Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 4, Shuttle Bay

The Shuttle Bay is a rounded balsa housing that holds and conceals the forward launch lug.

In the old Estes plan you shaped the shuttle bay out of a single piece of wood. You then reamed out the center to fit the launch lug.

The Semroc instructions have you make the housing from three strips of wood then glue the lug in the middle.
I did a dry fit. If I glued the housing together first, the lug wouldn't fit in the recess.

Glue the lug in the center of the larger end piece.
Let dry then glue on the sides. You can see the side pieces overhang the outside edges with the lug in place.





I rough rounded the outside with my sanding block.
It was still a little square. The final rounding was done with a scrap of 400 grit.