Hi everyone,
So, I bought a Vagabond, and while it's a pretty cool looker with a long BT-60 body and stretched out nose cone, it's basically just a 3FNC not worthy of a build thread.
But I was planning to post a pic or two of mine with interchangeable 24 / 3x18 motor mounts, and my first attempt at a baffle.
But I messed up the baffle placement, and found sympathy with Wayco who was building one too and encountered his own difficulties:
My baffle thread wherein both I and Wayco encountered difficulties
Wayco started a rebuild / bash thread:
Wayco's build/bash thread
And I've decided to post a mini-build thread. I won't retread ground / pics from the baffle thread, at least not purposefully.
I didn't bother to get a pick of the kit components as a whole, but I'll say the balsa was excellent quality; nice and dense, The nose cone on the other hand needed a lot of work. It was one of the most poorly-joined cones I've seen in an Estes kit.
So I sanded it down, rubbed some spot putty into the voids, sanded some more...
Meanwhile I built the three fins, each of which was made of three pieces of Balsa. Nice design. The're interesting. I laid them on glass while the glue dried (I used Elmer's Wood Glue). I sealed them with thin CA, sanded a bit, and used some spot putty on the joins where the seams met because they weren't perfect. Sanded that down, and called 'em done. Note, I purposefully avoided getting any CA on or within a couple mm of the root edges.
Next I used my new Estes Fin Alignment tool thingie to put them onto the body tube, which had been sanded a bit to improve glue bite. I really don't like how there's lots of play in how the body tubes sit on it. I eventually supported the body tube with a coupler to make sure the tube was as close to plumb as possible.
The joints were simple double wood glue joints. I did one at a time and held for a couple minutes making sure the fins attached on straight. It worked out fine.
I wanted to do interchangeable motor mounts; here's my basic method:
1. Inside the lower body tube, I glue a centering ring that basically acts as a thrust block. In this case I used a BT55 to BT60 centering ring.
I guess one would wonder how I positioned the thrust block centering ring. I neglected to mention I assembed the 24mm mount and used it to push it in to the right distance.
So, I bought a Vagabond, and while it's a pretty cool looker with a long BT-60 body and stretched out nose cone, it's basically just a 3FNC not worthy of a build thread.
But I was planning to post a pic or two of mine with interchangeable 24 / 3x18 motor mounts, and my first attempt at a baffle.
But I messed up the baffle placement, and found sympathy with Wayco who was building one too and encountered his own difficulties:
My baffle thread wherein both I and Wayco encountered difficulties
Wayco started a rebuild / bash thread:
Wayco's build/bash thread
And I've decided to post a mini-build thread. I won't retread ground / pics from the baffle thread, at least not purposefully.
I didn't bother to get a pick of the kit components as a whole, but I'll say the balsa was excellent quality; nice and dense, The nose cone on the other hand needed a lot of work. It was one of the most poorly-joined cones I've seen in an Estes kit.
So I sanded it down, rubbed some spot putty into the voids, sanded some more...
Meanwhile I built the three fins, each of which was made of three pieces of Balsa. Nice design. The're interesting. I laid them on glass while the glue dried (I used Elmer's Wood Glue). I sealed them with thin CA, sanded a bit, and used some spot putty on the joins where the seams met because they weren't perfect. Sanded that down, and called 'em done. Note, I purposefully avoided getting any CA on or within a couple mm of the root edges.
Next I used my new Estes Fin Alignment tool thingie to put them onto the body tube, which had been sanded a bit to improve glue bite. I really don't like how there's lots of play in how the body tubes sit on it. I eventually supported the body tube with a coupler to make sure the tube was as close to plumb as possible.
The joints were simple double wood glue joints. I did one at a time and held for a couple minutes making sure the fins attached on straight. It worked out fine.
I wanted to do interchangeable motor mounts; here's my basic method:
1. Inside the lower body tube, I glue a centering ring that basically acts as a thrust block. In this case I used a BT55 to BT60 centering ring.
I guess one would wonder how I positioned the thrust block centering ring. I neglected to mention I assembed the 24mm mount and used it to push it in to the right distance.
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