Screaming Eagle on the Prowl...er

[GlenP]

I forgot about the Mammoth. That uses the same 2" dia body and fins from the Prowler, looks like the nose from the Majestic. That weighs in slightly over 13 oz and uses the same engines, so I am not too worried about my 12 oz kit bash. Should work fine with the Booster unit too.

https://www.acsupplyco.com/estes/mammoth_pro.htm

Finally getting some nice coats of paint on this thing, best idea was to work on some other rockets while waiting for the paint to cure on this one, AFTER sanding it. I dug out a couple of other kits that also needed some finishing touches to work on in the meantime. Can't wait to mask and paint the fin can blue on this one, that will really give it some claws, er umm, talons, or whatever.

 

[GlenP]

Printed up my decal sheets while waiting for the next painting day. They came out pretty nice. Will let the ink dry, then clear coat them with glossy clear. I printed a sheet for some other builds that are also nearing the end of their paint cycle.

 

[GlenP]

Good painting weather today, I got some clear coat down on the decal sheets, and masked off the fin can for a coat of Blue. It went down fine without any crinkles, thank goodness. I think my problem was not waiting long enough after the previous coat and sanding, and maybe the cold overnight temps making that take longer than typical.

 

[GlenP]

Rustoleum 2X Gloss Brilliant Blue. No traces of plywood grain or the filled in slots from the original 3-slot tube. Those lines are not streaks in the paint, they are reflections of the florescent shop lights in the garage.

 

[GlenP]

patiently waiting for paint to fully cure...

I may paint the retainer white to match the appearance of the original Screaming Eagle motor mount tube that protrudes a little bit below the blue fin can.

 

[BEC]

Well, I just sprayed white gloss on my 2157 Saturn V and it's obvious I didn't take my own advice about washing the plastic parts first....wrinkles - in the corrugations! It's been at least two weeks since the primer went on. *sigh*

 

[GlenP]

Oh, man, that is a bummer. I was able to get a second heavy coat of the blue on the fin can. That one spot on the nose cone is getting better, but still showing some signs of the crinkles. Like two steps forwards and one step back. I have two light coats of clear on my decal sheet, and will put one more down on that, the body might be ready for the decals by the time the decal sheet clear coat fully cures. May still have some work on that nose. The nose was kind of a loose fit to the body tube, so I decided to paint the shoulder too and will lightly sand that when I am done to make sure it does not stick.

 

[GlenP]

I got a very clean mask line on the blue fin can, ironically, that will get covered up by the checkerboard wrap anyway.

 

[GlenP]

one more picture, with the b&w copy paper test print of my decals. The mask line is right in the middle of the checker strip. I know my checker band is wider than the original, but I think sometimes a little more is more, rather than more is less. Still waiting for the paint to fully cure on the rocket and the decal sheet...

I can work on the nose more and will try to fix that one last spot on there.

 

[GlenP]

I finally got a smooth coat of red on the nose cone. Still a few visible bumps from the last coat, but with the warmer weather, I think I can get those sanded out and finish this off with one more pass, although it will probably be fine as is right now.

I think what was giving me problems was the lower temperatures overnight, the paint just does not cure as much when it gets cold, so even though we had some warm days, the cure time was longer due to the cold nights in the garage.

Also, I should have listened to the paint. When you are sanding, if it gums up and feels sticky at all to the touch, it has not cured enough. After the warm days, and warmer evenings, I was able to get some really good sanding in, nice and powdery, not tacky at all. Then after sanding, I waited another couple of days. Finally, I got a good crinkle-free coat.

That’s my theory anyway. I never know when the next coat will prove me wrong.

 

[GlenP]

What makes a 4FNC kit special, like the Citation Patriot, the Phoenix Bird, the Screaming Eagle? The metallic stickers & decals!

Using a technique described well on the Model Rocket Building Blog: I applied metallic Trim Monokote and then a print at home ink-jet waterslide decal on top. This worked pretty well on my clone in the original size Screaming Eagle. Getting started with the checker band. I started the seam at the launch lug and did not quite get the squares lined up with the fins, but that's okay. The checker wrap was one of the easy ones. The Stars and Bars wrap will be a little trickier. But, I really like how it looks so far.

 

[GlenP]

Spec plate went on pretty well. The big decal strip for the stars and bars was not so much. I just did not have enough water or let it soak long enough, it kind of stretched as I was wrapping it and could not really get all the bubbles out, not sure if I will rip it off and try again, or just leave it be. Not sure if I can get it totally smoothed out, will probably look okay from the launch pad. The fin decals are drying on the Trim Monokote and I will cut them down to their final size after they are totally dry.

 

[kuririn]

Make a shallow cut with a sharp knife along the ridge of the wrinkles, and wet down and smooth. Be careful not to cut too deep. Won't be perfect, but should make it much less noticeable. Don't ask me how I know.

 

[GlenP]

That might help a little. the Trim Monokote sheet was not wide enough to go around the 2" dia tube, so I had to wrap that in two parts. I thought that was a lot easier to work with one half-wrap at a time, and should have done the same for the decal wrap. This is about the size of the Mercury Redstone roll bars, and I was able to lay that one down really well. I was just not as careful with this one I guess, not enough water to slide around on. Not sure if I could peel it off safely, so it will probably stay. Still looks very shiny.

 

[GlenP]

I painted the retainer white, a couple more photos. I hope to fly this at the next club launch, pretty much ready. I have some 29mm BP E16-6 and F15-8 motors, a good deal with the 40% discount coupon from Hobby Lobby.

 

[GlenP]

Birds of a feather flock together: 13mm min. dia. cardstock downscale, 18mm original size, and 29mm Prowler kit-bash.




After all the problems in the late winter/early spring season with my painting, I can really appreciate a no-paint PSII E2X stock kit like the Prowler. When I was buying the 29mm engines, I saw a Majestic on the shelf... and a Star Orbiter... hmm...

 

[GlenP]

Not that I feel like taking on another kit bash right away, but these look close enough...

 

[kuririn]

Well, you have three plastic Prowler fins. Maybe a military pseudo scale?

 

[GlenP]

That's the problem with a kit bash, you have to find something to do with the left over parts. Yeah, something like the Red Nova with two sets of fins would be cool.

 

[GlenP]

This was my favorite of the kit-bash fin decals for this build, shows how the bird was made from the cat...


I finally got that Star Orbiter kit that has been on the shelf at Hobby Lobby. I was stocking up on some E/F 29mm engines, and well, it just looked like it needed a home. I will probably just build that one stock, might paper the fins though.

 

[GlenP]

One addition I want to make on this PSII E2X kit, and some others I plan to build, is a snap-swivel or fishing line swivel for the chute. I usually use the smaller ones for LPR those are plenty strong for that, but was wondering what is a more suitable size or strength swivel for these PSII kits.

 

[BEC]

Glen,

I've gotten ones with 100 or more pound ratings at places like Sportsman's Warehouse for stuff like this. I'm trying to think if I've gotten big coastlock swivels anywhere else......but nothing is jumping out at me right now. But they are out there for the folks who fish out in the Sound and off the coast.

I'm looking forward to seeing this fly on Saturday. I will bring the 1/4 inch rod pad.

 

[GlenP]

Thanks for the tip. I guess the variety of snap swivels I have on hand do not even indicate the line strength, just the size, so I am using one of the larger clips that I have. I would guess it is good for 50 or 100lb. Should be okay for a 12 oz rocket I hope. I did swing test this, very stable with these extra large fins, naturally. Should be fine if the winds are light.

 

[GlenP]

 

[GlenP]

Mean Machine launch:

 

[BABAR]

Nice!

 

[BEC]

The Screaming Eagle looks great and it flew very nicely. Hopefully next time we can get the F15 to light!

The Mean Machine was really cool especially on the E12.

 

[Scott_650]

Awesome bash! Any video of the Mega Screaming Eagle flight? I think the Estes PSII E2X rockets are very much under rated - they fly great as-is and make great kit bash sources. One of my unbuilt Mammoths is going to be a Black Brant II as soon as I order the vinyl graphics from Mark at Stickershock23.

 

[GlenP]

I have video on my phone, that’s where the screen grabs came from. Just not sure how to post a video here.

I just got a mammoth kit, but plan to make it stock. I like the metallic no-paint required body tube.

 

[GlenP]

finally got around to posting this video from a BEMRC launch last year.