Estes Blue Origin New Shepard #7315 Build, Part 1, Parts

Here's the latest offering from Estes - The Blue Origin, New Shepard. 

Estes is producing two rockets, the builders kit (shown here) and an almost ready to fly version.

The ARTF rocket has smaller scale size fins with an added clear fin unit like the plastic, pre-painted Saturn V and SLS models.

All the parts -

The rocket is BT-60 based, to be launched with 18mm motors.

The plastic nose is pre-painted. The body gets the water slide "feather" decals. 

Parts of interest shown in the next post -

Visible Centuri Astro 1 on EBAY

A while back I saw this one on Ebay, it also showed up in a thread on YORF: CLICK HERE

In September of 2021, Earl C. won the auction for $502.00

Earl had been looking for this kit for years. 

It's a rare kit, it was only in production for one year.

Below that is the Cut-away ENGINE DISPLAY, another rare one.

Here's all the parts.

The kit was open, the fins were cut out.

The cutaway engine was painted and the parachute assembled.

The Ebay listing showed some of the instructions. I had never seen these graphics before.

There is some white sticker material to attach the balsa fins and launch lug to the clear plastic body tube. 

Cut out a strip, stick to the clear body tube - then the fin root edge glue would adhere to the sticker.

The cutaway engine was half of a rough sawn casing.

This is the vacu-form piece that glues onto the half casing. It looks like the original owner had painted the nozzle, propellant, delay and ejection charges.

Quest Falcon #Q1009 Build, Finished

A large, great demo bird.

A clean look with BIG graphics.

Mentioned before, this model reminds me of the Enerjet 1340 rocket. 

You won't have to worry about any hard landings with the plastic fin can. The fins are raised up and away from the base of the model.

Here's that hard to set fin sticker.

Try for a good straight flow of the red lines from the fin can onto the FALCON body sticker that runs up the body tube.

One quarter turn counter-clockwise to see the star placement on the fins.

Here's the big FALCON name and graphics.

And to close this off - 

The stars body wrap and clean white nose cone.

Quest Falcon #Q1009 Build, Part 10, Name Sticker

Under the Falcon beak is another sharp inside cut.

I would do the same as on the rear of the sticker - don't cut into that inside corner. Round out that sharp corner and scrape off the ink line.

Some of the fins get star stickers.

Cut inside the dashed lines. Note the inside corners are slightly rounded off.

The stars are pretty well centered sitting right on the molding line. You'll have to visually center them from the sides.

The upper wrap sticker lines up with the top edge of the body tube.

Like all the others, wet the tube and dip the sticker into a dish of water to allow lifting and repositioning. 

The nose cone shoulder needed two wraps of masking tape to better fit the body tube.

Quest Falcon #Q1009 Build, Part 9, Name Sticker

Notice the dashed lines around the printed areas.

You'll have to cut inside those lines or they will be seen on the finished model.

I don't like the sharp inside corners. That could lead to a tear when repositioning a sticker. Chances are you will have to reposition these before burnishing them down. 

Dip and WET the stickers and body tube before setting onto the model.

TIP: Here's how to cut out the stickers to prevent tears.

The dashed lines were easily removed by lightly scraping with a knife blade.

Here's how the lower inside lines look after scraping off the dashes.

Before setting down this name sticker - 

Check the next post the see the Eagle head end of the sticker.

The name sticker actually tucks under the lip of the fin can. The red lines line up with the red lines on the fin can.

Quest Falcon #Q1009 Build, Part 8, Fin Stickers

Note: The right side of these pictures faces the nose cone end of the rocket. Note how the edges are cut - close to the printed image. On the fin stickers - No overhanging clear areas.

Do some dry fits before you pre-crease the root edge. Note that the crease is just a little above the body tube line.

Previously I mentioned not to do a sharp crease. You'll have to make a definite fold, but don't make it so sharp that the ink cracks.

WET THE STICKY SIDE and WET THE FIN to allow for lifts and repositioning. 

Center the piece noting the even white space of the fin border around the sticker. 

Set the fin side first, press in place, Push the root edge fold into the root edge and press. Then roll the rectangle area around the "tube". 

On this fin can I had to go back and touchup the exposed yellow plastic from the shaved rod.

Here's the fin side showing the fold. Fairly sharp but not a hard crease.

Again, note the fold is a little above the horizontal block area of the sticker.

This better shows the fold sitting in the root edge before rolling the stripes onto the rounded fin can body.

Quest Falcon #Q1009 Build, Part 7, Removing The Bumps

This was a bit scary to start - but that rod bump wouldn't allow the sticker to fit smooth into the root edge. Shaving down the rods ended up being easier than I thought.

I shaved off the bump with a new, sharp #11 blade.

I use #11 blades for delicate cuts like this. The majority of my build cuts are done with a break-off blade knife. 

You only have to shave down the rods on two fin faces. Check the kit face card picture for the two fins that have the (root edge fit) stickers.

The inset picture shows one half side from the back of the fin can. Try to get the surface as smooth as you can.

On two of the four Quest builds,

I had already painted the fin cans white. I'd recommend cutting down the rods first - then spray paint the fin cans white.

Here I painted first, then shaved down the rods. That cut them right down through the yellow plastic.

I had to go back and touchup with gloss white.

The sticker will cover most of the touchup area.

Quest Falcon #Q1009 Build, Part 6, Engine Mount Gluing & Placing Fin Cover Stickers

I had to sand off most of the orange layer on the centering rings of the 24mm mount for a slip fit into the 35mm main airframe tube.

On the left is the before - 

On the right is after fitting and sanding. 

The mount is slid into a ring of glue inside the tube. Leave the mount extending 1/4" out the back of the tube.

To fillet the rear ring,

Apply a small drop to the upper side of a Q-tip. Carefully set the glue drop into the joint. Direct the glue around the joint, picking up excess glue as you go.

Repeat the steps until you have a glue fill all the way around the centering ring / body tube joint.

The assembled model got an overall white gloss coat.

Easy, one color spray coats.

I was concerned about the "round rod" molded into the leading edge joint of the fins.

How can you fit the sticker into the root edge with that molded rod in the way?

This led to some dry-fit experiments.

I lightly creased the sticker to press it into the root edge. DON'T make this a sharp crease yet - You might get a crack in the ink.

DO NOT do what I did here - This was a try at a work around.

After lining up the fin I pressed a (soft) eraser into the top of the "rod" underneath the sticker.

This raised and marked the end of the rod. 

Maybe the sticker will fit better if a small notch is cut.

This didn't work! The sticker was a bit stiff and wouldn't conform to the tight areas around the rod.

The best fit solution I could find will be shown in the next post.

Quest Falcon #Q1009 Build, Part 5, 18mm Engine Mount

Check the 18mm yellow tube - there may be a slit already cut for the upper bend of the engine mount.

It might not be in the right location, usually it's too close to the top end of the tube.

TIP: Slit the tube as shown in the directions. Make sure that pre-cut slit is on the upper side where the thrust ring will be glued in. This will strengthen the the pre-cut area on the tube.

The red rings won't easily slide onto the yellow tube.

Notice the compression bulges on the inside of the ring.

I wrapped some 400 grit around my Sharpie to sand down the raised bumps. 

Notches were cut for the engine hook.

On the left is the lower ring notch,

On the right is the upper notch which sets over the top bend of the engine hook.

Here's the finished 18mm mount.

No tape wrap is needed on this one.

The 18mm mount slides into the 24mm mount.

You'll have to do a friction fit to retain the smaller mount so it doesn't get blown out at ejection.

Here I tried a tape wrap around the two engine hooks. This probably isn't the best plan.
 

Quest Falcon #Q1009 Build, Part 4, 24mm Engine Mount

I dry fitted (no glue) the centering rings.

A dry fit showed if I had room for the tape wrap over the engine hook.

I traced around the inside edges of the rings.

The tape wrapped around the tube  centered between the pencil lines.

The Kevlar was tied using modified Square Knot.

TIP: The first half of the knot got an additional turn. When pulled tight around the tube, this extra wrap keeps the overhand knot tight for the second (reversed) overhand knot on top. 

The upper ring is glued on 1/4" from the top of the tube.

The lower ring is glued 1/2 inch from the bottom.

Quest Falcon #Q1009 Build, Part 3, 24mm Engine Mount

I like to square up the centering rings. When they are cut at the factory the blade makes a wedge cut.

It's not necessary to do this - I sand the ends flat for a cleaner build. I always flatten the bottom ring face if the ring is even with (and visible) at the base of the main airframe tube.

I also check the tube ends.

On 3" and 4" tubes, there's a bigger chance the tube might have a rough cut.

The engine hooks need a slight curve bend.

Make the curve smooth.

The 24mm tube is white. 

The 18mm motor mount tube is yellow.

Here's the instruction drawings for the 24mm mount. You are told to repeat the same assembly for the 18mm mount.

 

The thick orange rings were notched for the engine hook relief and the upper ring for the Kevlar line tie.

This is not mentioned in the instructions.

Quest Falcon #Q1009 Build, Part 2, Parts

The Falcon now contains both a 24mm and 18mm engine mount.

Lots of engine versatility here.

Here's the fin can.

The "extension" is to the rear, towards the engine end. To the right is the sticker sheet showing the fin face.

If you are to assemble this model - 

This picture shows the orientation if the engine mount is to the left and the nose cone to the right. You might find yourself tempted to set the fin can going the other way with the extension facing the nose. I know I did. 

I started on the parachutes, four builds and four chutes.

After the reinforcement disks (rounded squares) are in place, I made the shroud line holes with my rotary punch. To make an easier punch, set some cardstock on the other side of the chute and punch through the plastic and the cardstock at the same time.

TIP: Stabbing the holes through the thin plastic with a pencil point could start a tear. Punching the holes gives you a cleaner edge round hole.

Quest Falcon #Q1009 Build, Part 1, Parts

The Quest Falcon design goes back to the first 1992 catalog.

Plastic nose cone and a one piece fin unit.

The Quest body tubes are Metric. This main body tube is 35mm diameter.

The new version of the Falcon has new red, white and blue graphics. The rest of the kit is close to the original, but there is a new mold for the fin can and nose cone.

Most all the kit is white, the fin can is molded in yellow.

The face card sports new graphics.

This model reminds me a little of the Enerjet 1340 with the fin can flipped over.

The engine instructions have been updated showing the Q-Jets and the First Fire Micro igniters.

The graphics are stickers. You cut them out and peel off the backing.

The lower half of the sheet includes some sticker logos, great for your range box.