Estes Great Goblin, #9724 Build, Part 26, Tying It Up & Finished

The shock cord was tied to the nose cone base with a square knot. The SC tail was pushed into the hole in the shoulder base. This keeps the shock cord end out of the way when sliding the nose cone into the body tube.

The loop knots in the shroud lines were tied to the base of the nose cone using a Kevlar line.

Here's the finished build.

The Goblin name and Bat decals are on both sides of the fin to the left in the picture.

The 3s are on opposite sides of the middle fin.

The Goblin character decal are on both sides of the far right side fin.

A close up look at the fins -

From the single black fin side.

From the rear with the retainer ring in place.

The LONG nose cone.

Each build took approximately 12 1/2 hours.

That includes construction, filling balsa and body tube seams, finishing and decals. The total time doesn't include waiting for the paint to dry.

Estes Goblin Decal Placement

Estes had a Halloween sale. While I don't see the Star Trooper as a "spooky" rocket, it was on sale for half price along with the Hyper Bat.

The Goblin is also part of the sale at 20% off.

If you are a real stickler for the Goblin design - 

The original had the "3" laying on it's side. 

Here's the link to the original instructions at Jim Z's:

http://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/estes/k-55.pdf

This is the current Goblin picture from the Estes website.

Compare to the illustration above - 

If the model were standing vertical, the Goblin name decal was parallel to the table top. 

These "nit-picky" points have been brought up before on the blog. 

Today it was on Facebook where a builder asked why the number 3 was used.

Goblin Decal Placement?

Moot rocket nerd point of the month - 

I've brought this up before when I was assembling a Goblin kit a few years ago.
Joe Hess posted a picture of a recent Goblin face card on the Estes Model Rocket Facebook page.
I noticed the decals and how they were placed. Notice how the "Goblin" name is visually tight against the outside edge of the fin. The "G" side is angled down below the "N", the name in line with the trailing fin edge.



Here's the instruction drawing from the Jim Z page. The Goblin name is set perpendicular to the body tube. There is more room now using the shape of the fins.
Look at the "3" decal. It's flipped 90 degrees on it's back! The "3" decals were purposely set this way by designer Wayne Kellner adding to the crazy motif.

Here's a TIP to get the Goblin decal in the original position -
The decal is set on the fin face, still wet and can slide.
Set a square corner down the root edge, here I'm using a CD case. Check the baseline of the decal. It should read "flat" when the model is on the launcher. (Or . . . if the finger tab wasn't there, the model might stand up straight on the fin tips!)