Mars Snooper Decals

Decals were (finally) printed up for the Mars Snooper on the same sheet as the Scavenger name decal.

In the picture to the right a positioning template was made out of cardstock.
This helps place the fin number decals in the same relative position on all fin sides. It also insures the side of the long number is parallel to the side of the pods.










The long tip of the name decal coincides with the masking shape of the blue on the upper body.
These home printed decals actually came out looking very bright because they were set on white painted areas of the model. Normally do-it-yourself decals can be a little translucent if placed on a darker background.

Mars Snooper Finished!

Decal printing will have to wait. I didn't want to use up a full sheet by only printing 1/3 of it.

This was a harder build than I thought it would be. Aligning the shrouds and getting the vanes on in a different color presented some challenges.
Masking the upper body tube took time but the final results were worth the effort.

One day I'll get the nerve to fly this one. For now it's a shelf queen.

Mars Snooper Build Part 31 Assembly

All eight nozzle vanes were glued in place on the masked lines.
This was the look I was hoping for, a high contrast that draws attention to all the nozzle detail.
In the Estes catalog pictures, the nozzles and vanes were painted black. From a few feet away you wouldn't notice the vanes at all.



The Centuri Laser X showed the same treatment in their catalogs.
I liked the look and thought it would work well on the Snooper.
I'd built this Laser X when I got back into rocketry a few years back.
The Laser X has 12 vanes around the engine mount tube.



The lead weight goes all the way to the top, screwed into the nose cone with a second screw eye.



I used a tri-fold mount for the 30" shock cord, I was trying to keep the vintage build feel. The original kit had an 18" parachute. Until I get one of the new printed Estes chutes, a 15" mylar chute was installed.

Mars Snooper Build Part 30 Upper Mask

This is one of the three sides with the Scotch tape in place.
The black marked side is facing in. The cut "tapered arrow" point is on the inside.
It takes some time to get the strips straight. Sight from the rear to be sure the tape goes in a straight line.



The remaining open area in the center gets a long triangle of masking tape.
To keep any over spray out of the tube, an engine casing on a dowel goes in the rear. A rolled piece of paper slides in the top.




I went to Home Depot with an old Estes catalog in hand to match the blue on the Mars Snooper catalog picture.
After all the masking was removed, here's the result.
The point of the triangle is centered. The angle of the picture makes it look a little off.

Mars Snooper Build Part 29 Upper Mask

I wanted to duplicate the Mars Snooper paint job from this Estes catalog page.
The upper section mask won't be an easy one.
The tips of the white triangle areas go to a thin point.





To find the centers between the fins, a piece of paper was pressed into the root edges of two facing fins. The root edges were marked and the paper folded between the pencil tick marks.
This guide was set back between the fins and the center line drawn at the top of the body tube.



Three Scotch tape strips were stuck down to the glass on my patio door.
A 1/4" thick black line was drawn down the center with a permanent marker.

With a knife a straightedge the strips were cut down the middle of the marked line.
The top half was cut to an long "arrow point". The strip on the left has one side removed.

Mars Snooper Build Part 28 Masking the Shrouds

This is going to be a harder mask than normal.
You've got to mask around fin root edges and the top of Shroud #1.

This is clear scotch tape. It was stuck down to my patio door glass.
A thick, permanent marker line was drawn down the middle.
With a straightedge the tape was cut down the length through the middle of the marker line.
With the black edge, it's easier to see where your mask line will sit.


Squares were cut from a plastic grocery bag.
Masking tape strips were set on the straight edges, half on and half off.
The exposed masking tape was set over the scotch tape masks already on the model.
Roll the excess grocery bag squares over the fins and tape closed.


Two light coats of gloss black were sprayed allowing five minutes between coats.
A final heavier third coat was sprayed on and allowed to dry.

After the masks were removed, here's the results.
With a complex mask like this, some touch ups will be needed.

Mars Snooper Build Part 27 Decals

This is the Snooper decal as copied from JimZ's: http://www.spacemodeling.org/JimZ/estes/k-20.pdf

In this form with the blue-ish background it won't be useable. If printed from this scan, the cut-out decals would have a light blue edge.
But there is plenty here to re-draw the decals.

It was loaded into Corel Draw and "traced."
I searched through too many fonts to find some that were close.
I had a good idea what to look for, I worked on a photo typesetter back in high School.
It's not an exact replica, who knows what original fonts came from what foundry in the 1960s. But it's close enough for me. No one will know the difference unless they saw it side by side against the original decal.

I won't be able to send out PDFs on this one. These are images owned by Estes. But, you can order decals from Excelsior or Tango Papa for your Snooper build.

Mars Snooper Build Part 26 Re-Mask and Spray

At the top of the fins pod edge I rolled the fillets over the top with a toothpick tip.
Enlarge the picture to see the rounded joint.






The lower half of the model is ready for the white coats.
A casing and dowel is in the engine mount for a spraying wand.
Rolled up paper is in the top of the body tube to keep out the spray paint.





The vane gluing lines were again masked off with 1/16" thick masking strips.
These strips will stay on until after the black is sprayed.

Mars Snooper Build Part 25 Gluing Outside Fins

The outside fins were hard to align.
Even with a pencil line and "double glue" these fins liked to slip and slide all over the BT-5 pod.
In the picture it doesn't look centered, but it is.

These fins got four fillet layers like the rest of the model.





Here's how it looks up to this point.

I'll re-mask the low vane gluing lines with thin tape strips.
From the top shroud down it'll be painted black.

For better contrast the vanes will be painted white and glued on afterwards.
I decided on this paint scheme after looking at the old catalog pictures. With the lower end an overall black you don't even see the vanes.

Mars Snooper Build Part 24 Pods

The pods were sprayed with primer off the model.
I'm holding onto the nose cone tip, my hand is inside a grocery bag.

The back half of the pod was sprayed. After it dried, the sharp side was sprayed.


After it dried, the primer was sanded.

The pod was set against the fin and marked for the trailing edge position. The trailing edge is glued about 1/2" from the bottom of the Bt-5 pod tube.

Using 220 grit on a block, this gluing line was sanded off, to about 1/16" on either side of the line. The line was re-drawn again for gluing.



From the rear, this is the pod glued on the fin.

For easier alignment, extend the lines beyond the tick marks.
You wouldn't be able to glue the pods on straight if your alignment line was totally covered up by the fin.

Mars Snooper Build Part 23 Gluing Main Fins

The three main fins were glued onto the lines printed on the shroud.
Above the fins, the wrap of masking tape helped make sure the fins are all at the same height on the main body tube.
Remember, the root edge gluing area was masked before the primer was sprayed. This will give a better glue bond.

The three shrouds were primed and sanded before the fins and vanes are glued on. It would be impossible to get a smooth surface if the fins and vanes were glued on before priming.



The pod wrap didn't fit correctly around the BT-5, so I made my own.
On the kit wrap, the fin lines don't go all the way to the bottom of the BT-5 tube.

The inside and outside fins are glued on a little over 1/3 the way up from the tube bottom.

Mars Snooper Build Part 22 First White Coats

Here's the first coats on the upper section of the Snooper.

Everything was going as planned, I was spraying Rustoleum 2X Painter's Touch, gloss white.



Out of nowhere, the can started spattering!
I ended up with a pebbled, flat finish!

Luckily it sanded off pretty easily.
Maybe I got a bad can, I've had great luck with their paint before.
I returned the can to Home Depot and got another.
More sanding and more spraying.

Mars Snooper Build Part 21 Early Primer

The nozzle vanes were taped to a sheet of cardboard for spraying.
The outside edge of the fins are facing up, the root edge is stuck to the sticky side of the tape facing up.
Off the top of the vanes is a thin strip of tape covering the small edge that'll glue under Shroud #1.

After a shot of primer, the forward lug opening looks pretty good.
After sanding the seam should be gone.

The original kit used a 5" long lug. I made mine with a 3" long lug. The 3" lug is a workable length, but there isn't much left to trim off the top and bottom.

Mars Snooper Build Part 20 Filling The Lug Ends

When sanding the lug to the correct angle, some of the inside skin of the lug doesn't get sanded off. It rolls inside the lug and should be removed.

Using a sharpened dowel, the rolled edge is pushed up and over the edge of the lug. Now it can be sanded off with 400 grit on a block.
The dowel was marked with pencil so you can better see the rolled skin to be removed.


There is still a small gap between the shroud oval and the tapered lug.
Thinned CWF was used over the gap line being careful not to get the filler inside the lug.



Here's the lug - glued, filled and sanded before spraying some gray primer.
If the vanes and fins were in place, it'd be very hard to get all the inside surfaces filled and smooth. I'll do some primer work before gluing it all together.

Look close and you can see thin strips of masking tape over the vane lines on Shrouds #2 & 3. Again this is to keep a line of bare card stock open for a better glue bond.

Mars Snooper Build Part 19 Trimming The Long Lug

The instructions have you glue the long lug through the shrouds then trim the lug flush with the angle of Shroud #1.
I didn't want to run the risk of cutting into the shroud so I decided to trim the lug off the model.

The lug was slid into place and pencil marked around the oval perimeter of the shroud.





The lug was removed and angle cut with a new razor blade.






Here's the first dry fit of the trimmed lug in Shroud #1. The lower half of the lug is a little high.
It'll be removed again and sanded with a block until it matches the slope of Shroud #1.

Mars Snooper Build Part 18 Gluing The Forward Fins

The upper BT-20 tube was sprayed with primer and sanded.
After sanding to the tube surface, I could see the new mix ratio for filling the body tube seams is working well.
The tube was marked for three fins and the line run up the tube.
That line was then used as a guide and the primer was sanded off with 220 grit sandpaper for a better glue bond.
The line was redrawn again using my aluminum angle.


This is the upper tube assembly with the fins and fairings glued in place.

Before gluing in the nose cone and adapter, I'll check some classic catalog paint schemes and plan ahead for the colors.

Mars Snooper Build Part 17 Upper Fins

Step 6 of the original instructions has you glue the upper fins on first to the BT-20 above the adapter. Then glue on the fairings and round the outside edges.

No, not this time! After you've built many rockets, you tend to build for easier filling and finishing.


If the fairings were glued on after the fins, it'd be tough to fill and smooth over the butt joint.

I've flipped over my straightedge so the cork backing is up and the surface is flat against my cutting board.
The root edges of both pieces are lined up and glued with a drop of CA.
I know CA isn't a permanant bond glue, but when these two pieces are white glued to the upper BT-20 tube, they'll stay in place.
After the two pieces are dry, I'll round the leading edges before gluing to the tube.

Mars Snooper Build Part 16 Fitting The Vanes

A line was drawn on the vane connecting the outside edge to the widest points of Shrouds 1 and 3.
This over hang was cut off.





Here's the fit of one vane after sanding.






Just the shroud edges got a light coat of CA applied with a Q-Tip.

Throughout the shroud assembly, I was careful not to get CA on a surface that will get white glue afterwards. The CA would seal the paper and not allow the white glue to permeate it.

Mars Snooper Build Part 15 Fitting The Vanes

Here's the first new vane after fitting. The outside edge is larger than it needs to be for now. After I'm sure all the inside edges fit well, the outside edge will be trimmed to fit Shrouds 1 and 3.

Each vane will be individually fitted to it's own position going around the lined Shroud #2.
Position #1 is to the right of the launch lug. Going counter-clockwise around the shroud is positions 2 through 8

I used that first fit vane as a new template for the others.
Tracing around the vane made the next one slightly oversize.
Being a little oversize gave me some leeway as the shape of the shrouds change slightly as you go from fitting one vane to the next.




Each new vane was sanded to size and it's position marked.
Each vane was marked with small dots (1 - 8 dots) on the root edge.