The Astra I is Quest's answer to the Estes Alpha. Both designs have three clipped Delta fins and an Ogive nose cone. The Quest tubes are Metric, this one is 25mm diameter. Both the Estes BT-50 and Quest 25mm tubes are close in diameter. The Quest tubing feels stronger.
The Astra I has balsa fins and a plastic nose cone. The Quest Astra III has a plastic fin can.
TRIVIA: The Quest Metric body tubes go back to the MPC days when in 1975 the United States was trying to adapt the Metric System. The lazy U.S. pretty much stayed with inches, feet and yards.
TIP: Some Quest stickers are printed on paper, others on clear plastic. Some Quest instructions mention dipping (plastic) stickers in water to allow repositioning. Never dip paper stickers in water!
Somewhere down the road you will need to place glossy paper stickers on a rocket.
Plan ahead before placement, wash and dry your hands before peeling off the backing paper.
TIP: Clean off your work area. Any dust and grit will end up under the sticker surface and show as a bump on the sticker surface.
Note the dashed lines outside the blue triangles. You'd think you should cut along these lines, but then the root edge of the sticker wouldn't fit tight into the fillet area.
The picture on the right shows a dry fit into the root edge. The backing has not been peeled off the sticker yet.
On the left -
This shows the edge cuts against the solid color, inside the dashed lines.
On the right -
TIP: If you can avoid it, don't touch the sticky back with your fingers. Pick up and position the sticker on a clean (wiped off) knife blade. Again - Any speck of dust or dirt will show up as a bump under the sticker when pressed in place.
More tomorrow -
Do you happen to know in what form were the markings provided with the Astron Sky Dart in its original incarnation? The instructions that I can find on JimZ site mention "decal" -- though the part with the cockpit canopy mentions using heat from a lamp to help it conform to the nosecone curvature (which might suggest a sticker). On the other hand, the instructions on the original Astron Trident seem to indicate that the "decals" weren't adhesive at all (i.e. neither sticker nor waterslide) -- perhaps separately printed paper sheet that you cut and glue on. In light of that, I'm apt to start thinking the "decals" could've been similar on the Sky Dart...
ReplyDeleteHi Naoto,
DeleteRegarding the Sky Dart decals, they were water slide. They are on page 11 of the old Custom Parts Catalog, part #37055. http://spacemodeling.org/jimz/manuals/estp741.pdf
I build a Trident in the 1970s, no decals were included in the kit. They suggested laying down some Scotch tape, spraying it red, cutting into strips and applying on the model. You'll find the trim info under the parts drawing: http://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/estes/k-33.pdf
The newer version of the Semroc Trident does include water slide decals.
"Wallpaper" sticker or decal could sometimes be a challenge. I do remember the wrap for the body tube on the model rockets in the Logix Aeronautical Lab Kit ( https://www.samstoybox.com/toys/Aeronautic.html ) was a bit of a challenge to get on straight.
ReplyDeleteThe Tamiya Mini-4WD cars feature stickers for decoration. The Beak Spider has "wallpaper" sticker that was in multiple sections for much of the car body. It could be a bit tricky to get all the pieces to line up for an unbroken spider-web decoration.
https://www.tamiya.com/japan/products/19439/index.html
Probably the most involved "wallpaper" stickers I'd ever seen was on some anime-related model kits.
https://www.amiami.jp/top/detail/detail?gcode=TOY-RBT-1524
considering that there are numerous compound curves on this rather small model (less than a foot long, if I remember correctly). I do remember seeing in a magazine an article with step-by-step instructions (with photos) describing how to best apply these wallpaper stickers (the key point being the various relief cuts you needed to make to get the stickers to conform to the surface).
I do remember that there were some plastic model aeroplane kits that used "wallpaper" waterslide decals for the entire camouflage scheme. The upside with water slide decal would be that adjusting the position of the decal on the model surface is a bit easier than with a sticker. The downside would be that it's much easier to accidentally knock the decal off position when handling the model before the decals are completely dry.