Estes Mini Bomarc Clone, Kit #TK-5, Part 1, Parts

 

All the parts for the clone build are shown above.

The BT-20 main body tube is a BT-20B at 8.65" long.

The two BT-5 nacelle tubes, BT-5J are 3" long.

The BT-5 engine mount tube is 2" long. 

Tube lengths were found at:

Aeromoe.com/estes_body_tube_list.pdf 

A Odd'l Rockets parachute will be sized to 10" diameter.

The nose cone is a BNC-20AZ from Balsa Machining Service.

I'll have to figure out how to add .25 oz. of nose weight.

The two Nacelle nose cones are BNC-5BA also from BMS.

Two LL-2AM launch lugs will be cut to .37" long.

I'm adding 1/16" diameter hear shrink to the Kevlar line tied to the engine mount.

The fin patterns were copied from Jim Z's and sized to a 3" x 9" piece of 1/16" thick balsa in Corel Draw.

Estes Mini Bomarc Clone, Kit #TK-5, Background

Here's a post from 2017 that sets up the next clone build, The Estes Mini Bomarc. 

It also presents some double duty with the Bomarc balsa sheet being used for the Firefly parasite glider kit.

On his Blast From The Past blog (CLICK HERE), Edward Mitton did a post about the OOP Estes Firefly Parasite glider. That got me to thinking about something I realized about the two kits.

The Estes Mini Bomarc (TK-5) was introduced in 1972 and stayed in production until 1980.
This was part of the newer Mini-Brute line of "T" engine rockets.
To see the instructions at Jim Z's: CLICK HERE

The Estes Firefly was a parasite glider, available from 1976 until 1980. It rode on the side of one your rockets and glided back after ejection.

To check out the instructions: CLICK HERE

Do you notice any similarity between the two kit wings?

TRIVIA: The first, original (large) Citation Bomarc (#0567) was a pop-pod boost glider. Estes later produced the Citation style Bomarc but dropped the pop pod and used a parachute. The Mini Bomarc had parachute recovery.

Aerotech Mega Initiator #89541, Part 20, Installing The Rail Buttons

Mix up a small amount of epoxy.

I wanted some of the epoxy to be on the inside of the body tube, directly around the screw - sort of an interior fillet.

A toothpick was dipped into the epoxy and set into the drilled hole. With an in and out motion, a ring of epoxy was left on the inside and outside. 

Slide the rail button onto the screw.

Dip the tip of the screw in the left over epoxy.

Screw the rail button into place. Tighten until the back of the button is flat against the body tube. 

Don't overtighten, you don't want to strip what threads you are making in the body tube.

In the above picture,

Notice the squeeze out of the epoxy.

Wipe off the excess. Depending on the drying time of your epoxy, it might run! I use 30 minute epoxy and a drip could form.

Aerotech Mega Initiator #89541, Part 19, Drilling The Rail Buttons

The rail buttons are centered between two fins, on the other side of the INITIATOR name sticker.

It's difficult to find the center on a round tube.

I used a piece of paper pressed into the root edge fillets.

Mark the two fold sides with pencil.

With your ruler, find the center and mark.

    

The lower hole is to be placed about 1/2" above the lower engine mount centering ring. That puts the hole position at about 1 1/2" from the rear of the body tube.

The upper hole is 8" above that.

Drill a pilot hole using a 1/16" drill bit.

Sight from the rear and make adjustments using the larger 1/8" drill.

Using the pilot hole as a guide,

Enlarge the rail button hole to 1/8".

Aerotech Mega Initiator #89541, Part 18, Setting The Name Sticker

From the last Mega Initiator post - 

With the O and R "cut" directly over the tube joint, sight down the body to make sure the orange line and type are straight. Tape down the sticker.  

Use your aluminum angle to check the orange stripe is straight.

The placement illustration says to overlap by 1/8", but I wanted to end up with a clean cut between the O and the R.

A 1/4" overlap puts the cut between the letters.

Double check the 1/4" overlay of the orange stripe joint before peeling off the backing.

I peeled the backing on the orange strip and lightly held the  vinyl. The backing was cut off up to the R. 

The orange stripe was set over the upper stripe matching the edges.

With the ends matched up, the backing is pulled under the name. Carefully set down the name checking the straightness as you go.

Add the "C" tail sticker at the low end of the orange stripe.

GOTCHA: The illustration drawing shows the "I" even with the top of the fins. The provided sticker lengths end up with the name higher up on the model.

Estes AMRAAM AIM-120 Downscale, Build, Part 14, Finished

There are PLENTY of small decals on the model.

It's confusing trying to apply them using the Estes instructions. I did my best, some placements are a good guess. 

Online pictures of the real missile don't show the AMRAAM name. It might be Estes took some liberties like they did with the old Honest John kit. The name Honest John never appeared on the actual missile.

Here's the upper end. 

I hope it's stable! There's 1/2 oz. of nose weight in the nose cone.

And the Back end - 

No tail cone, it's a semi-scale build at best.

Estes AMRAAM AIM-120 Downscale, Build, Part 13, Decals

Applying a light color home print decal over gray paint will end up a much darker color.

You'll need a white underlay.

Black decals don't need any white underneath.

You can either:

Use a white decal strip under the light colored decal or - 

Spray gloss white onto a clear decal sheet.

TIP: Cut a strip of the white sheet, the same width of the colored band.

Lay the white underlay strip down first as a regular water slide decal and let dry.

Apply the yellow strip decal directly over and on top of the white band. 

I didn't find it necessary to use the white strip under the brown decals. They were darker and didn't show much difference over the light gray paint. 

Set the strips down a little long, and trim against the root edge of the conduit with a single edge razor blade.