Friday, July 21, 2017

Estes Apollo Little Joe II Build, Part 44, R.C.S. Nozzles

You have to remove the "X" box from the decal.
Once it is cut out it would be very hard to see the location when gluing. I wrapped a strip of paper around the body and marked the locations with pencil.

When removing the squares, cut lightly! You are only cutting through a thin clear layer and not into the paint. The RCS nozzle base barely covers the inked square.

I was very surprised when pulling up the clear decal that the X box black outline was left on the body! (See inset above) This will require some very light, careful scraping to remove the black lines. You don't want to scrape deep into the paint, just remove the black lines.




On the left shows the box after scraping. I used a medium super glue for plastics to attach the nozzle housing.
Since I didn't attach the shock cord at the upper centering ring slot I needed to cover this up. Some of the ejection charge could go out the back. I saved the pieces from the doubled centering ring and it fit perfectly. In the picture on the right the piece was set next to the open slot.

TIP: To set the piece I taped it to a dowel. Glue was applied and the piece pressed in place over the slot. The dowel and tape were pulled free leaving the patch.

GOTCHA: I did  pull on the 24" parachute shroud lines - they easily broke. I'll replace those lines with #10 cotton embroidery thread.

The body will descend on the Estes 24" parachute. The tower and capsule will use a 12" or 15" Odd'l Rockets chute.

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