Vashon Valkyrie II Build, Part 3, Parts

My original 1969 Vashon starter set included a shiny chrome Mylar parachute. This box included a shiny one and this orange and blue printed parachute.
The color chute was 11 3/4" wide from flat to flat. There are eight shroud line attachment points.

"Extra light, extra strong MYLAR Parachute.
The Echo Satellite material."

You could launch the Vashon models by pulling a pin and releasing the plug in the nozzle.
You could also launch it using the "Ignitor Wire". Look close, the wire is sitting on the instruction card. The wire held the plug in place after the pin was carefully slid out. Count down - Touch the other end of the plug leads to a battery. The wire melts and the plug is blown out of the nozzle.

The inset picture shows some timer disks. The disks were placed into the separator segment. More disks, the longer the delay before the parachute tube is released.
That thing that looks like a raisin was a rubber bulb that held contact cement. Cut off the end and squeeze out the glue. Contact cement was used to glue on the launch lug and fin rails to the roughed up aluminum body. Originally these were red, there were two in the kit.

Two fin sheets were included. One sheet was die-cut, the second was screen printed like the some Centuri fin sheets.
It looks like the original owner cut out some fins, not exactly on the printed lines!

Batter Up Build Part 9 Contact Cement and Fins

Here's the first fin on the handle of the bat.

Remember, for contact cement to work, both adjoining surfaces get a brushed coating. Let the wet cement dry until it is dull, it should be dry to the touch.

Position carefully before pressing the parts together. The quick, strong grab will surprise you!

It's pretty apparent by the picture why I used extended tabs to glue on the fins. They probably wouldn't stick with any other glue except for the contact cement.

These fins do flex a bit from the root edge but are plenty strong for flight. The flex (and give) may help soften a hard landing.




The launch lug standoff was also glued with contact cement.






Here the excess glue is being rubbed off with a sharpened dowel. It'll take a few minutes to roll off the excess glue into little balls, but it will come off.

The lug standoff contact cement joint is very strong!

Batter Up Build Part 8 Contact Cement and Fins

After the fins are dry, the overhanging balsa was trimmed off.






Here's the fins ready for gluing.
I'll be using contact cement to glue the fins to the plastic bat handle.
If you've never used contact cement be ready for a quick grab!

Contact cement is applied to both surfaces being joined. In this model, the glue tabs on the fins and on the bat handle.
Wait for the glue to thoroughly dry on both parts being joined.

Even though the glue is dry to the touch, when both parts are joined, you'll get a bond that is hard to pull apart!
Be sure your fin is aligned before allowing both glued surfaces to touch.
This contact cement is pretty old and brown. When new it is a lighter yellow color.

Using the brush on the glue bottle cap, it was applied to the tab flap of the fins.
A wide line of glue was also brushed on the fin lines drawn on the bat handle.
Try to keep control of the cement, it'll want to go everywhere!

It does clean up easily so don't worry about any extra strings of glue on the surfaces.