Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 25, The "Stand"

It's a nice gesture to include a cardstock display stand.

As is, it won't fit together. The cut slots (or slits) are too thin to slide together the thick cardstock.

With a sharp knife and straightedge, 

The slots were widened.

320 grit sandpaper was folded and the slot sanded until I got a better slip fit.

Here's the finished, assembled stand.

Plain, but functional.

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 24, Forming & Gluing The Rectangles

The rectangles are flat, the tube is round.

On the left, notice the right and left sides don't contact the tube.

On the right is a much better fit.

Curve the rectangles by pressure forming them around a dowel or around the Sharpie barrel shown here. 

The picture on the right shows the slight curvature

The intercoolers and rectangles are glued on the engines.

All are centered on their pencil lines at 7/32" from the rear of the tube.

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 23, Intercooler Assembly

The dowels were fitted to each individual cardstock piece.

Previously, the fitted pairs were marked 1, 2, 3 & 4.

When gluing, sight down the two pieces and adjust to center.

The filler/primer gluing areas were scraped for better adhesion.
 

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 22, Rectangle Detail Prep

Here's the back of the die-cut cardstock piece.

Note the crimping. This side will be glued down.

A before and after sanding with 400 grit on a block.

Any raised edges are rolled over with a burnisher to flatten the top.

The edges get a smoothed bead of glue to seal them.

After the glue dries, sand the sides with 400 grit.

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 21, Intercooler Prep

Note - The front side of the cardstock intercooler piece is shorter than the rear.

The die cutting process has buckled the the centers of the intercooler pieces.

I filled the depressions with CWF and sanding. Here the pieces are taped down for a shot of filler/primer.

After sanding the filler primer.

In this picture, the front is to the left side.

There are small die-cut inconsistencies in the length of the inside cuts. All four dowels were cut to fit each individual intercooler piece.

The pairs were pencil marked 1, 2 3 & 4.

The dowels also got a shot of filler/primer and sanding.

Note the tall overhang of the front end cardstock.

This was trimmed down to fit the diameter height of the dowel.

Estes Advanced Target Drone, Kit #1913, Build, Part 10, Paint!

White undercoats - 

Spray, let dry and sand any rough spots.

With paint on you can see the fillet ridges. Sand them down a bit then check them after the next undercoat.

Only one color before decals!

This is Ace Gloss Banner Red.

Spray the inside areas of the intakes first, then concentrate on the outside surfaces.

You won't be able to get full coverage all the way inside.

Estes Advanced Target Drone, Kit #1913, Build, Part 9, Gluing The Intakes

The outside edges of the intake shroud have been glued to the top rudder and underside ventral fin.

Notice how the slot edges over the long wings bow out. An arc has formed along the slot sides.

Use the flat edge of a ruler to press in and straighten out the slight arc.

Apply a slight amount of glue to start, not a full fillet.

Press the arc straight with the straightedge and remove. Check to see if the glue hasn't spread outside a fillet area. Remove any errant glue with a Q-tip. 

Here's a straighter slot edge with the first glue dried. Follow with a full glue fillet.

Estes Advanced Target Drone, Kit #1913, Build, Part 8, Lug Position & Shroud Fit

The instructions show the the front of the launch lug even with the leading edge of the wing fin. This would put the lug beyond the back edge of the intake.

I decided to glue the lug a bit forward so it would be hidden under the intake shroud. 

A dry fit shows the lug better hidden under the intake.

You'll have more control if you glue one side of the intake at a time.

Look at the top inside edge of the intake and you can see the pencil marks I drew to show where the glue will go.

It doesn't take much glue to set the intake edges. Draw a bead of glue, smooth and remove excess with a fingertip.

TIP: Notice in the above picture, the printing is on the inside. When you can, keep the printing out of sight. Some printing can show through color coats.

Here's a good fit of the intake against the root edge of the top rudder fin. 

I haven't glued the slot joint yet.

Estes Advanced Target Drone, Kit #1913, Build, Part 7, Fixing The Intake Slot

On a new print of the intake shrouds, 

I punched a round hole at the front of the intake slot to match the rounded leading edge of the wing fins.

I used the rotary punch.

The folds are indicated by a dashed line.

I used the round tip of a butter knife to emboss the line and start the fold.

The very tip of the knife should be smooth with no serrations.

TIP: Make the embossed lines before cutting the outside lines of the intake. It's easier to do the embossing now.

Here you can see the embossed lines.

Pre-embossing gives you a sharp, clean fold.

My Sharpie barrel was used to make a sharp crease.

Estes Advanced Target Drone, Kit #1913, Build, Part 6, Fin Gluing & Intake Fit

 

There are four fins, the two longest are the "wings".

The large rudder fin is glued on the top,

The smaller ventral fin to the bottom. 

Note the fin line was sanded for better adhesion. The pencil line was redrawn after sanding down the filler/primer.

The wing fins followed. 

The trailing edge is 5/8" from the rear of the tube.

All four fins are glued on at 90 degrees, or standard four fin spacing.

I tried a test fit of the intake shroud.

Look close at the squared front edge. The wing fins have a rounded leading edge, the intake shroud slot is square!

I'll fix that in the next print.

Estes Advanced Target Drone, Kit #1913, Build, Part 2, Redrawing The Cardstock Intake

 

Here's the scan of the intakes from the Jim Z's website:

CLICK HERE

I appreciate the patterns, but sometimes the scans are a bit rough.

Good thing the ruler is on the scan!

I dropped the art into Corel Draw and drew a 1" square box.

The art was sized so the 1" square box matched the 1" measure on the ruler.

Notice how the intake pattern and the ruler aren't on the same baseline.

Drop down a horizontal alignment line. Double click the intake scan and you can rotate it.

Start drawing the outside cut lines and the inside fold lines.

To be sure the long top and bottom trapezoid shapes are the same size, I drew a box that aligned with the top half.

Copy and slide down the copied box to check the lower half height. 

The slot was drawn with a thin solid line,

The folds got a dashed line.

Great thing about computer graphics,

Copy the original, paste and drop down an exact copy.