Ares 1 Nose Section Fix Part 1

After I "Stuck the Stick" I had a choice of building a new kit or fixing the damaged nose section. For some new blog entries, I decided to fix it.

After cleaning off the card stock wraps, here's how the nose section looked after it was pulled from the ground.

The nose tip dowel was loose and easily pulled off.

Usually, all card stock wraps are scanned before a kit is started just in case I screw up and have to print another copy.

Back when I built this one, I didn't scan the prints! I'll have to print from the scanned wraps of the Ares 1X kit. There was so many changes in the Ares series nobody will notice the difference!

The card stock was pulled up. I was surprised how easily it released from the balsa.
I'd forgot, but shims were added so the upper capsule wrap fit the nose tip better.

At the base of the nose section the BT-50 shaved off the balsa shoulder when the nose was shoved into the tube. This will have to be built up again.

I used CWF, straight from the tub without thinning.
If you don't thin the CWF, it's much harder and better for this application.

I'm using a razor blade for a trowel and forcing the filler into the joint area.
The nose section is in a scrap piece of BT-50.

While the CWF was still wet, the nose section was turned and pulled out slightly from the BT-50.
This forced some filler into the base of the shoulder and made a sharper, cleaner edge.