Hoo boy Estes! Another confusing instruction drawing.
Look where the 2 1/4" mark is and the knife slit for the top bend of the engine hook. Way to far forward.
The drawing immediately below it is closer to the truth.
Why? When the engine hook is placed it will cover up the other positioning marks on the tube. That only took 48 years of rocket building to figure out.
The ring is set on the tube, way above it's final position. Apply a ring of glue near the top (to the right) of the ring's final position.
When the ring is slid down it will more evenly distribute the glue underneath with very little to clean up at the bottom.
Don't feel alone. I recently figured out that I need to cut the engine hook slot to the side of my centerline mark (instead of on top of it) so I can get the hook perfectly lined up.
ReplyDeleteHi Lonnie,
DeleteYep, I've done that before! After the engine mount is glued up you realize the engine hook is a bit crooked.
On my last round of builds I've used the appropriate Estes tube marking/cutting guide to draw completely around the engine tube at my tick marks. It might seem overkill, but I like it; it also makes perfect alignment of the centering rings perfectly easy.
ReplyDeleteI also draw lines down the length of the engine tube with Al angle, it makes it easy to assure engine hook alignment.
Hi Overeasy,
DeleteUsing the cutting guides would work well to mark a line around the tube. I don't own those tho - I do have and use an aluminum angle in every build.
In the picture, it looks like you used the technique of cutting off the finger tab, then reversing the engine hook, but I didn't see you mention it in the comments.
ReplyDeleteHi Eric,
DeleteI did cut off the finger tab and flip over the hook. I always do this when there is a finger tab. Sorry, I didn't mention it in this post.
I'm just getting around to building this one. I'm using your extended engine hooks. Why don't you use them?
ReplyDeleteHi Joe,
DeleteI do use them on some personal builds. Many of the Estes builds on the blog are built for Estes (display models) and they want the finger hooks left on - as is.
I save many of the custom bent hooks for the HDEM (Heavy Duty Engine Mounts) I sell through Odd'l Rockets vendors. While a few vendors sell the HDEMs, only JonRocket.com sells the extended length engine hooks.
Hi Chris!
DeleteI've been out of the building hobby for years. I've built 2 so far this year and they certainly don't look as good as rockets I used to be able to build. I've forgotten a lot of techniques I used to do and it shows.
The decals on this one scare me.
Joe,
DeleteI had a 28 year break before getting back into the hobby in 2006. Some thing had changed. It took a few small projects to get back into decent builds.
The decals on the Little Joe II are BIG! You'll have better luck transferring the large wrap decals by cutting them into four pieces and setting them down side by side. That is covered later on in the build.