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 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.

Centuri Skylab Build, #KB-4, Part 16, Oops! Gluing On The Wrap

The 3D wrap was a bit large and slid loose on the 2" tube. I decided to cut out a sliver for a tighter fit.

3D plastic is brittle! When I tried to score the cut line the piece cracked.

The second break was down the cut score line. I set that piece aside. I'm not really concerned as the launch lug will cover any seam.

The wrap was glued on using Fabri-Tac glue. Fabri-Tac contains acetone and works well with plastic to Kraft tube joints.

The Fabri-Tac gives you a little working time, it's fairly slow to dry.

Tape was used to hold the wrap tight as the glue set up.

That broken off piece was glued and slid into place.

There was a gap towards the top. No big deal, the launch lug will cover it.

Enerjet by Aerotech, Astrobee D Build, Part 31, Gluing On The Forward Lug

The two side pieces of masking tape are more alignment tools. Using CA glue to attach these details doesn't give you much time to reposition once you set the piece down.

Notice the medium CA glue beads set on the back of the forward lug base. I keep the glue away from the outside edges. There will be some "squeeze out" of the glue. Keeping the glue towards the center doesn't allow glue to go beyond the edges when pressed in place.

Here's the forward launch lug in place, centered over the aluminum band. 

It's a good looking scale detail piece.

Enerjet by Aerotech, Astrobee D Build, Part 30, Setting The Aluminum Wrap

Scale drawings are included in the kit.
This shows the two possible build variations, a Flight Configuration (with three bands of screws) or the Launch Configuration with the aluminum band.

I ended up using the aluminum band after peeling up the two lower rows of sticker screws.

The scale drawing says the aluminum band should be 1.31" wide. The supplied self adhesive strip is around 1.25" wide.

I was concerned the raised color separation line might show under the thin metal band.

The paint line will be covered with the wrap, so the mask line was sanded down and smoothed out.

Note the white strip of paper above the the top of where the strip will be placed. This gives me a straight reference line for placement.

The strip was rolled around the tube, smoothing as you go, using the paper edge as a top guideline.

Estes Skylab #001973, Build, Part 10, Adapter Joint Fill & Tunnels

You should tape the wraps tightly shut until the adhesive completely sets up.

I mentioned to keep the scrap plastic after cutting out the wraps.

I cut a thin strip of plastic to fill the gap. It was pressed into place even with the two side edges. Medium CA glue was carefully applied with a toothpick.

The long bottom was trimmed off after the glue dried.  

The tunnels are cut to size to fit in the space between the wraps.

Notice on the left picture - the pencil lines ended up a little off after the wraps were glued in place. As mentioned earlier, the tunnels should run straight, you might have to make wrap adjustments so they are perfectly vertical.

Be aware - the corrugated wraps can stretch a bit.

The instructions don't mention this - 

TIP: I cut out a notch in the wrap edge so the tunnels fit flat against the body tube.

After you fit a tunnel - 

TIP: Mark the back of the tunnel and its body tube position.

The bottom four tunnels are in same-size pairs and easy to mix up!

Piglet-sus! Build Part 6 Body Wrap

The BT-5 body wrap was printed on 24 lb. premium inkjet paper. 

I had to print out eight different body wraps in different shades of pink to find a spray paint match. The nose cone color is Rustoleum Painter's Touch 2X Candy Pink spray.

Here's a glue stick being applied to the back of the body tube wrap.

The pigs front hooves will go over the body tube edge and onto the lower end of the nose cone.

The wrap is shown in place on the body tube.

This picture is from the first build. On your print, the front legs and hooves are a little larger now and the lines thicker.

The engine mount is glued in place, slightly recessed in the end of the BT-5 tube. This is to allow room for a glue fillet. 

TIP: Where I can, I slide an engine mount in place without glue. After I'm sure the positioning is correct, I'll add glue fillets to lock it into place. This "dry position, then glue" idea doesn't work in all cases. If the main frame diameter isn't much bigger than the engine mount diameter, you can add glue afterwards. 

Quest Future Launch Vehicle #3013 Build, Part 11, Large Wraps

I went through a few pieces of scrap cardboard spraying all the seaprate wraps.

Here's one of the large main body wraps stuck down for spraying with some 3M 77 adhesive spray.
To the right is one of the tape rolls with the sticky side out.

Here's the lower wrap.
The edge is placed down the pencil line drawn down the body tube.


This is the low end of the same wrap, even with the end of the body tube.

Notice I haven't totally pressed it down until I am happy with the placement on the pencil line. The wraps are thin and would probably tear if lifted after sticking it down.

Gently smooth the wrap as you go to keep the air out.

I used the side of my finger to smooth it out and work out any air bubbles.

GOTCHA: The upper wrap was rolled on, butted up against the lower wrap. It wasn't quite tall enough and didn't reach the top of the tube! It's an easy fix, the 1/8" of white tube was trimmed off and sanded square.

It's optional to paint the larger top nose cone. I painted it gloss black before putting on the wrap. The bottom of the wrap is actually right on the shoulder edge. That black at the bottom is a Sharpie line inside the shoulder edge to camouflage the body tube/nose cone break.
EDIT: This probably wasn't the best idea - the black line shows at the tube/nose cone joint.

Quest Future Launch Vehicle #3013 Build, Part 9, SRB Wraps

I've already cut TTW fin tab slots so the fin area on the wrap will center on those. This picture shows a dry wrap (no spray adhesive yet) to check the positioning.

Instead of starting the wrap edge by laying down a pencil line, I'll have to center the wrap and start on over the fin slot line.

I rolled some masking tape into a circle with the sticky side out. These rolls are stuck down on a scrap cardboard piece for the adhesive spray.
Before the tape was turned into a roll, I stuck it to my pants leg 7 or 8 times to leave denim lint and remove some of the stickiness of the tape. I don't want to take a chance of tearing the wrap or lifting the print.
Stick down the tape roll, lightly stick the printed side of the wrap on the tape.

Here's the visible side of the SRB wrap.

On the right notice the open area down the seam side. This is short on purpose to give you a better gluing area on the main body tube.

The wide end of the three small nose cones get a wrap.
On the left, all three wraps are held down on some making tape, sticky side up.

On the right is the nose cone wrapped. Like the SRB wraps, it doesn't go all the way around

Quest Future Launch Vehicle #3013 Build, Part 8, Smaller Wraps

You can use a glue stick to adhere the smaller wraps that are placed on Kraft tubing.

The motor mount tube gets a nozzle wrap. Test fit it dry - without glue to see how it is spaced around the engine hook.

The rear centering ring was blacked using some Sharpie pens.

This isn't necessary, but I wanted the launch lug seams covered.
There is plenty of white scrap left from the large wrap sheets.

Don't cover the entire lug, I leave a side open for gluing onto the main body.

This shows how thin the print wrap sheets are. Be careful, you can easily crease them.

Quest Future Launch Vehicle #3013 Build, Part 2, More Parts

The body wrap sheets are the highlight of the kit. The art is very well drawn and printed. The lower wrap is on the right side. The wrap paper stock is pretty thin.

Here I'm laying them flat to take out some of the curl after being stored in the body tube.

Here's the thin fin (center) core card stock.

Below the core piece are the fin covers.
At the bottom is the single layer nozzle shrouds. They are are thin as copy paper, printed on glossy 20 lb. stock. Not as strong as I would like considering these nozzles will touch down first and could get bent.



I found the face card sticker interesting.
When the kit was first produced the warning read: "Recommended for ages 10 and up with adult supervision for those under 12."
Later a white sticker covered up that information and the ages were changed to "under the age of 14."

The 14" Quest parachute is flexible, not "crispy" like some of the older ones. The tape disks (rounded squares) look to be made from Tyvek.

Estes Saturn V #1969 Build, Part 16, Adapter and Third Stage Wrap

Be sure the edges of the Reduction Wrap are smooth and have a consistent width. This will effect the fit on the large tube edge.

I wrapped some 220 grit around the BT-101 tube and ran the edges over it.

The Third Stage Wrap was applied first so I would have a straight upper edge reference for the Adapter Wrap.

The adapter wrap was Set in place over the card stock adapter.

Notice the lip overhang. If it is applied correctly it should butt up clean against the Upper 2nd Stage Wrap.

After some test fitting there were a few minor high spots on the wrap edge. These were lightly sanded with 220 grit on a block.

Sand and check, sand and check.

Here's a pretty good fit of the wrap and the upper tube edge.








There was a slight gap at the seam. Slivers of left over plastic sheet was glued into the gap.

The fill strips were sanded. Any remaining lines were masked and hit with some filler/primer and sanding.


Assembly time so far:
 8:00 minutes previous
 1:10 minutes this post
 9:10 hours total

Estes Saturn V #1969 Build, Part 15, Interstage Wrap?

Last February on the NAR Facebook page, Jay M. Chladek may have found an error -
"If the wraps are aligned (as molded) and shown in the instructions, the vertical half round wood tunnels may not line up between the Inter Tank and Inter Stage vacu-form wrap locations!"
To see the blog post: CLICK HERE

That description is a little confusing. The dowels will line up if built as is and by the instructions, but most of the interstage wrap will end up rotated 1/4 turn to the left.

Notice the illustration below - At the bottom is a tall black rectangle, directly above it should be the white rectangle.
To fix the interstage wrap you'd have to cut off the low section down the lowest horizontal recess line. Then line up the tunnel (half round dowel) positions with the lower wrap before using the spray adhesive. Spray and glue the low, cut off section.
Spray the upper (remaining 2/3) of the wrap. Line up the umbilical connectors. The upper part of the interstage wrap will end up rotated to the right, 1/4 turn.

There was no addendum in the instructions I received.
Notice the tunnel top on the lower left. On the upper part of the wrap, the single upper tunnel should end up above and to the right of the top of the lower left side tunnel.
There was no addendum in the instructions I received. I'll be building it as is with the umbilical connections and tunnels where they are. Unless you are a true bolt counter, I doubt anybody will notice. But as it is it isn't really correct.

EDIT: Without cutting and rotating the interstage wrap - The black paint vertical band won't end up as shown in the picture shown below left. The four Ullage motors will end up a little more to the right, not as close to the edge of the vertical black bands. One of the vertical UNITED STATES decals will have to be set over to the right, to the side of an upper tunnel.

Here's a great illustration of the wrap orientation from the Apogee Saturn V instructions.

Here's the kit interstage wrap glued in place.

When setting down the wraps, sight down the tube to be sure the tunnel tops and bottoms are in line.





You may get end lifts after the wraps have been sitting for a few hours.
TIP: Sneak some CA glue and press the ends back down. Have Q-tips handy to pick up any excess glue before it dries. Pick up the excess glue, the CA will be hard to sand when it is dry and hard.

No time recorded on this post,
These are observations.