Estes Semi-Scale Saturn V, Kit #K-39, Part 12, Fitting The Fairings

Try as I might, I couldn't get those glue tabs fully under the former sides.

Usually, I can figure it out and get a decent fit by the fourth try. I ended up with a mediocre fit on the sides of all four fairings.

While the glue is drying, 

Try to get a straight line down the sides of the fairings. The sides will want to round out.

I used my sharpened dowel to press and form a straight line. You can only do this while the glue is still wet.

The gap at the root edge was filled with some CWF pushed in with a single edge razor blade.

Light 400 grit sanding followed.

This was shot with filler/primer. The filler/primer showed the raised fibers in the sanded cardstock. More light sanding removed the raised fibers.

After all the filling and sanding,

Some CA glue was wiped on the inside and rear edge to stiffen up the fairings.

Estes Semi-Scale Saturn V, Kit #K-39, Part 11, Fitting The Fairings

Steam forming the fairing seems to make them stiffer and stronger.

This is a dry fit of the fairing and clear fin. I wanted to be sure the root edge and fairing angle were close.

While holding the fairings in place, trace around the fairing edge with pencil.

Scrape off the filler/primer for the glue tab inside the fairing.

After steaming the fairings round, the glue tabs needed to be re-folded with a sharp line. I used a smaller, pointed dowel.

It's difficult to glue these fairings in place. Preparation helps!

Estes Semi-Scale Saturn V, Kit #K-39, Part 10, Forming The Fairings

Start the cone form by rolling the fairing in the heel of your hand.

Roll the dowel in an arc putting a slight curve into the cardstock.

You'll have to take it slow or creases could form in the fairing cardstock. 

Continue tightening the arc curve over steam, then roll over the sharpened dowel again.

Put some water over medium heat. Let the cardstock absorb some of the water vapor. Pinch the cardstock over the sharpened dowel.

The curve will have to be tight to look correct on the finished model.

Hold the fairing over the dowel as the cardstock dries. This will take a few minutes.

On the right notice the curve of the lowest fairing. It's a little tighter than a half circle.

The previously folded glue tabs will have to be re-bent after forming the conical fairings.

Slits are cut under the sides of the shroud formers for the fairing glue tabs. The slits don't go too deep, just long enough for the width of the glue tabs.

Estes Semi-Scale Saturn V, Kit #K-39, Part 9, Forming The Fairings

The instructions say to form the fin fairings by rolling them around a sharpened pencil. I sharpened a larger 5/8" dowel. I would think the pencil would be too narrow.

I tried to "roll" a  first test fairing (I printed extras) around the sharpened dowel. This is going to require some extra step for a smooth cone shape - folding the glue tabs first.

The glue tabs are narrow. Trying to crease them after forming the cone would be difficult. 

I went ahead an embossed the line with the smooth tip of a butter knife, as originally shown in the old Estes Saturn 1B instructions.

The folds were creased using smooth pliers.

The sharp fold was made by rolling over the edge with a smaller smooth dowel.

The rounded bottom of the skirt hasn't been cut on this first fairing yet.

Here's all four fairings with the glue tabs folded under.

They are ready for "coning" and shaping in the next post.

Carded Mini Goblin Build, Part 4, Fin Gluing

Fold the fin skin down the embossed line you made in the last step.

I'm using my favorite burnisher, the Sharpie barrel, to get a sharp crease.

I use the color changing glue sticks to adhere the fin and body tube skins.

You've got to work fairly fast - when the applied glue turns from purple to clear, the glue has almost dried.

Set the crease fold over the rounded cardstock edge then lay the the sides down.

Try to get the leading edge fold right down on the cardstock edge. Lay the fold on first, then follow adhering the sides.

On this fin, I probably could have got the left tip a little father down onto the cardstock center. It should be okay as is.

Carded Mini Goblin Build, Part 3, Fin Prepping

One side of the cereal box (central core) has printing on it.

Sand down and rough up the inked side with some 400 grit.

Be ready, that dust can get everywhere.

Using a straightedge and sharp knife, cut one edge straight and square. This will end up being the leading edge of the fins.

Roll over the flat leading edge with some 400 grit sandpaper.

This rounding will give you a tighter fit of the folded 110 lb. printed skin cover.

Before cutting out the fin cover skins, 

Spray the printed side of both the 20 lb. and 110 lb. with clear acrylic. Paper skinned models can get dirty from handling.

Emboss a fold line down the leading edge with a straightedge and a non serrated tip of a butter knife. 

Here you can see the embossed line down the leading edge fold.

The emboss line helps get a sharper, straight fold.

Note one side of the fin skin is wider than the other. This guarantees full color coverage when the fin is cut out.

 

Estes Klingon Battle Cruiser, #1274, Step 22, Gluing On The Card Stock Engineering Hull Top

Oh Boy - you need three hands to pull this off!

The cardstock was dry fitted many times. You have to double check all sides to make sure it is evenly spaced.

Look close, you can see a pencil line traced on the outside of the long straight fold. That gave me a guide line to sand off the filler/primer (under the tab glue area) for a better glue bond.

With the glue tabs folded underneath - I noticed the piece wanted to raise up off the wing surface.

To prevent some of the rise, I glued the rear small tabs down onto the underside. The rear tab area is flat against the wing anyway.

Tweezers held the glued tab closed as it dried. 

TIP: Don't try to glue the entire card stock top all at once!

You will be better off gluing in sections. 

First - The front of the lip was glued to the balsa edge underneath about halfway down on both sides. After it dries, this lets you lift the "shell" and apply glue to the underside tabs. for the next glue step 

Second - Apply a line of glue to the tabs under the sides.

When gluing card stock, you don't need a lot of glue! More glue takes longer to dry. A (full tab coverage) skin of glue grabs and dries quicker.

It's a balance. Enough glue for lining up and working time, but no so much glue that will make the cardstock pucker when dried.        More on this step tomorrow - 

Estes BOSS Kit #7316, Build, Part 8, Prepping The Round Index Dish

On the overlay disk cardstock - 

The hold down tics should be cut, then sanded smooth with 400 grit.

With sandpaper rolled over your finger, 

sand around the burnt edge to remove the brown soot.

I used a glue stick to adhere the cardstock disk to the balsa. Glue sticks allow you to apply an even coat. You do have to work quickly as the glue dries fairly fast.

One of the three kits I was building had some shipping dents in the cardstock.

Earlier, I turned them over and tried to raise and smooth them with a burnisher. 

This helped but I was concerned the slight dents would show up on the finished model.

Some CWF was applied using a single edge razor blade to fill the dents and remove the excess. 

Some smooth sanding followed.

Estes Odyssey #7235 Build, Part 5, Sealing Cardstock Edges

This shows the wiggled laser cut lines on the front edge of the "O" pieces.

On the lower right, notice the arcs of the laser cuts on the "R" disks aren't perfectly in line. I'll have to round out the circles.

I stacked "like" circle disks on the supplied dowel and gang sanded the sides with a block.

On the left is the before - on the right is after sanding and shaping.

Here's a three ring stack (no glue yet) being rounded and evened up with 400 grit on a block.

The edges of the cardstock pieces will look better after painting if they are sealed.

Apply a narrow bead of wood glue around the edges. Smooth out the glue bead with the side of a fingertip. Try to keep the glue off the flat face, just on the edge.

On the right is the same ring after the glue dried.

Sand the glue bead smooth with 400 grit.

These are all the "Y" pieces.

Oh boy - More edges to seal!

There are 18 Y pieces. They are small and easy to loose. Keep them in a zip-lock bag until they are needed.

You can apply a sandable wood glue bead to the sides that you will see (facing out) on the finished model. On the left, a glue bead has been applied to the exposed edges only. Keep glue off the flat side surfaces. Sand smooth after the glue dries.

Estes Odyssey #7235 Build, Part 4, Prepping The Cardstock Pieces

I know - you're tempted to punch out the cardstock pieces.

Use a sharp knife to cut through the hold down tics.

You might find it easier to erase some of the brown before removing  the pieces from the sheet.

The sides of the laser cut pieces have some browning. If you clean some off you'll have an easier time getting even coverage with the white paint. Some Gloss White spray paints aren't very opaque.

Use a white eraser. Don't use a white eraser meant for erasing ink, ink erasers are too abrasive.

Here's a before on top,

After using the eraser is shown on the bottom.

You might not remove all of the brown, just get it as clean as you can.

A few of the straight laser cut lines had a wiggle. These could be seen on the finished model.

Sand the crooked lines square with 400 grit on a sanding block.

Much better!

 

Estes Space Shuttle Columbia Build #1385, Part 12, Fairing Top Gluing

With the fairing back slightly "splayed" out and the glue tabs dried,

The tops get a light even film of glue. The ends are rolled over onto the body tube.

Note the ends didn't end up evenly spaced beside my rudder placement line. Not a real problem.

The rudder is glued on centered between the rolled over cardstock tops, directly over the centered engine hook. The rudder was set down just to the side of the original pencil line. It did end up visually centered.

I did a dry fit of the OMS Pods and found the back slightly raised sitting on the cardstock. The ends of the fairing were trimmed back in a straight line so the bottoms can sit flat and into the root edge of the rudder.

The OMS Pods were glued on, 1/4" back from the front edge of the rudder.

The back of the pods overhang the end of the body tube.

Estes Space Shuttle Columbia Build #1385, Part 10, Wing Gluing & Cardstock Fuselage Sides

Dry fit the wing before gluing onto the body tube.

Notice how the front of the wing overhangs the BT-60 body tube and onto the notch running across the bottom of the nose cone.

 

GOTCHA: The instructions say there is a space of 1 1/8" from the back of the body tube to the edge of the wing extension. 

With the wing all the way forward and against the recess notch in the nose cone -  my rear spacing was at 1 1/32".

The back of the wing extension is straight, there is some camera distortion.

The instruction drawing does not show the nose cone in place. Glue the wing on with the nose cone seated in the tube to be sure the wing front is far enough forward. 

Pre-bend the cardstock sides. Be sure your two pieces are "mirrored".

With the nose cone in place - 

Do plenty of dry fits.

Note how the cardstock fairing sides are slid all the way forward and stop in the side notch on both sides of the nose cone.

Estes Blackhawk #2053 Build, Part 9, Canopy Forming

The canopy is made up of three pieces.

The two sides and the many folded top.

Do a few dry fits (no glue) to be sure you are lining up the the right tab to the right cut on the side piece.

One of the tricks to gluing cardstock like this is not to use too much glue on the tabs.

Apply some glue to a single center tab and spread it around, especially towards the outside edges. You should have a light overall "skin" of wet glue.

Joint the top tab to the side piece. 

It helps to have a long, smooth jawed tweezers to pressure hold the tab in place. 

Continue doing single tab gluing until both sides are glued to the top.

Look on the inside. If one of the tabs is raised, you can sneak some glue under the tab using your knife blade.

Here's the finished canopy, 

Inside and outside.

I thought the canopy shape would be more like a rectangular box shape with the bottom side open. I found out later the sides flare out and have a wider span than the top - more of a trapezoidal shape.