No Posts? I'm Camping!

Sorry, no posts for the next three days.

I'm going camping with Dakota the Blue Merle Sheltie.

A new build will start on Friday, February 13.

New Hole Punch

I just got a new hole punch. 

The punches get dull after a few years of use and it's hard to find replacement parts that fit. This is heavier duty and replacement hole punch tubes are included!

Also in the box: A wrench to tighten or change the cutting tubes and a 6" long metal ruler. 

To see it, CLICK HERE

For $13.99 it's probably the best available.

Centering Rings: I use hole punches for engine hook relief notches in centering rings and launch lug holes.

Launch Lugs: Rotated to the largest punch (4.5 mm), it's a perfect friction fit for sliding in a 1/8" diameter launch lug.

Parachutes: Instead of tearing holes with a pencil tip, the smallest diameter punch works perfectly for shroud line holes in a plastic parachute. 

TIP: Be sure to use thin cardstock under the thin chute material for a clean punch. 

Rotary punches are handy for belt holes and many other household uses.

Comparing The Estes Semi-Scale Saturn V with the Dr. Zooch Saturn V, Part 2

The tail end -

Those clear fins on the Estes Saturn have a tendency to pop off on a hard landing.

The balsa fins on the Zooch Saturn V are much larger. No clear fins needed. 

The back end of the Estes Saturn V, empty fairings and those clear fins.

The tail of the Dr. Zooch Saturn V.

The fairing wraps are much stronger, glued onto conical wedges cut from a BT-20.

The F-1 engines are formed from cardstock. The hat band rings are thread. The turbine exhausts are formed out of "Funky Glue Putty". F.G.P. is wood glue rolled and formed between your fingers as the glue dries. 

Notice the engine hook extending far out the back. This keeps the engine bells clear of the motor flame. 

The Dr. Zooch kit is an improved, more detailed version of the Estes Saturn V.

The Zooch Saturn V is one of my favorite builds.

Comparing The Estes Semi-Scale Saturn V with the Dr. Zooch Saturn V, Part 1

In all these pictures - 

The Estes Semi-scale Saturn V is on the left, the Dr. Zooch Saturn V is on the right.

The Estes model weighs 2 ozs.

The Dr. Zooch Saturn weights 2.4 ozs., there is 1/2 oz. preinstalled n the nose section.

Both are about the same height,

The Estes Saturn has the clear fins that extend below the body.

The Dr. Zooch Saturn has cardstock engine bells that extend below the body. The Dr. Zooch model launches with the engine bells in place.

The upper sections - Zooch Saturn on the left, Estes Saturn on the right. The Dr. Zooch nose section has 1/2 oz. of nose weight inside.

The adapter section.

All the Zooch wraps are more detailed and printed in a darker black.

The mid section wraps:

The Estes Saturn V has eight ullage motors,

The Zooch Saturn has four. The later Saturn Vs had half the number of ullage motors.

The Estes kit really needs the UNITED STATES, USA and flag decals.

More in the next post . . .

Estes Semi-Scale Saturn V, Kit #K-39, Finished

The low points:

I screwed up the black mask on the long tunnels. 

The clear fins didn't fit the fairings. 

The #1 wrap was short!

Lifting a mask tore a small area of a wrap. 

The high points:

It's a challenge to build an older kit.

I was happy with the finished look of all the tunnels.

The nose cone came out well - the folded tower and skirt fit!

Mentioned earlier - This was probably the first time Thru-the-wall fins were used in a kit!

The tunnels and ullage motors - 

The adapter and wraps.

The upper body/nose cone.

Strange Estes didn't include a service module wrap.

What else was missing?

DECALS!!!

Estes Semi-Scale Saturn V, Kit #K-39, Part 31, Loose Ends & Edges

The original kit screw was small and tarnished with age.

I switched out a new, larger one.

The instructions have you glue the long launch lug 1/4" to the right of the lower white/black mask below. 

There is a problem - 

At 1/4" spacing, it puts the lug over the side of the fin fairing.

Look close at the left side picture, you'll see two pencil lines. I glued the lug at the 3/16" spacing. 

I scraped paint away down the lug glue line. I didn't apply a glue fillet down the sides of the lug.

Here you can see the lug clearance. If it were set at 1/4" the launch rod would be rubbing against the conical fairing.

You also must clear the feed line and ullage motor tunnels above.

Estes Semi-Scale Saturn V, Kit #K-39, Part 30, The Paper Fin Overlays

The original kit fin stickers had faded and weren't usable.

I re-drew them in Corel Draw.

These were printed on peel and stick paper.

Simply cut out and stick on one side of the clear fins.

Set them in place held on the tip of your knife.

The root edge side of the stickers extended beyond the clear fin gap.

I lucked out - the gray I picked printed up a close match to the silver paint.

Another frustration - 

One of the four clear fins already broke out of the cut slot! I'll re-glue it.

Estes Semi-Scale Saturn V, Kit #K-39, Part 29, The Clear Fins

I remember attaching clear plastic fins on the old Thor Agena B and Gemini Titan kits. They were never a strong hold, often popping off at the root edge on landing.

The instructions call for clear dope to attach the fins. 

With the way this build is going, I'm not ordering any expensive "adhesive".

Beacon Fabri-Tac has acetone and should be able to hold tight enough. A bead of Fabri-tac was applied down the root edge tab.

In addition to the Fabri-tac, I ran some medium super glue applied with a toothpick.

Squeeze a drop on scrap cardboard - 

Dip the toothpick tip in the drop of glue - 

Run the toothpick tip down the root edge spreading the glue in a controlled line.

Another concern - while the tab fit well into the slot,

there is a visible gap down the fairing.

I could spend time making the fin fit better, but with all the other problems with this build, I'm not going to bother!

Estes Semi-Scale Saturn V, Kit #K-39, Part 28, Oops! I Screwed Up!

I usually have good results using the Scotch tape masks. Not this time!

The instructions said to "use a very fine brush" to paint the areas where the system tunnels are into the black areas. I decided to mask for the black areas.
 

Scotch tape was used for the borders of the black areas. The rest of the larger white areas were covered with brown tape and copy paper. 

I got paint bleeds at the tunnel ends. A glue fillet would have blocked the the paint. The off-white cardstock absorbed the black paint.

Bits of the cardstock wraps were torn off when the tape was lifted. I was careful - I removed some of the tape tackiness before sticking it on the model by pressing and removing it on my pantleg. 

I didn't apply glue fillets on the long system tunnels. The side  edges weren't smooth and the paint got underneath.

On the left you can see where the cardstock was lifted.

The mask in the right side picture came out okay. 

I'm not happy with the way it turned out. There's really no way to fix it unless I pulled off the old cardstock and tunnel details and tried again. I won't be doing that.

 

After the problems cutting the fin slots and this bad mask, this build is a "bust". 

Another glitch in a future post.

Estes Semi-Scale Saturn V, Kit #K-39, Part 27, Tunnels, Fairings & Ullage Motors

Paint was scraped off where the glue would contact the body.

Tape held the tunnel in place while the glue dried.

Use white glue which dries clear. Yellow glue would dry yellow.

The short ullage motors can be glued directly onto the cardstock wrap. The masking tape strip is a lower alignment line guide.

The longer feed line fairings need the cut out recesses like the longest system tunnels.

Interesting - 

The original rubber shock cord showed no deterioration! It is still stretchy.

I would have liked to use it, but I wanted a longer shock cord.

I did use the kit shock cord mount. Note the old shape.

Estes Semi-Scale Saturn V, Kit #K-39, Part 26, The Long Tunnels

The instructions show tunnel recesses cut into the wraps. Notice the top and bottom of the cut outs - they are square, the dowel tunnel ends are tapered.

I'll cut the section ends the same shape as the dowel ends.

The 5" long tunnels were taped to the body and carefully cut around the dowels.

The tape was placed between the wraps.

Here is a closeup.

I used a new, sharp blade tracing around the tunnels.

Estes Semi-Scale Saturn V, Kit #K-39, Part 25, Fairing Wraps

Each #7 fairing should be marked for positions and individually trimmed.

Center and press the fairing piece between the fins, noting how the outside edges but up against the fin fairings. 

Even though I tried to get straight sides on the fairing, the conical shape flared out a bit.

The sides of the #7 pieces had to be cut in a slight arc to fit the sides.

On the right shows how many narrow trims were made on the sides to fit the open area.

Before spraying with adhesive, 

The fairing were given a slight curve. I didn't want any adhesive on the printed, visible side.

Here's one of the #7 pieces in place, the sides are almost tucked into the root edges of the fairings.

Estes Semi-Scale Saturn V, Kit #K-39, Part 24, Body Wraps

The backs of the body wraps got a shot of adhesive spray while lightly held down on masking tape.

Here's both sides of the upper body with the wraps in place.

Turned around - The upper #1 wrap was short and didn't match up.

The adapter wrap needed a cardstock "shim" around the bottom for a better fit.

This is the back side of the wrap ready for a shot of adhesive spray.

I made a small patch out of a scan print.

It's darker than the original kit wrap print but works in a pinch.

Not perfect, but better than the gap.

Estes Semi-Scale Saturn V, Kit #K-39, Part 23, Silver Fairing Paint

I used Scotch tape masks.

Scotch tape isn't very flexible - so the only way to get the curved line is to set down a piece of tape, then draw an arc with a wide point Sharpie. Wipe off the excess ink with a paper towel.

Cut a smooth arc thru the middle of the ink line.

Here I'm lifting the masking strip off my cutting glass.

On the left, the Scotch tape mask is in place for the silver spray.

On the right, the rest of the body is masked off.

Seal the tape edge with a Q-tip.

It's softer than a fingernail.

Here's the silver paint after the tape was pulled.

I got some good, sharp lines.

Estes Semi-Scale Saturn V, Kit #K-39, Part 22, Fixing The Black Paint

I visually centered the mask line between the fairings. 

But - two of the black edge ended up to the right of center.

I used an old trick - 

On the left, a fine point Sharpie was sued to draw a new border line.

On the right, the white area was filled in with a wider point Sharpie. 

Perfect? No. But, it beats re-masking and spraying again.  

Here's how the #7 wrap will fit between the fairings. It will require some trimming to fit into the fairing fillet area.

There is some slight yellow discoloration in the old print.

Note the mask line at fin slot area looks rough. There is still a strip of masking tape in the slot to keep out the paint.

Here the fin slot tape strips have been removed. 

That bit of black above the mid point mask will be covered by the #6 wrap.

The rough mask line around the fairing will be covered with silver paint.

Estes Semi-Scale Saturn V, Kit #K-39, Part 21, Painting The Lower Body

The instructions imply that the model is painted after the wraps are glued on. 

The masking tape could easily tear and lift the paper wraps! 

I decided to paint the lower black rectangle roll patterns before gluing on the paper wraps.

On the left, the white areas are masked off for the black spray.

On the right, the lower fairing is masked for the silver to be added later.

The upper body is masked and beneath the body so no paint can get into the engine mount area.

The tape is lifted and the black areas remain. I will have some touch ups to do!

Estes Semi-Scale Saturn V, Kit #K-39, Part 20, Fitting The Wraps

As usual,

I scanned the wrap sheet to have some backups.

The #1 wrap doesn't meet up around the short BT-52 tube!

I did pre-paint the tube. I know that does add to the outside diameter and could effect the fit.

But, wrap #4 does fit and the ends meet around the BT-60 main tube. 

This tube was also seam filled and painted white.

The #2 wrap didn't match up when wrapped around the balsa adapter.

The instructions do say: "Sand the balsa until the wrap fits perfectly."

I had to sand off the paint and into the filler to get a close fit.