Estes Laser Lance #3218, Finished

This is a pretty good sized model, a great value when found on clearance at Hobby Lobby.

I wonder how long the fins will hold up after a few rough landings.

Here's the low end, a very clean look.

Well, I have to stack these pictures. The new blog format won't allow me to place them side by side.

. . . the big payload section.

The adapter was glued into the BT-60 tube with Beacon Fabri-Tac.

The nose cone was friction fitted with masking tape.

Estes Laser Lance #3218, Part 7, Decals

Look close above the "T" for the pencil mark. That's the center mark of the white area in the middle of the model.

I found the center of the decal and made another pencil mark there. Both the center marks were lined up when sliding the decals into place. 

At the low end are the Triangle and "Engine Ignition" decals.

One of the three decals wouldn't release from the sheet. I used one of the extras. 

I wondered why there were extra decals, you don't normally find spares in most kits. 

It looks like Spanish and French. I used one of the extras to replace the bad decal. The type is very small, nobody will notice.

Estes Laser Lance #3218, Part 6, More CWF, Mask & Paint

I had to mask the fins for the additional filler/primer shot. 

Sanding followed and gloss white paint.

This had to be the easiest mask ever!

The center section of the body remains white, the fins and payload section are painted olive drab.

I didn't have any flat olive drab so I settled on a satin finish. The Rusto 2x Forest Green paint went on over the Krylon Gloss White with no issues.

TIP: Notice I mask a little inside the shoulder of the nose cone and adapter. This way no white shows if the pieces aren't slid in all the way.

Estes Laser Lance #3218, Part 5, More Fin Fitting & White Undercoats

TIP: To better see the contour as you are sanding, darken up the flat base of the fin assembly with pencil.

The lower picture shows the contour after some sanding. There is more sanding needed, the penciled sides are still showing.  

Here's a good fit of the wide root edge over the curvature of the BT-55.

On the forums, David Scigs has mentioned the Krylon Industrial Acryli-Quik spray paint is the old, original formula Krylon. I eventually gave in and ordered four cans from Grainger's. I had to drive across town to pick it up.

David was right - it behaves like the old Krylon. Please note - this is not the Krylon you find at WalMart or Home Depot.

The great thing - it dries fast and you don't have to worry about re-coat times! 

It may not be as opaque as Rusto 2X, but I'm tired of cottage cheese rough finishes. 

Note - this gloss paint still dried flat when sprayed in humid conditions. We did have cooler weather a few days ago and I got a great gloss finish.

One of the early undercoats showed some balsa grain!

More CWF was rubbed in and sanded smooth. Another coat of filler/primer, sanding and another white coat.
 

Estes Laser Lance #3218, Part 4, Fin Assembly and Tube Contour

Here's one of the fin assemblies glued up.

The front end joints got some CWF and sanding.

The back end is open and a little bit too flexible. 

TIP: Make a fill piece out of scrap balsa for support in the next step.

The support piece was slipped in the back - no glue.

The base of the fins assembly is thick and will need some contour sanding.

Wrap some 220 grit around the BT-55 tube. Sand back and forth to make a inside arc and better fit the body tube.

Estes Laser Lance #3218, Part 3, Fin Prep & Seams

The fin grain was filled with CWF and primer/filler before gluing it all together.

Upper picture is the first CWF fill, below that the filler/primer after sanding.

Each fin is made up of four pieces.

The small piece is the center, front spacer.

I glued the front spacer hoping to avoid more filling of the joint. 

The top and bottom were evened up.

These tubes had very little seams. I still ran a pencil line in them to see it better. 

CWF was set in the seams and were sanded smooth after it dried.

Estes Laser Lance #3218, Part 2, Engine Mount

The engine mount assembly is standard.

Notice the green centering rings. Most of the green wrap was sanded off for a better fit in the BT-55 main airframe tube.

A rounded top dowel was used to put a line of glue inside the tube at the height of the upper ring. Note the dowel is set at the upper centering ring and marked at the bottom. The pencil line at the bottom represents the low end of the BT-55. The low ring will end up even with the bottom of the tube.  

The picture above on the right side shows a line a glue around the top of the rounded dowel.

The dowel is set in the tube up to the pencil line. Roll the glue around the inside tube making a glue bead.

Slide in the mount, not quite into the glue bead. Apply some glue around the top edge of the lower ring. Slide in the mount, even with the tube end.

Here I'm pressing the mount in using the flat face of my sanding block so the low ring and tube edge are even.

Some CWF filler was brushed around the flat end and sanded smooth. If all goes well there won't be any seam edge after the filler/primer coat later on.
 

Estes Laser Lance #3218, Part 1 Parts

For whatever reason, I didn't get a picture of all the kit parts.

Luckily, Steve Lindeman did a build at RocketReviews.com. I hope he doesn't mind that I used his parts picture.

Here's all the balsa parts. 

Quite a few pieces the same size. It's interesting how four pieces are glued up into the fin assemblies.

On the lower right is the launch lug and standoff. That's a Q-tip stuck in the lug for a handle while the CWF filler is brushed on.

Estes Laser Lance #3218, Build Background

I found this design interesting.

The fins look like the flip-out type used on a tube launched missile. The middle fin is spring loaded and swing out after reaching the end of the launch tube. 

These fins have been seen in an Estes kit before. Go back to the 1983 catalog and check out the S.C.R.A.M., one of the three small builds in the Estes Tri-Pack, #0866.

I picked it up on sale at Hobby Lobby for $6.47.

The original price was $17.99. Under the SALE sticker was an earlier price of $10.79.

Here's the Specs. It's a good sized model, the main body is a BT-55, the payload section is a BT-60.

The engine mount is 24mm, built for C11 and D12 motors.