Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Finished

The upper section with nine basswood strips.

The smaller vanes - 

The large vanes below that.

I took this picture outside to try and show the reflection of the metallic paint. Like I mentioned earlier, probably not worth the extra effort.

Nine more vanes around the engine mount tube.

This is an impressive model and a challenging build.

I've never encountered built up fins like this.

 

A great design from Jon Boren.

 

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 37, Ends & Edges, Finishing Up

The shock cord is tied with a square knot to the loop on the nose cone base.

TIP: Push the loose tail of the shock cord into the open slot in the nose cone base. This keeps the tail from getting stuck between the shoulder and the body tube.

TIP: Tie on the parachute a few inches AWAY from the nose cone. The nose cone won't swing in and out of the shroud lines and get tangled. 

Near one of the joints I had some rough paint.

TIP: Sometimes (and I stress "sometimes") you can use some clear scrap left over from the decal sheet to gloss and smooth out the area.

Cut to size, soak and apply the clear piece over the rough area.  

I don't usually need to concentrate on rounded leading edges of the fins when spraying. On these squared off edges I didn't get a full black coverage.

TIP: Sometimes you can black in the areas with a marker. This only works with a black marker. You won't be able to match the ink shade of other colors.

Some paint did get on the engine hook.

Use the backside (not the sharp edge) of your hobby knife to scrape off the paint.

You can use the Sharpie to black the edge of the motor mount tube where needed.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 36, Dot Decals

A three dot decal is placed on the upper fin leg.

The low dot on the right was placed 2" from the edge of the fin.

I've learned with Estes decals - they are thin! On the plus side, when dry they really hug the surface. 

TIP: Where decals are on both sides of a fin, set one side and let dry. Come back, then set the other side. Too many times my fingers have lifted and moved that (not fully dried) decal on the other side and lifted it.

I aligned the other dot strip by sighting down the leading edge of the fin.

The lower fins get a single dot on both sides.

To make sure of the position, I made a cardstock template and punched a hole to line up0 and position the decal.

Here's the template flipped to align the dot decal on the other side of the fin.

Look close and you can see the dot in the punched hole.

I don't normally add the Estes logo. You are supplied with two Estes logos, one white and one orange on a white background.

I went with the white decal, it wasn't so bright.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 35, Decals

With the vanes in the way, this is a tough decal to position.

Leave as much of it on the backing paper as you can when rolling it around the tube.

There are two different fin decals.

In the picture, the one on the top is for the upper fin half,

on the bottom is the lower fin decal.

The tip on one lower fin decal stuck and stayed on the backing paper.

It's not too noticeable.

Here's how the lower fin half decals should look.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 34, Decals

Start with some smaller decals first. I found the soak times to be 38 seconds until the decal would slide off the backing.

These wrap arounds have nine peaks. The decal start and finish points were in line with the launch lugs. The decal overlap won't be seen in the launcher photos.

I did start the first orange point in line with the basswood strips but they didn't align all the way around.

Here's the upper section.

Notice the white bands are towards the centers. This is consistent throughout the wrap decal placements.

There are two rows of dots to wrap around the top of the lower tube, just below the adapter.

I wish the two rows were connected, without the dashed orange cut lines between them.

Notice how close you have to cut to the decals, just inside the dashed orange line. It would have been easier to see the white ink if the decals were printed on blue backing paper.

The nine white dots wraps should line up with the nine cardstock vanes. 

I placed a wrap of masking tape and made a pencil line using the aluminum angle. The first dot on the strip was centered over the line.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 33, Gloss Black

After waiting 48 hours and some final sanding with 800 grit,

The final gloss black paint was sprayed.

Probably a good thing I blackened the inside surfaces early on. This is a tough one to get an even coat on, lots of inside corners.

The masking tape was removed to see the metallic black on the vanes.

The contrast probably wasn't worth the extra effort. It shows up much better in direct sunlight.

There are a few spots where the tape edge pulled up bits of gloss black. These will require an easy touchup.

The shock cord mount is glued in 2" from the top of the BT-55 upper tube.

I marked the shock cord at the 2" mark and used that as a depth gauge to set it at the proper position, easily clearing the nose cone base.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 32, Launch Lugs

I didn't (really) forget the launch lugs.

I was concerned about being able to sand and smooth the fillet ridges where the lower fin half center tips are close. The lower lug would be in the way of the sanding.

I marked the lug positions with pencil and scraped away the black paint down to the body tube surface. The scraped area is slightly shorter than the length of the launch lugs. The width is wide enough to get a good glue bond.

This is the upper lug, set 10 1/2"from the edge of the engine mount tube.

I didn't fillet the launch lugs, that would lead to bubbles and more filling. I used enough glue, the lugs aren't going anywhere.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 31, Sanding the Black Paint

I'll be spending the next few days smooth sanding the black paint.

Concentrating on the fillet ridges, I'm light sanding with a well worn piece of 400 grit.

I don't want sanding scratches to show in the final coat of paint.

This model will be sprayed with gloss black. It will show every spot of glue, balsa grain and speck of dust.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 30, Black Paint

Here's the vanes sections, sprayed with the black metallic paint.

Masking the vanes was a pain. 

It reminds me of a beehive - too many small pieces of tape!

The main body and fins were sprayed with gloss black.

I peeked under the tape to see if there was much difference between the metallic black and gloss black.

In all honesty, it wasn't enough of a contrast to justify all the extra masking! 

It was worth a try though -

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 29, Filling The Fin Halves Joint

The joint got a coat of CWF and sanding.

Notice you can't see the U support piece, it's hidden inside the joint.

I wrapped a paper towel around the vanes previously painted with the metallic black.

I carefully sprayed some filler primer only on the joint.

After that dried, it was sanded with 400 grit on a block.

I was concerned about any misalignment of the joint but after sanding, the fit was good.

A glue fillet was applied to lock the U brace piece in place.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 28, Fin Joint & Inside Brace

These fin braces will be seen, so they got a coat of CWF and sanding.

I still had to sand more, making the braces smaller to fit inside the joint. On the far left is the original fin size right off the balsa sheet. The brace next to it is a bit smaller for a concealed fit.

Like the inside of the fin surfaces, the outside face was blackened with the felt tip, brush pen.

I didn't use much glue, any more would make a mess trying to position this tricky fit.

The brace was pressed into place using the side of my tweezers.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 27, Fin Joint & Inside Brace

The U support pieces have to be tapered to fit inside the fin half joint.

Notice in the inset drawing - 

The outside corners aren't really seen, set down inside the joint edge.

Here's the piece dry fit before sanding in the tapered sides. 

It fits too high, outside the the fin half joint.

I marked the fin sides so I could see what was being sanded off.

That black inked edge gives you a visual guide to keep the angle even.

The left side picture shows the sanded angle about halfway through.

On the right is after more sanding, just a bit of the black remains.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 26, General Assemblies

In the shock cord mount instructions, note where the glue is placed. You fold the mount into a pool of glue.

TIP: You'll make a cleaner mount if you apply a thin coat of glue on the section to the right and fold onto the dry section on the left. It doesn't take much glue (a thin skin) when gluing paper to paper.

 

With the backside of the mount dry, press and form the still wet mount into the inside tube wall to form the curvature of the tube.

This kit was bagged in 2014 or so, when many kit shroud lines were weak. 

A quick, easy pull and the string breaks!

The shroud lines were cut off the parachute.

I used a plastic Avery reinforcement disks to strengthen the tie off points.

New #10 cotton embroidery thread was cut. 

It's easy to re-tie knots using long tweezers.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 25, Painting The Vanes

It is difficult to get smooth fillets inside the tight corners of the vanes. I did sand and reduce the glue boogers and some still were visible when some gloss black was shot. 

I thought about painting the vane areas with flat black, flat colors are a great way to camouflage imperfect areas. Gloss finishes show everything! 

Another idea - why not paint the vane areas with a metallic paint? The model is an overall black, some metallic paint could cover things up and give it contrast.

   

On the left is the before - 

There is some white showing through where I sanded some glue and rough areas. The tubes are masked off.

On the right - 

The same area after spraying with the metallic black. A picture does not show the metallic effect. It shows up best in sunlight.

The paint I used for the vanes,

Rustoleum Black Night Metallic, #7250.

I don't normally like Rusto spray paints, but their metallics are very good.

Be careful though, these are thinner and could run. Spray in light coats. 

Here's the upper basswood vanes, sprayed with a non metallic Ace Gloss Black.

It look like there is white streaks, but that is light reflections.

I've still got some rough areas that need sanding before final paint coats.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 24, Fitting The Fin Halves

The instructions have you glue the rear fin half on,

Then glue on the upper half (and hopefully match up with) the low fin.

I've got to give John Boren props for the design. It's an amazing assembly but needs some fine tuning before gluing down the root edges.

As careful as I was assembling the halves, I didn't get a perfect fit.

With the upper fin half taped down to the body tube, I held the lower half to meet and touch the upper half. It needed adjustments.

The angle of the bottom half should to be lowered, sanding with emphasis on the front end of the assembly, ahead of my thumb. 

This tipped down the front and made for a better joint at the juncture of the two halves.

I still had to make some sanding block adjustments until this outside end joint was fully closed.

You should fit the fin pairs separately. As you fit two halves, pencil mark sets 1, 2 and 3 on their inside surfaces to keep track. 

There is good reason why this is a Skill Level 5!