Removing Launch Lugs

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lcorinth

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What's the best way to carefully remove well-glued-on launch lugs with minimal damage?

My Quest Quadrunner was really sticky on the launch rod last club launch I tried to fly it at, and with its size, I think I'd like to swap out the lugs for rail buttons. But the lugs are pretty solid on there, and I don't want to take off too much paper with the lugs.

Thanks!
 
You could cut them off with an Exacto as mentioned earlier, then mask the surrounding area with blue masking tape, then being very careful using a hard sanding block the edges could be sanded down to be less noticeable and the paint touched up.
 
I don't know how it will interfere with your paint scheme or decals, but you could always rotate the rocket and put the buttons on and leave the lugs. Gives you the option of flying on rails or rods.
 
I don't know how it will interfere with your paint scheme or decals, but you could always rotate the rocket and put the buttons on and leave the lugs. Gives you the option of flying on rails or rods.

What he said. But if you still want to remove them, what they said.
 
You could cut them off with an Exacto as mentioned earlier, then mask the surrounding area with blue masking tape, then being very careful using a hard sanding block the edges could be sanded down to be less noticeable and the paint touched up.

This is probably the best way to go. I would cut off the lug without getting too close to the fillets.
You don't want to cut into the body tube. Leave some of the lug on the tube.
You'll end up sanding off the fillets and what little is left of the lug.

Those slightly smaller launch lugs in the Quadrunner kits have been mentioned before by others.
 
I saw another thread where someone had actually installed rail buttons on top of, or through, the lugs.

button lug.png
 
I think I could live with that. They are on the back, after all, and there's already some paint chipping off the tip of the nose cone and the fins.

Is that a chip of paint re-glued to the surface?

That's the remains of the lug/epoxy painted over. Didn't want to cut into airframe.
 
This is probably the best way to go. I would cut off the lug without getting too close to the fillets.
You don't want to cut into the body tube. Leave some of the lug on the tube.
You'll end up sanding off the fillets and what little is left of the lug.

Those slightly smaller launch lugs in the Quadrunner kits have been mentioned before by others.

The odd thing is, the first time I flew it at the club, there was no problem. The second time I tried, it was so tight I had to switch to a 1/8 inch rod, and that caused some problems.

[video=youtube;_WeNzo0D9mA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WeNzo0D9mA"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WeNzo0D9mA[/video]

(Third launch in the above video).

When I got the rocket home, it fit just fine on my 3/16 inch rod. So I'm not sure what the deal was.
 
I kept 1/4" lugs and added rail buttons. Older bu8ilds with 1/2" lugs got removed with the xacto. I lost the cardboard layer under it. I filled the gap with epoxy mixed with micro balloons and got it to look reasonable. I'm sure it could be filled / finished to whatever your tolerance may be.
 
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