The Estes instructions are very vague about the red stripes decals and their placement. The face card barely shows the long red stripe down the lower white body tube.
For a better reference I went back to the 1972 Centuri catalog. Enlarge the picture and you can see the long stripe on the bottom edge.
Here's the decals included in the Cosmic Explorer kit.
Going counterclockwise, starting with the nameplate decal.
(I don't understand the font choice in the nameplate. It looks like an old Dymo Lettermaker strip!)
Immediately below the nameplate decal is a red strip about 4 3/8" long.
This is the horizontal band (below the upper black tube) that goes around the tube.
Beneath that are the long stripes (8 1/2" long) that go vertically down the tube. The long vertical stripes are made with two pieces. The upper pieces (3" long) are on the middle right side of the decal sheet.
The four shortest pieces (2 1/4" long) go on the fins.
Plan ahead before even thinking about soaking the decals!
The nameplate will have to go on the opposite side of the launch lug.
The long vertical stripes go above and blow the nameplate decal centered between two fins.
The longest vertical stripe goes on first from the bottom and up.Sight down the tube to be sure it is straight and centered between two fins.
With the longest stripe piece (8 1/2" long) even with the end of the body tube it won't be long enough. Piece the 3" long piece on top of that.
This leaves about 1/2" from the top of the white tube piece.
The horizontal stripe (4 3/8" long) caps off the vertical stripes.
The picture at the right is just for reference, the horizontal stripe should overlap the vertical stripes.
With both vertical stripes in place you can better center the nameplate decal.
Center the round compass between the stripes
I'm doing a Cosmic Explorer now. Thanks for the decal info.
ReplyDeleteYou bet! Glad the post helped.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I just finished doing the decals and it turned out great. I'm also in Florida, (Apopka) and looking for the perfect launch site. The places I go are kind of small. Thanks again. Apopkedave
DeleteHi Dave,
ReplyDeleteOrlando R.O.C.K. launches on the first Saturday of the month. It's not a huge field, but great people and great equipment. A well run launch.
N.E.F.A.R. launches the second Saturday of each month, probably the closest to you in Bunnell, FL. BIG field, plenty of low and higher power flights.
Tampa TTRA is on the third Saturday and held near Lakeland, FL. Another HUGE field but the LPR equipment is sometimes iffy.
You are welcome at all groups, check this out:
http://www.rocketreviews.com/search-clubs-2603.html
I'm finishing up the paint job on a Cosmic Explorer right now. When I bought the kit, I wasn't sure if the red fin stripe and the stripe around the tube were decals or paint, so I bought some red paint.
ReplyDeleteI might just paint all the stripes on. I can remanipulate masking tape to get it perfect, but I sometimes have a little trouble getting decals on straight - especially tiny ones or long, thin ones. So I might just mark where the stripes go and then mask and paint them.
Of course, I do run the risk of having the red paint not match the red on the compass/logo decal. But I guess that's part of the learning-what-not-to-do process.
Daniel of Bloomington
Hi Daniel,
ReplyDeleteI would think painting those red lines would be harder than using the water slide decals!
It is a little silly how Estes broke apart all the long lines and how much effort it takes to piece them together.