The BIG FIX, Dr. Zooch Saturn V Fairing, Part 2

After the fairing is cut out it needs some coaxing to get it to a more conical shape.

The tip should be a tighter cone shape. I formed it around a 1/4" dowel.

The sides will want to bow out so the dowel was rolled over to make the outside edge straighter.

From the rear you can set and shape the fairing to the contour of the nozzle bell.

This model had 12 launches before this repair. The nozzles had a few hard landings but are actually holding up pretty well. The nozzle on the bottom is a replacement.




The fairing is glued on -
Line up the black and white separation with the paint separation above it.



The original fin is glued back on and fillets applied - DONE!

The BIG FIX, Dr. Zooch Saturn V Fairing, Part 1

Two years back I launched my Dr. Zooch Saturn V at the schoolyard with a B6-4. There was some coning during boost and it veered to the East. When I picked it up a fin and fairing were gone. It may have come loose during boost.
I didn't find the fin assembly and sat the rocket aside for a while.

I usually scan the kit wrap and fairing sheets before assembly. I found it on an external hard drive and finally got around to fixing the rocket.

Two fin fairings were printed, I'll use the best one to go on the model.

For a stronger fairing, the card stock fairings are glued around a BT-20 tube.
On the right is a split BT-20 piece to hold the fairing ends down as the glue dries.

The dried fairing tube was slipped over a used engine casing for support while cutting.

The yellow root edge area is cut out to allow the fin to be slightly inset.

DR. Zooch Saturn V TIP

On the DR. Zooch Saturn V kit you use quite a few printed wraps. This makes most of the masking and painting much easier and more detailed.

At the bottom between the red USA decals, you do have to paint the black vertical bands. Not an easy task if you try to paint after the wraps are glued in place. You run the risk off tearing the printed wraps when the tape is removed.




Today on TRF, GlenP took a smart approach:
Rather than painting the black stripes on the bottom section between the two wraps, I printed a duplicate wrap and cut the black stripes from the upper wrap. I had to Sharpie the white bands, then just glued those partial wraps in place on the bottom. My printer did not exactly color match the original, but comes close. A real fun build.

The Big Fix - Dr. Zooch Saturn V

After the last hard street landing, my older Zooch Saturn V was missing a fin. A few flights before that a nozzle had broken off. I didn't follow my rule of checking the landing area when flying a detailed model.

I always scan the pattern sheets for repairs or clones later on.
New nozzles were printed up and glued together. This time I made a few more extra nozzles for future repairs.
A new fin was cut from 3/32" balsa. All were sprayed with aluminum paint.

One of the other nozzles felt loose.
All the nozzles got additional fillets with white glue just to be safe.

The new nozzle was glued on beneath the "C" fin. You can see it's a little shinier than the nozzle below it. A few flights should dull it up.

The fin at the bottom is the new one. It fit right into what was left of the original glue fillet.

Dr. Zooch Saturn V Build Finished!

 

This is a great Zooch kit and a must have for any rocket enthusiast.

A great flyer with Estes B6-4 and C6-5 engines.
Don't use a Quest C engine in it! It will be on the ground before the ejection charge fires!

Lessons learned in this build:
1. Double check the lower end diameter on the large adapter before gluing on the card stock wrap. On this build there is a wide step down to the main BT-60 tube.
2. Cut the fairings a hair smaller so the black outside border lines won't show on the finished model.
3. Don't just cut the launch lug in two - cut the lug to the width of the wraps the lug will glue onto.

This was my second Dr. Zooch Saturn V. I knew what to expect this time around and spent more time getting a better fit of the fairings. Most details parts were better formed and the second short tunnel was added to the stage four section.

Like I mentioned, this model will probably end up being a shelf queen.
I'll continue to fly my first Zooch Saturn V. 

Dr. Zooch Saturn V Build Step 13 Fin Letters and Decals

Back tracking to Step 9, I waited to glue on the fin letters and Roman Numeral position markers.

The paper letters and numbers were held with tweezers for gluing and positioning.

Below the letter "C" is a card stock piece cut so the letter edges can be lined up consistently from fin to fin.

After the letters were tacked down, they were smoothed out and burnished using a Q-tip.

Decals - about time!
The larger USA decals are simply centered in the lowest white bands.

The flag decals sat a little higher on the real Saturn V.
I used my large Estes Saturn V for a reference.

A straight strip of paper was wrapped around the tube for a height reference.
The center point (between the white band above the flag shown here) was marked with pencil on the paper wrap.
The lower edge of the paper wrap kept all four flags at the same height and the top of the flag straight.

Another thinner paper strip was wrapped above the long UNITED STATES decal location.

The UNITED STATES is centered between the two wraps.

After measuring the decal and finding it's center the paper strip was taped on and used for a reference. The lower edge of the paper insured all four decals were centered and at the same height.




The vertical strip of black boxes sits closer and higher than the instruction drawing shows.

Included in the kit was a paper print of the decal sheet if you had problems using the water slide decals. I didn't have any problems using the water slides.

Lastly, install the shock cord and parachute.

Dr. Zooch Saturn V Build Step 12 Lugs and Extra Detailing

Instead of just cutting the lugs in half, try to match their lengths to the wrap widths they'll be glued on.

The lugs were filled and painted before cutting them to size.

Here a launch rod is used to pencil mark the lug locations.
Use the rod to check the alignment of the two lugs.

For some additional detailing, take a look at the Estes Saturn V.
The detail drawing in the Dr. Zooch kit shows the larger tunnel but not the smaller one.

While the larger tunnel is drawn, no mention is made of it when making the details. We'll make both from card stock.

The longer tunnel is made with a triple thickness of card stock.

Start by folding and gluing a strip about 1/8" wide.
Make the strip longer than needed when folded over and glued.

Set the glued strip on the model and pencil mark where it intersects the card stock wraps.

Inset picture: Glue the third piece in the center of the back where the tunnel steps down between the wraps. The picture shows the bottom side facing up.
This stepped side is glued, flipped over and glued on the tube.

The smaller piece is made the same way, doubled over but just two layers of card stock.

The upper picture shows the fit of the stepped layers over the card stock wraps.

Inset picture: From the top, the finished tunnels.

Dr. Zooch Saturn V Build Step 11 Fit and Gluing Details Part 4

The bottom of the long tunnels were notched for a better fit over the wraps.

On the right I'm scraping a little of the paint off down to the body tube for a better glue joint.
Look all the way down to the lowest wrap and you can see the black area the bottom of the tunnel glues on.
Using an aluminum angle a pencil line was extended up the tube.

I simply scraped off the pencil line down to the body tube surface.
Again, don't make the width of the scraped line wider than the tunnel piece.

After the tunnel was glued on and checked for straightness, tape was applied until the glue set up.

Don't put masking tape over the printed wraps!
You could pull up the printed lines when you remove the tape.

The finished tunnel, glued straight down the tube.

The model is almost finished!
Launch lugs and decals are all that is left.

Dr. Zooch Saturn V Build Step 11 Fit and Gluing Details Part 3

Here's how the 5" long S-IC tunnel sits over the wraps and black areas.
It will have to be painted black where it covers the black vertical strips.

I used Scotch tape for the masks.
A small mask was set over the upper, smaller black tip area.

The tunnel was set on the body and the lower tape mask set in place.
This assures the lower mask will be in line with the bottom of the card stock wrap where the black color stops.

The inset picture shows the tunnels ready for the black paint.

I got a clean mask is using just clear Scotch tape.

Dr. Zooch Saturn V Build Step 11 Fit and Gluing Details Part 2

The upper and lower long cable tunnels were notched to fit over the wraps.

Set the tunnel over the body and mark where it intersects the wrap edge.
The square edge of the notch was cut with a razor blade and the rest sanded off with 200 grit on a block.
This notch area is not deep, cut a little at a time and check often as you trim and sand it away.

Before gluing on the tunnels, some of the paint  was scratched off for a better bond.

Don't scratch an area too wide. Keep it narrower than the tunnel width.

Dr. Zooch Saturn V Build Step 11 Fit and Gluing Details Part 1

The S-IVB APM and S-IVB Ullage motors glued on.

Simply center them above the black /white color separation lines on the adapter wrap.

When set over the wrap, the S-II LOX Tunnel front ends are raised.

I filed a shallow step into the lower half for a better fit against the body tube.

This shows the better fit after notching the lower half of the tunnel.

Dr. Zooch Saturn V Build Step 10C Gluing on the Engine Bells

A great thing about the Dr. Zooch Saturn V, the F-1 engines stay on for flight!
I wanted to be sure they were well attached.

Earlier I neglected to paint the inside of the engine bells.
I used a Q-tip as a "brush" with some bottled silver paint.

Use one Q-tip per engine bell. Paint one bell and grab a new Q-tip.
The paint dries quickly and you might end up with some cotton fibers inside the bell.

To make sure the F-1 bells stay on, I decided to use some 15 minute epoxy to glue them on.

A drop of glue was set on the small end of the bell and the spoof.
The drop was large enough to make a epoxy fillet when it was pressed into place.

The epoxy dries a light yellow color, but the glue is in a recessed area and won't easily be seen.

Look at the small end of the nozzle bell and spoof.

You can see the bead of epoxy around the base contact points.

Check to be sure the bell is centered down the fin and fairings.

Some of the epoxy has come up through the center hole of the bell shroud making a stronger joint.

Dr. Zooch Saturn V Build Part 9 Gluing On The Fins

NOTE: Be careful about changing the fin surface area. These models are very stable as built by the directions. They require the template size fin area and installed nose weight to fly.
The model sill probably fly fine with the fin root edge adjustment adjustment shown below, but I won't take any responsibility for adjustments made and resulting stability issues. This is just how this build turned out. You may not have to make this adjustment.
This model (built on the blog) will be a "shelf queen", I'll still fly my older Zooch Saturn V.

Here's the back end of my finished Estes Saturn V.

Look at the trailing edge of the fin. It would be parallel to the floor when the model is standing up.






This is a dry fit of the Zooch Saturn V fin against the fairing.

On my model, the trailing edge hangs down at an angle.

I had to sand the top of the root edge, the lower end of the leading edge stayed about the same.

The picture shows two fins lined up and stacked.
The lower fin is the original size, the fin on top shows how much of the leading edge was sanded off.

This is the adjusted fin glued in place.

The trailing edge is now square - perpendicular to the body and parallel to the
floor base line.

Note there is a little of the "cut out" area exposed at the edges of the fin.
I tried to get this as close as I could, but it still shows a bit.

Dr. Zooch Saturn V Build Step 6 Gluing the Engine Fairings

I did mark the edges of the fairings so the white card stock sides wouldn't show after gluing to the body.

Do this quickly and carefully, you don't want the marker ink to bleed onto the face of the fairings. I actually used a Sharpie that was a little dried out.

 

You are instructed to cut out the root edge of the fairing in Step 3.

I waited until I could compare it against the root edge of the finished fin.

The root edge of the fin doesn't really match up to the yellow "Cut Out" area indicated on the fairing.

The inset picture shows how I cut the recess to better match the tapered root edge.

When the fairing is glued, you only have to apply glue to the upper 2/3rds of the inside edge.

The lower third of the fairing overhangs the back end of the main airframe tube.

Dr. Zooch Saturn V Build Step 6 Shaping the Engine Fairing

An earlier post talked about shaping the fairings for a better fit against the BT-60 main body tube.
After test fitting, I had to go back and do some more forming.

The instructions say to "use a 1/8" drill or some other solid round object to bend or round each fairing."

I used a sharpened dowel, it fit the conical end of the fairing better.
The BT-20 tube makes the fairing stiff, it takes some coaxing to get it right.

The inset picture shows the rounded side of a fairing.
Setting it next to the dowel shows the side arc.

The fairing on the right has been straightened.
 Get it as straight as you can.

For the best fit, wrap some 400 grit around a BT-60 tube and lightly sand the fairing.

You'll end up sanding the tip to about 1/2 the way down.
The sides of the fairing toward the wide end fit pretty well without much sanding.

Don't sand off the sharp point!
Sand a little and check the fit - repeat.

The fairing on the left hasn't been sanded.

The fairing on the right has been sanded, you can see the white edge all the way

around the fairing sides.