Estes Wizard #1292, Finished

The short, flat rubber shock cord was replaced with a round elastic cord.
The streamer is bright plastic. The instructions have you tie the shock cord around the center of the  streamer. I used two reinforcement disks on either side and tied the shock cord through those.

On this second Wizard build I cut the back end of the roll decal just outside of the black band. I was concerned the old decal might be brittle so I left a very slight edge of the clear overcoat.

In the picture at the right you see a little bit of white under the black band. That's the clear border edge butting up against the purple paint ridge.

This minimum diameter (BT-20) design reminds me of the early kits like the Sky Hook and Wac Corporal. These were small models that fly high even with 1/2A6-4 and A8-5 engines. Good thing it has streamer recovery.

Estes Wizard #1292 Build, Part 6, Touch Up and Decals

After the tape mask was removed there was a little purple touch-up needed.

The decals were old and brittle.
I built two Wizard kits at the same time. The first star roll pattern decal went on fine. The second one broke up right at the cut edge next to the launch lug.

It's an iffy fix and requires a steady hand. A fine point Sharpie filled in the missing black area.

Here's the fix. Not perfect, but nobody should be looking that close anyway.

Estes Wizard #1292 Build, Part 5, Lower Body Mask

After the first shot of gloss white there was still some M&TG "boogers" around the launch lug and fin fillets.

These were knocked down with some 400 grit, see inset picture.

The color separation line is right at the end of the launch lug, not an easy mask.
I started the tape mask in the crux of the lug fillet.










After the entire wrap was in place and trimmed, a second piece of tape was set over the end of the lug.

A piece of copy paper was wrapped over the top of the body tube and masking tape was set over the previous Scotch tape line.

Now the gloss purple is shot.

Estes Wizard #1292 Build, Part 4, Decal Check and Fin Fillets

Looking ahead, the mask illustration shows the purple starting right at the lower end of the launch lug. I was curious if that would intersect the decal location.
As it turns out, the decal isn't wide enough to go all the way around the body tube meaning it would start and finish on the sides of the launch lug.

The instructions don't mention any rounding of the fin edges, I rounded just the leading edges.
The fins are glued on, 3/8" up from the end of the tube.

The rear trailing edge corner is hard to fillet.
Drop a small amount of glue on the joint.

The area is too tight to get a finger in there.
I used the stick of a Q-tip to remove the excess glue.
The cotton end picked up the rest.

Be sure to check and wipe down the sides.

The inset shows the glue in the tight corners.

Estes Wizard #1292 Build, Part 3, Tube Ends and Kevlar

The inside end of the tube wrap was starting to lift.
For a while I would use CA glue but I found that it didn't hold the edge down. I have better results using white glue.
The inset picture shows the inside edge being burnished down.

After the lift is glued down then do a coat of medium CA applied with a Q-tip.

Smooth out the treated end with some 400 grit.

The side of a square diamond file make a good notch for the Kevlar.

The kit says to use a tri-fold mount but I wouldn't use one on such a small tube like this BT-20. We used them for years but now I'm more concerned about blocking the eject of the chute or streamer.
This build will get Kevlar.

The get the correct length for the Kevlar tie, I set the engine block assembly along the outside of the body tube. Tie the loop before the end of the tube. The Kevlar can't go beyond the end of the body tube.

Estes Wizard #1292 Build, Part 2, Parts Prep

The nose cone had some wide molded ribs down the shoulder.
They were narrow at the bottom and wider towards the lip of the nose cone.
The nose cone was way too tight. It took some sanding to take the ribs down for a good fit.
The tip of the nose cone had some flash and a dimple at the top.

Mentioned earlier, the fin die-cut was poor.
Die cut fins need to be gang sanded. The picture shows how much they are off before truing up.








The body tube seam was so thin that the primer filler could have filled it.
I still applied CWF to fill them.

After sanding there was a few gaps. The inset shows the second fill before sanding.

Estes Wizard #1292 Build, Part 1, Parts

I rarely build smaller models anymore. When I got started in 1969, BT-20 sport models were the norm. This one reminded me of those early builds.

I picked up some Estes Wizard kits on Ebay. They were reasonable and shipping was cheap.
This is the original Wizard with the purple fins and stars band decal.

Here's all the parts.
This one is late into the kit run, a two piece plastic nose cone is included.

The BT-20 is very good quality, stiffer and stronger than recent tubes.

Parts of interest:
The die-cut balsa sheet is not cut all the way through the 1/16" balsa sheet. The cuts are rough.
The shock cord is only 9" long! An inch and a half is in the tri-fold mount and another inch ties to the nose cone lug. Recess the mount inside the tube end about 1", that leaves only 6" between the tube and nose cone.
One end of the BT-20 is a little out of round. The nose cone base should reshape it in time.