Estes Apollo Little Joe II Build, Part 9, Tunnels and Longerons

Be sure you check the Rocket Finishing drawings on Page 7 before gluing on the smaller longerons. On Page 3, drawings 10 and 11 make it look like the pieces are glued higher up on the body. All the "N", "O", and "P" parts end up at the back end of the tube.

The "N" and "O" pieces are placed about 1/8" above the back edge of the body. The smallest "P" pieces are even with the back end of the body.

On the back gluing surface there are some raised mold circles. Lightly sand these to surface with some 400 grit on a block. These raised circles are slight but the longerons almost float on the high ridges of the corrugated wrap. I wanted as much smooth gluing surface as possible.

The smallest "P" pieces are glued even with the back edge. They are very small and hard to hold. I used long tweezers to hold them while glue was brushed on the backside. The tweezers were also used while pressing them into position.








Here's the back end after all 16 pieces are glued on. This was fairly time consuming but the extra detail is worth it.