The fin detail "guns" are slid in place and glued at the ends.
Check the exposed ends to make sure that the rear end of the red gun extends 1/2" out the back. The front exposure is longer.
I really like the new 18mm screw-on engine retainers.
I glued the threaded center ring in place with the Beacon Fabri-Tac. On the right is the screwed on retainer.
This build was a pre-production sample kit. There is always something that gets revised before kits are sold.The Star in the Stars and Bars isn't resting on two points. This star will be rotated and corrected before the kit is distributed.
The kit I received had a full decal sheet. I was asked not to place the decals, that would be done by Estes after the model was sent back.
I did cut and place one fin decal side to show how colorful this model is. This was removed before shipping back to Penrose.
I've not yet tried the screw-on retainers -- but I am liking them. Will have to have to give these a spin -- looks to be a nice alternative the usual engine hook. As an added plus the ribbed cap does have a bit of "jet exhaust" look to them -- so not only could they be functional, they might look nice as a styling element (especially in "jet fighter" and "space fighter" type models).
ReplyDeleteHi Naoto,
DeleteThe new screw on retainers work very well and look good. You do have to put in the igniters after the engine is slid in and the outside ring is screwed on tho -
One advantage over the motor hook is you don't have to worry about the problem of the motor mount tube tearing. Adding thrust ring on the forward end of the hook would get rid of the problem during thrust phase, but ejection could result in tearing (at ejection the motor "kicks" backwards, being stopped from exiting out the back end by the motor hook -- but the forward end of the motor hook is only being stopped by the wall of the motor mount tube). Workarounds might include:
Deletea. lengthened motor hook where the front end goes in front of the thrust ring. Downside would be that it's much easier to goof up if you're not careful.
b. turn the forward bend of the motor hook out (i.e. rather than the front end of hook going into motor mount tube, it sticks outward) and have it engage against a centering ring. If you sandwich this end between two centering rings, the hook won't get pulled out nor pushed in (and as mentioned previously, the thrust ring prevents the motor from moving forward). Downside of course is that this only works for models where the airframe tube is large enough to require centering rings (where difference between the outer radius of motor mount tube and the inside radius of the airframe tube is at least as much as the size of the upturned end of the motor hook).