Estes LTV Scout, Build, Finished

This is a big one, just over 36" tall.

Lots of adapters and body tube diameters especially made for this kit. That might be why Estes probably wouldn't re-release it. 

Decals were tricky and subject to cracking, but in the end came out okay.

The horizontal wrap stripes tend to cover any breaks between the body tube sections and adapters.

The conduits (runways) reminded me of the old Mercury Redstone tower pieces. Instead of providing proper dowels, you cut out "rounded" strips from a single strip of wood.

These conduits were machined on a wood strip. Very rough requiring too much forming and filling.
 

The fins seem too small for stability, but the model is tall so it should be okay.

I'll launch it with a C6-5, the only recommended motor.

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 24, Touching Up The Black

The decals are old and subject to cracking, especially on the open ends where the section are slid together.

The end edges were sealed with clear acrylic applied with a Q-tip. 

The white areas were blackened in with a medium point Sharpie.

Done!

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 23, Finishing Up Decals & Fin Gluing

These red copy decals go underneath the black "tooth" ring.

Space them evenly around the body.

Where does this red copy decal go? I can't find it on the decal placement pictures in the instructions.

It's tiny! I left it off the model.

The tabs molded into the root edge of the fins fit very tightly in their slots on the end cap. I had to scrape the black paint overspray off the inside wall of the slot for a friction fit.

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 22, Mid Section Decals

The vertical ITALIA is set with the lower diagonal stripe set into the conduit glue fillet. The lower horizontal black bar is used for spacing when set against the adapter/tube joint.

The diagonals are tricky. They finish the length of the bars and are a little long for trimming after they dry.

The decal was worked into the conduit fillet recesses with a wet Q-tip.

The upper diagonal strips end up halfway between the conduits at the top and bottom.

Notice the overhangs. Trim after the decals dry.

The great thing about the horizontal decal wraps, they tend to cover the joint gaps between the tube and adapters.

The horizontal strips overlay the diagonal ends.

Trim the lower diagonal short before setting down the lower horizontal bar.

The clear overlay edges are trimmed using a razor blade using a sawing motion.

The tube edge is blacked with a Sharpie for a cleaner color separation 

when the upper section is slid in place.

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 21, Lower Decals

I checked the original kit decals against the CMR (Tango Papa) decals.

The vertical UNITED STATES decals were wider spaced!

On the Estes kit decals, the UNITED STATES decals were one continuous strip with clear overlay between the two words.

I cut the words apart for easier placement.

The vertical black bars were also cut apart. 

Three are centered between and over the raised conduits. The pieces of masking tape were for the 1/4" from the joint spacing.

Note how close the verticals are at the base if the lower launch lug. Some of the clear border was trimmed right up to the black ink.

Here's the lower STATES decal placed first. It is set directly over the fin slot.

The UNITED decal followed directly above.

Only had one decal break.

I re-wetted and repositioned the tear.

Some Family Matters -

Sorry, no blog posts until after I return on Wednesday October 1.

I have some family things to take care of - 

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 20, Oops! & Upper Decals

Oops! I gave the fins two days to dry before the final shot of black paint. It happens to all of us! I should have waited another day. Plastic takes longer to dry than paint on balsa or Kraft tubes.

The paint crazed on one side of a fin. I'll sand and reshoot before gluing onto the model. 

I tried the old, kit decals. To my surprise, they were fine!

They stuck and conformed pretty well. I did have to slice the decals where they rolled over a tube/adapter seam.

The red lines decals can help hide the tube joint. 

I'll have to use some decal solvent to insure it stays down over the tube/adapter connection.

Below is the complete decaled upper section which will descend on an added 12" chute.

 

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 19, Black Top & Bottom

I tried to mask the nose cone using curves strips of Scotch tape, but I couldn't get the arc correct. 

Something new - 

Using a ultra fine point Sharpie, the border line was drawn using the slight recess ring molded into the nose cone.

The rest was filled in using a wide point Sharpie. This Sharpie fill will only work on a small area.

This isn't my best work. I would have preferred a mask and sharper line. 

I may rework this again later.

The flat end face of the base cap is painted black.

Scotch tape was rolled around the end. Enlarge the picture to see it.

The rest of the exposed area was masked off with masking tape and copy paper.

The right side picture shows a clean mask.

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 18, Mask & Paint Fins

The fins are an interesting but easy mask.

I simply put Scotch tape over the backside of the fins I wanted to stay white. The side facing in the picture will be painted black.

Any white areas left on the vanes (lower left) will be painted by hand.

Here's the fin after pulling the tape.

Look close at the leading edge in the left side picture. The fin leading edge is so thin it came out pretty clean.

Notice the trailing edges facing the right side of the picture.

On the left, there is a little black overspray.

On the right, some very light scraping sharpened up the edge.

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 17, Red Vernier Covers

This is a tall rocket.

Long models are difficult to spray evenly. It's easier to paint in two segments.   

I mentioned the red dot Vernier Covers in an earlier post.

There is plenty of Cricut vinyl left over from the red trim on the Skylab build.

I pulled out one of my more valuable tools, the rotary punch.

Small red dots were punched.

My rotary tool isn't as sharp as it once was. Still good for notching centering rings, but it took quite a few punches in the vinyl to get four near perfect round dots.

The results were much better than I could ever paint by hand.

This picture shows how many punches were made to get four useable dots.

I can't figure out why Estes didn't include these in the kit. There is already some red on the decal sheet.

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 16, Black And White Fins

Using the pictures from the instructions - 

Figuring out which fin sides get painted black can be frustrating. Nowhere on the instructions does it say: "Each picture is one quarter turn to the right." It's obvious when you figure it out.

Look for the two conduits for reference.

For now, the fins get an overall spray of white.

 

The root edge fin tabs are a friction fit in their slots. I haven't glued them in yet, I'll paint the appropriate black sides off the model.

Press the fins into their slots and mark the black sides with a small piece of tape.

Rocket Tip - Gluing?

Paint is drying on the LTV Scout - Decals have been shipped. 

So I'm stuck for a few days before the final white spray coats. 

Until then, some blog post filler . . .

 

I looked up the new instructions for the re-release of the Estes D Region Tomahawk. CLICK HERE

I was curious to see if there were any changes from the original kit available from 2007-2014.

I did notice something I've seen in other instructions before.

Why apply lines of glue around the D coupler then slide the B tube over it? You'll be left with a lot of glue squeezed out at the joint. Sure you could wipe it off, but there will be some glue residue seen on the finished model.

TIP: From a comment by anonymous: Those red couplers included in Estes kits can grab in the wrong place when using white or yellow wood glues. Best bet is to use epoxy on coupler/tube joints. Epoxy does run, keep an eye out for drips when the glue is setting up.

TIP: Apply the glue inside the B tube and slide the dry D coupler into the glue. 

Maybe Estes thought that would leave more glue at the low end of the butt joint when the tubes are joined.

You could always concentrate a bit more glue at the low end of the upper B tube.

New Estes Laser X2

Estes has unveiled a new Designer Signature Series kit - 

The LASER X2

This is based on the original Centuri Laser X design, upscaled to a BT-60 size.

I had always thought the Centuri Laser X was produced to compete with the Estes Mars Snooper.

The Estes Mars Snooper was introduced in 1966, the Centuri Laser X in 1968.

The new Laser X2 kit instructions have been posted: CLICK HERE

The colors and decal treatment are different from the original. New balsa strakes run down the upper tube. Plastic fin detail "guns" replace the toothpicks on the outside edge of the fins. 

The small vanes that surround the engine tube extension are now molded in plastic. A new screw on engine retainer rounds out the kit.

To see my build of the original Laser X from Semroc, CLICK HERE

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 15, White Paint & Planning Ahead

The conduit fillets show up when the white undercoats are sprayed.

Wood glue fillets can be sanded, just be careful not to sand into the wood.

It doesn't look good now, but a few more white sprayings should cover things up.

Some of the tunnel joints were close, these were open, but no more open than the body tube/adapter joint.

I probably could fill these joints, but won't this time around.

Looking ahead - 

The heat shield will be painted black, masked off using Scotch tape cut in an arc.

Paint the vernier covers red? 

That would be difficult, they are only slightly raised.

I could use a decal sheet for four small red dots, or - 

Punch some red vinyl using my rotary punch. 

This red vinyl is left over from the Skylab build.

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 14, Parachutes & New Decals

The finished build is just over 36" tall and recovers on a single 18" parachute. 

Those fin tips can break off on a hard landing.

Suggested by Ken C. in a comment, I'll recover the lower body on the 18" chute and add a 12" chute for the upper body assembly.

Note the position of the shroud line hole. It is punched towards the outside of the reinforcement ring. This puts shroud line tension against the plastic ring preventing the start of a tear.

I replaced the paper tape disks with plastic Avery Reinforcement Rings, #5271.

Paper rings tear.

Old kit decals are iffy and on this kit, difficult to apply.

I ordered some replacement decals from CMR Products. 

CMR has taken over decal production of Tango Papa Decals. CLICK HERE to see their catalog.

Prices are reasonable (as things go today) and free shipping.

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 13, Tunnel Gluing

Much like the tunnels on the Saturn V build - 

The tunnel ends fit better when sanded to a small angle. 

The tunnel ends on the adapters aren't molded at a 90 degree angle.

This shows a good fit. Not all the conduit ends were as tight!

The tunnel at the bottom has been glued and taped in place.

The upper tunnel position shows had the filler/primer scraped off just inside the pencil lines.

The wood used to make the tunnels is prone to split. I had it happen a few times when cutting to size.

 

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 12, Tunnel Marking

GOTCHA: The three tube marking guides didn't meet up when wrapped around the tubes.

The tunnels were taped down to scrap cardboard and sprayed with filler/primer. It's much easier to seal and fill these off the model.

The instructions have you cut the tunnels to length before gluing them on the model.

I'd recommend cutting the length 1/8" oversize and sanding the ends to size. You'll get a tighter, cleaner fit.

Also - Apply the glue to the underside of the tunnel, not glue on the body tube. Apply a glue line, wipe off excess and press in place. You'll have more control and less squeeze out of the glue on the sides of the tunnels.

Marking the payload tube is a bit confusing.

The tunnels are to the right of and just below the raised triangle shape in the upper adapter.

Enlarge the picture to see the pencil lines.