Monday, April 2, 2018

Estes Saros, K-54 Build, Fin Can Build, Part 2, "Nested" Nozzle

The original kit had a plastic fin can. The rocket recovers low end down and would land on the plastic nozzle first. This clone will use a doubled, cardstock nozzle. Properly made it should be plenty strong on a hard landing.
I explained this 'Super Shroud" technique in an article published in the Apogee Peak Of Flight newsletter. To see it: CLICK HERE
The double nested card stock ends up very hard, almost like plastic.

Here's the two shroud prints, rolled and glued, nested one inside the other.
On the left notice the "step" of the inside shroud. The step also makes a tapered, wider glue area for adhesion to the inside smaller tube.

On the right side you can see the inside shroud overhanging the bottom of the outside shroud. This is a dry fit on the engine mount tube.




The low overhang is trimmed off using a single edge razor blade. Try for a clean cut. Any roughness will be sanded smooth in a moment.




On this model the bottom edge is open and exposed. If this was a transition adapter between two tubes you wouldn't want to treat the edge with CA. If the edge had a CA glue coat, white or yellow glue wouldn't soak in and adhere.

Just the edge got a wipe with medium CA. Now you can sand the wide end flat and even using a sanding block.

No comments:

Post a Comment