Camping - for the next few days

I'm camping for the next few days.

The Florida state parks have water and electric - 

but no internet.

No build posts until Friday - 

This is a small camper, only 4' x 8'. It's impossible to stand up in it, but it has a bed, small TV and A/C.

Easy to tow. My chance to get away for a few days! 
 

Estes Star Seeker BT-50 Upscale (Tri-Pack) Kit #0866, Finished

Here's the shot you were waiting for -

The BT-5 original and the BT-50 upscale.

It's a lot easier working on the larger model. The graphics on this design really pop.

The top end - 

There is still a bit of a yellow tinge showing through the white paint.

Estes Star Seeker BT-50 Upscale (Tri-Pack) Kit #0866, Part 9, Sanding & White Paint

The assembled model ready for white paint.

After the first coats dried, glue boogers and glue fillets were sanded.

Here you can see where the uneven glue fillet was sanded.

The paint fills some of the voids.

The Apogee nose cone is molded in yellow. This plastic color seems to show through light paint.

I sprayed white first, still too much yellow.

Then another shot of gray filler/primer.

You can still see some yellow tint showing through.

All gloss white paint, no masking!

Decals application were covered in the earlier small model build.

Estes Star Seeker BT-50 Upscale (Tri-Pack) Kit #0866, Part 8, Nose Cone and Shock Cord Mount

On the Apogee plastic nose cones, 

there is sometimes a raised lip on the shoulder edge.

Sand this down a bit.

The nose cones can have a slight bulge at the tip.

You can sand the tip so it follows the contour of the nose cone sides.

The shoulder cap was glued in using Beacon Fabri-Tac glue.

If you can't find a good plastic glue (most don't contain Acetone to "weld" the plastic pieces) Fabri-Tac is a good substitute.

Run a ring inside the nose cone, slide in the base and turn to even the glue bead and get better coverage.

I don't normally use a tri-fold mount, 

I didn't feel good about a Kevlar loop under the upper (homemade) centering ring. They're probably strong enough to handle an ejection pull, but I played it safe with a folded mount and elastic.

A 12" Odd'l chute was tied onto the shock cord.

Estes Star Seeker BT-50 Upscale (Tri-Pack) Kit #0866, Part 7, Motor Lug Details

The motors tubes were made from 1/4" diameter launch lugs. Like the dowels, the lugs were cut to 2 1/4" long.

Here I've sanded the glue lines using my sanding block with 400 grit.

Evening out a glue line - mentioned earlier - 

On the left is the initial glue bead right out of the bottle.

On the right, I've evened out the glue line by using the "V" formed by the pinched thumb and index finger. Run the "V" down the glue line. 

Both of the launch lugs are glued to each other, with the ends even. No need to glue fillet.

Make two sets of two lugs.

After the glue dried,

The ends were sanded even on a block.

With a sharpened dowel, the folded in "skin" was lifted out for fine sanding and a cleaner edge.

Estes Star Seeker BT-50 Upscale (Tri-Pack) Kit #0866, Part 6, Gluing On The Dowel "Guns"

Two of the (mirrored) fin pieces were marked for the vertical fins, shown below.

The BT-5 smaller version was marked at 1".

The upscale markings are at 1.80".

Lay a bead of glue down the outside edge of the vertical fins for the dowel "gun" placement.

On the left, I'm running the side of my finger down the fillet, smoothing the bead and removing excess.

On the right is the even glue bead. This makes a cleaner glue joint with less glue "squeeze out". 

The dowels are set into the glue line. 

The rear of the dowel is even with the trailing edge of the fins.

After previously evening out the blue bead,

there is very little (if any) glue to smooth or remove from the joint.

Estes Star Seeker BT-50 Upscale (Tri-Pack) Kit #0866, Part 5, Gluing In The Engine Mount

The mount was glued into the BT-50 tube with 1/4" of the mount tube exposed. 

Maybe I should have made the end of the tube flush with the end of the BT-50? Well, a little more room for the small chute.

The upper ring ends up in the glue ring. There isn't any glue on the lower ring - yet. 

The lower fillet was applied with small drops of glue on a Q-tip. A second Q-tip smoothed the fillet and removed excess glue.

Estes Star Seeker BT-50 Upscale (Tri-Pack) Kit #0866, Part 4, Prepping Lug Details

The 1/8" launch lug and 1/4" decorative "engine" tube lugs got a CWF seam fill and sanding.

While being held by Q-tip handles, 

they were sprayed with filler/primer.

All were sanded with 400 grit.

The ends got a wipe with CA glue applied with a Q-tip.

This hardens the loose fibers and allows you to sand them off clean.

After sanding, 

The edges were pressed and rolled round using a sharpened dowel.

Estes Star Seeker BT-50 Upscale (Tri-Pack) Kit #0866, Part 3, Engine Mount

The tube was slit for the upper bend of the engine hook. A  installed motor will extend 1/4" out the bottom end of the tube.

One of the laminated rings got rotary punched for movement of the engine hook. 

For a bit more strength, the upper ring was set right over the upper bend of the engine hook. 

The lower notched ring was placed 1/2" from the bottom of the motor mount tube.

Notice the ruler. The low (and top) end starts at the zero point. Usually rulers have a 1/8"extension before the 1" point  starts.  

A wrap of electrical tape holds the engine hook and allows flexibility.

TIP: Electrical tape won't deteriorate over time like paper masking tape will.

Estes Star Seeker BT-50 Upscale (Tri-Pack) Kit #0866, Part 2, Engine Mount

Parts of interest:

The four fins and correct dowel diameter for the BT-50 size upscale.

Four cardstock centering rings made in an earlier blogpost.

Four 1/4" diameter launch lugs.

The tube seams and balsa grain have already been filled.

The centering rings I cut seemed a little thin.

Four were initially cut, I decided to double them up.

To be sure they were perfectly aligned on top of each other, one was slid (dry, no glue yet) over the BT-5 motor mount tube.

A light coat of glue was spread evenly over the second ring.

I'm not gluing the rings to the tube yet, just joining the rings.

The glued ring was slid over the tube and pressed against the ring already in place.

The two rings were closed using the (flipped) clothes pin clamps.

A second laminated ring was also made.