NewWay Angled Invader, Part 9, Rib Positioning

Here's how the Guide "G" fits onto the wing and helps align the smaller ribs. The tabs set over the sides of the G piece and hold it on the face of the wing. 

This entire post is dry fits - no glue yet.

I found I had to widen the slots for an easier fit of the ribs.

The instructions say the front tip of the ribs are 3/6" back from the leading edge of the wing.

With the rib set all the way back into the slot, the front of the ribs barely overlap the wing.

I checked the older Estes instructions.

The front of the ribs are farther ahead than the above picture shows.

Still no glue - 

I slid the ribs a little forward until the front tip was about at the halfway point. This gave me more gluing area under the "floating" rib.

NewWay Angled Invader, Part 5, Pod Tubes, Engine Mount & Jigs

The outside pod tubes glue onto the outside edges of the main wing fins.

I don't think most builders would fill the (visible) inside seams. It's easy to do. 

Apply CWF using a hobby knife, let dry and sand.

You can only go so far until you can't reach the interior seams with sandpaper.

The engine mount is glued in place. 

Test fit before using any glue and sand the centering squares if needed.

The round central tube is even with the low end of the square main body tube.

The upper ring area got a line of glue applied with a Q-tip.

Here's all the assembled jigs.

Apply some glue to the outside joints to hold them together. The fit is good without any glue, but they will fell sturdier if glued together.

I found the wing jig (at the bottom of the picture above) and the "nose guide" very interesting.

NOTE: The horizontal brace at the bottom of the nose guide is a double layer to better fit the angle of the nose cone.

NewWay Angled Invader, Part 3, Gluing Up The Wing & Filling Balsa

The kit includes a variety of jigs to help alignment when gluing.

These are cleverly laid out on thick cardstock.

The first piece is used to align the two piece wing fin. The alignment piece is to the right in the first picture.

After glue is applied, use some weight to hold the two pieces even and flat.

On this small fin piece, the grain runs down the leading edge at the right, wider end of the fin. The tip on the left side broke off! Not a big deal, glue it back on and sand flat.

Here's the balsa after a brushed on coat of CWF was sanded. The pieces were then taped to cardboard and sprayed with filler/primer.

New Way, Der Squared Max Build, Part 3, Engine Mount Gluing & Jigs

The engine mount was glued in.

Glue for the forward ring was applied using a coat hanger wire with a taped Q-tip on the end.

Glue was applied to the Q-tip and transferred inside the body tube. The motor mount is slid in place and a fillet applied to the back centering ring.

Mentioned earlier - I forgot to add the shrink wrap tubing over the Kevlar. 

These are some well fitting Fin Jigs.

The smaller, forward jig was pressed together against my block.

Press the larger rear jig together and slide apart. The laser cut leaves an ash mark that shows where the glue line should go.

Another template is for the launch lug placement.

Fold and press over the corner of the tube. The alignment lines should be drawn next to the single centered fin slot.

Estes Space Ship One, Kit # 2191, Build Part 4, Engine Mount Gluing & Jig

I did add a Kevlar Shock Cord tied under the upper centering ring.

I glued the mount into the tail cone using Fabri-Tac glue.

From the top - 

A Fabri-Tac glue fillet was applied and smoothed out using a Q-tip.

Here's the assembled wing jig.

You will need it in the next step to glue the wings onto the body tube.

Estes Super Mars Snooper #7309, Build Part 3, Fin Pods & Assembly Jig

After the CWF fill and sanded - The pods got a shot of Duplicolor filler/primer.

Sanding the sides you can see how the nose cone shoulder lips are still a little high. Gray filler/primer is left in the remaining seams.

Here's all three pods - filled and ready for gluing on the fins.

The goal was to have a smooth cylinder from top to bottom. 

The jig pieces were removed from the sheets. As usual, the laser cut edges were a wedge cut. I sanded the edges to square them up.

Here's the assembled jig - 

It did come in very handy keeping the pods centered when gluing between  the two fins.