Estes Black Brant II Kit #1958 Build, Part 2, Engine Mount

The tail cone ends up as two separate pieces. Double check the instructions to be sure you don't cut it apart in the wrong place.






I used my razor saw to cut off the ends.

Notice where I am pointing with my tweezers. Don't cut on this recess! I went ahead and cleaned up the seams before cutting apart the tail cone.






The sawed ends were pretty rough!

To round out the ends I wrapped 220 grit sandpaper around a 18mm engine casing and sanded.

GOTCHA: Following the instructions, you are told to sand the opening until the yellow spacer tube slides into the tail cone. The yellow spacer tube is the diameter of a "D" engine, not the larger diameter of the BT-50 engine tube.
I quickly found out much more had to be reamed and sanded out. If you assembled the mount without checking the fit with an actual engine casing you wouldn't be able to friction fit an engine! See the next blog post.