Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 52, Assembling The Assemblies!

This was one step I took very carefully.

Contact cement is applied to both parts to be joined. If it dries, the two glued surfaces can grab immediately!

I thought if I didn't let the cement totally dry there would be some extra time for adjustments.

I quickly applied a bead of cement to both sides and immediately pressed the two assemblies together.

Visually line up as best as you can from the front - Check the equal spacing of the propulsion units above the disk top.

- and the rear.

Hold both assemblies tightly together as the glue dries and sets up.

I'm glad this one is winding up . . . 

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 51, Replacing Lifting Decals!

Before starting this build I ordered replacement decals from cmrproducts.com. You're probably asking: "Why didn't I use the new decals?" 

Some of the CMR decals were blistered, shown on the right. Not all of the decals, just some. I kept them just in case.

That chipped yellow circle was replaced. 

Before soaking, I cut it where it lays over the raised hull seam. This gave a much better fit.

One of the red arcs was lifted off the surface.

Both arcs were replaced.

Most of the larger decals were fine and holding. 

The skinny line decals weren't staying down.

On the left is the before, the red line is lifting while the other one broke off and is short.

On the right is the replacements.

I also painted the raised beacon dome silver.

Sorry, no build post today -

I celebrated a birthday on May 15! My Sister and her husband flew in from Oklahoma. I spent the past few days showing them Orlando destinations. The Enterprise build will finish up tomorrow -

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 50, The Last Decals!

Two red line decals are cut close to the ink so they will fit close to the raised seam joint. These were brittle and one broke off at the end.

I still have to paint the beacon dome silver.

You may have noticed I haven't glued the primary hull disk to the secondary body assembly. I remember building this one in the 1970s. It was difficult to place the decals with the disk attached to the lower body assembly.

Here's the disk bottom with all decals in place.

And the top - 

These old decals will get some Future floor finish brushed on  with a Q-tip.

It's almost finished!!!

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 49, Still More Decals

This disk gave me problems! I should have cut it in half before soaking like the other round decal.

I figured I'd set it down, let it dry, then slice at the edge of the overlap.

When cutting with a razor blade, the cut line chipped.

Things were good up until now!

These thin arc line and window decals were tricky.

It took some visual spacing and luck.

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 48, More Decals

The decals are very close to each other other on the sheet! Check the sheet reflection near a bright light to we the clear coating. I thought these were multi-piece decals at first.

Good thing I used the decal coat. I doubt this decal would have transferred in on piece.

On the top of the primary hull - the raised running lights are painted red and green.

On the underside the primary hull are two more raised running lights. The instructions say to paint them white. 

I simply scraped off the light gray paint to show the white vacu-formed plastic underneath.

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 47, More Decals

Behind the sensor dish is a two-piece decal. It is cut in two to fit over the raised gluing ridge.

The center must be cut out to fit around the center post.

I used my rotary punch. The big cut punch wasn't large enough so the hole diameter was widened using a few bites.

From one side the decal halves look complete. 

Around the other side you can see a gap.

Some decal solvent might help lay down the decal on the raised center lip.

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 46, Decals

This old, long decal had me concerned. That decal coat probably helped keep it together.

The left (red bar) end is set 3/8" from the forward end of the gray rectangle.

These grid decals go on the inside face of the strut supports.

The top of the disk has two decals behind the gray elevator dot.

I didn't notice these black indents earlier.

They were filled with a fine point Sharpie.

You could use a toothpick tip dipped in black paint to fill them.

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 45, Adding More Details

TIP: Contact cement dries yellow. Be carful not to get any excess glue where it could be seen later on the finished model. 

The inside surface the propulsion units get more details.

Glue the small rectangles first, covering the rectangle line outline on the decal placed earlier.

The rear of the dowel end sets into the circle printed on the decal. The front end stacks on the low end of the rectangle.

Now we can concentrate on all the other decals that aren't covered with cardstock or dowels.

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 44, Adding Details

Immediately at the rear of the glued on caps,

Wrap the marking guide around the tube with the arrow in line with the bottom node.

Here's a dry fit of the rectangles. The front is at the halfway point of the shoulder cap ring.

I marked with pencil the glue contact points of the rectangle.

These are the areas to get contact cement, inside from the edge. 

Contact cement is applied to both parts and allowed to dry. 

Don't use the big brush that comes attached to the bottle cap. I used Q-tips to control how much glue was set down.

Touch both dried glue areas and contact cement will grab! 

I used tweezers to place the rectangles.

Here's the finished assembly.

Notice a little yellow discoloration on the lower corner of the top rectangle. That's a bit of contact cement and will need a paint touchup. 

Be careful when applying contact cement. Strings of glue can end up on outside surfaces.

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 43, Starting The Decals

Here's the original kit decals, probably from the mid 1970s.

They aren't creased or yellowed.

I've had the same bottle of MicroScale Liquid Decal Film for years, it seems to last a long time. This comes in handy when you have older, questionable decals.

It seems to brush on thick but dries very thin on the decal face.

A few of the decals are set down first, then more cardstock rectangles and a dowel are glued down with contact cement. 

Down the inside centerline of the propulsion unit tubes. That forward rectangle will get a cardstock piece glued over it. A dowel is glued on over that.

Micro-Maxx Estes Fat Boy, Part 9, Decals & Finished

I thought the FAT BOY body tube decal font was something drawn up by the Estes artists. Turns out it is a legit font named "Bauhaus 93".

The picture below gives an idea how small it is in my hand.

The F. A.T. fin decals fit well with just enough border edge. I drew them up (copied and mirrored) so both sides of the fins would have letters.

Mask the nose cone shoulder and spray it red.

Now that I know the decals fit, the decal PDF is available to Patreon subscribers. If you'd like to build a micro FAT BOY, email me at oddlrockets@bellsouth.net and ask for the FAT BOY decal PDF.

Micro-Maxx Estes Fat Boy, Part 8, Engine Mount & Streamer

The engine mount was slid in until the MMX motor was higher that the trailing edge tips of the fins. I didn't want the model standing on the engine mount tube.

After I was sure of the engine mount position, a glue fillet was applied using a Q-tip. 

The body is short so an upper glue fillet was also applied around the forward centering ring using another Q-tip.

The Kevlar line is tied to the elastic loop in the nose cone base. The loose end was pushed into one of the holes in the shoulder plug.

A plastic streamer was taped onto the Kevlar line one third the way down form the nose cone tie.

Micro-Maxx Estes Fat Boy, Part 7, Mask & Paint

After filler/primer and sanding - 

The model was slid down a painting wand for white undercoats.

The engine mount hasn't been glued in yet so the rocket can slip onto the 18mm motor casing attached to the painting wand. 

On the left, 

Sharpie inked Scotch tape is run down the root edge joints. The leading edge masks are "rounded" by using multiple small pieces of tape.

Before cutting the Sharpie marked tape, wipe off the excess Sharpie ink with a paper towel so no ink gets transferred onto the model.

On the right,

The rest of the body above the fins is taped and blocked with a cut plastic grocery bag.

The fins after the masking tapes were pulled -

I found a picture of the Semroc FAT BOY online and used those colors.

The fins were painted light blue. I had to make a trip to Ace hardware for this "one-time use" color. The nose cone is off the model to be painted gloss red.

Disappointed - Badly Done 3D Print!

I want to build a Estes Sandpiper, Kit #1389. It requires the plastic PNC-50S nose cone with the "finlets" on the side like the larger Jayhawk.

I didn't want to pay a premium for an old unbuilt kit. After having some beautiful 3D parts made for the recent Centuri Skylab build, I decided to have one of the online 3D printers make the nose cone for me.

After a search, I found Jack Hydrazine had submitted 3D files for the PNC-50S nose cone to thingverse.com. Thanks Jack! The hard work is already done . . .

After too many text messages, and a assurance that the sizing was correct, I used PayPal funds to pay for the nose cones. Two nose cones and two bases for $18.00

On the right is what I received. The outside diameter is only .60". It should have been larger, at .976" diameter to fit a BT-50.

Here's a closeup, check out the ridges.  

The finlet trailing edges are rough, looks like my dog chewed on them.

I'm not mentioning the vendor name yet - I'll give them a chance to correct the mistakes.

Micro-Maxx Estes Fat Boy, Part 6, Fin Grain & Body Tube Seam Fill

Before printing the decal (and wasting a decal paper sheet)

A test sheet was printed on 20 lb. copy paper to check the fin decal sizes.

These are a tight fit with an even border around the custom drawn letters.

The fit seemed good and the water slide decals were printed.

Here's the fins after a CWF fill and sand with 400 grit.

Filler/primer spray follows then more sanding to surface with 400 grit.

The fin gluing line had the filler/primer scraped off.

Filler/primer seals the surface. Wood glues won't stick as well on a sealed surface.

After scraping, redraw the root edge pencil lines.

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 42, Painting The Details

The raised, thick cardstock rectangles should have been painted the darker gray and then glued on the model. 

These aren't difficult to mask now, it's just some extra work that could have been avoided if I'd planned ahead!

The rectangles were outlined with Sharpie inked Scotch tape.

Brown tape widened the mask,

Plastic grocery bags covered the rest of the model.

With the masks removed there is very little touchup needed.

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 41, Painting The Impulse Engine Details

I'm not good at hand painting. This light gray impulse engine has straight lines and plenty of curves. I decided to mask and spray.

Here's the top - using many small piece of Sharpie marked Scotch tape.

The view from the bottom.

The thin mask border coverage is widened using brown tape.

Press a Q-tip around the edges to (hopefully) seal them.

A plastic grocery bag covered the rest.

After the tape was pulled - 

As expected, there was touchups.

The final look came out okay.