New Way Boxie Birdie, Build Part 7, Decals & Finished

The decals are placed and the build is complete.

From the bottom you can see the launch lug extending out the bottom of the centering square. 

For comparison,

The Odd'l Rockets Birdie 

next to the 

New Way Boxie Birdie.

New Way Boxie Birdie, Build Part 6, White Paint, Red Trim

In the pictures below you can see the masking tape placed on the inside surfaces. 

The birdie is painted gloss white and allowed to dry. 

Lightly set the top red vinyl trim in place.

Check underneath from all four sides to be sure it is centered before pressing down in place.

Roll over the sides of the top vinyl piece and burnish into place.

The long rectangle red piece is started directly at the center line of the launch lug. This hides the seam when the rocket is slid down the launch rod.

Almost finished -

New Way Boxie Birdie, Build Part 5, Assembly

Check the fit of the nose cap and trace around the edge with a pencil.

Apply a line of glue around the inside edge and press in place. 

Check to be sure it is level and even before the glue sets up.  

The engine mount tube gets a line of glue inside the end to slip around the engine block already in place.

Slide in and over the engine block.

Some glue will be pushed up inside the tube at the bottom of the engine block. 

TIP: It's a good idea to remove as much of the glue as you can. I used a long Q-tip to remove the excess glue.

It's probably not a concern with this rocket as the engine is ejected. But on other models, a hot engine could melt glue on the inside of the engine mount tube making it hard to remove.

The cap is in place - 

The square launch lug is glued into the rectangular hole and through the centering square inside. The top is even with the low edge of the cap assembly.

New Way Boxie Birdie, Build Part 4, Gluing Together The Body

The inside joints got a light white glue fillet. 

The glue was smoothed out and the excess removed with a Q-tip.

While the glue dried, 

the cage was held together with the cap slid in place - no glue.

You can see the engine block inside the top.

I set the rear centering square in place and leveled it as best I could.

The corners were marked with a pencil.

Small bits of glue were set at the pencil marks.

The plate was pressed into the glue dots and leveled.

Fillets were added to the plate/cage joints.

Use White Glue so it dries clear.

New Way Boxie Birdie, Build Part 3, The Top Cap

I sanded the top and bottom of the engine block for a flatter gluing surface.

The engine block is glued to the top piece of the cap.

The four sides were hit with the white eraser and cleaned up. Not really necessary as the entire top is covered with red vinyl.

All four sides are glued together in a square form.

I used the top and engine block assembly to align the four side pieces square. No glue on the top yet! 

When the sides are dry, you can glue on the top with the engine block on the inside.

New Way Boxie Birdie, Build Part 2, Parts Prep

Most laser cut cardstock has some charring and smoke discoloration.

You can clean up most of it with a white eraser. White eraser leaves no marks - a pink eraser could leave some pink marks.

The picture on the right shows the cleaned up part.

I lightly sanded the tab sides, the tabs that would be seen on the finished model.

On the left is before sanding the tabs clean.

On the right, the tab edges were sanded with 400 grit on a sanding block. You can certainly see the difference. The charred edges might be hard to cover with white paint. Clean them up for a whiter finished model.

New Way Boxie Birdie, Build Part 1, Parts

Thanks to Rick Randall of New Way Rockets!

I inquired about some short square tubing for an upcoming project. Rick sent me a few kits to try!

I've sent him some Odd'l Rockets stuff.

Of course I was interested in the Boxie Birdie! I've been producing Odd'l Rockets Birdie kits for years.

Like many of the other New Way kits, the Boxie Birdie is square.

Most all the parts are cleanly laser cut cardstock.

The engine mount tube is round to fit 13mm motors.

The launch lug is square

Two Q-tips are included to help with glue application.

Here's that square launch lug

Pre-cut red vinyl is supplied for color trim, no masking needed!

Four, small water slide decals of logo and model names.