Estes Saturn V New Fairing Reinforcements

 

On the Facebook Model Rocketry Fanatics page, 

Steven Carricato posted a parts picture from his new Saturn V and Saturn 1B kits.

I noticed something interesting. In the center of the picture are some crescent shaped pieces laser cut from cardstock.

Going back to the original Centuri Saturn V, the vacuform fairings have always been a weak spot. They would sometimes crack on a hard landing.

I built a Saturn V show model for Estes in June 2019. I sometimes send build notes with the finished model.

I wrote: "The only place I varied from the instructions was to glue some cardstock crescents to the bottoms of the fairings. Even a single layer of 110 lb. cardstock helps strengthen the thin vacuform plastic."

I made a Fairing Reinforcement PDF available. Included is Third Stage Foundation Wrap and Anchor Wire pattern to Patreon supporters. (In a run of #2157 Saturn V kits, the Third Stage Fairing pattern was small and the anchor wire ends too long.)

It looks like Estes incorporated the crescent reinforcement idea in the new Skylab Saturn V. I haven't seen the Skylab kit yet - I understand the crescent pieces are glued inside the flat bottom of the fairings.

I set my crescent reinforcement pieces on the outside. This way I could overlap and cover any gap between the main body tube and curved fairing edge.

To see Part 1 of the 2019 blog post: CLICK HERE  

To see Part 2: CLICK HERE 

If you have a previous edition of the Saturn V kit, this PDF is available to Patreon members. 

Email me and ask for the #2157 Saturn V Third Stage Foundation Wrap PDF.