardstock tailcone.

It's actually two cones
 
Here is a view of the tail from the side.

You can see that it tapers down from the body and then flares back out.
 
Not bad , not bad at all! Now jus fillet the fins , and seal the gap were the tailcone touches the BT and away you go :D I'd say cover the aft (bottom) end of the tailcone with more CA because more than likeley that's what she will land on and it may crease.

Karl
 
thanks i guess it just gave me a little coplex, but the more i look at it the more i guess i didn't do a very bad job..
 
Paper and cardstock are used all the time guys, get used to making use of this lightweight material. I use them all the time on scale models and lots of super light weight competition models. Card stock is a fine way to make a tail cone. Rbecky is right if you have to attach other things to the cone reinforce it with a coat of medium CA. Medium so it give you time to wipe off the excess smoothing as you go. makes or a very hard shell. Would you believe an almost 12" model with 18" chute and motor that weights under 9grams.??? 16" under 7grams. The ability to make and use paper, vellum and cardstock models, transitions and tailcones is a skill worth prefecting;)
 
a friend gave me two rolls of drafting vellum. Micro, any specific tips for using vellum? any specific glues or coatings?
 
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