Piglet-sus! Build Part 10, Finished

Well . . .  Here's the weird thing - 

This blog build has been in limbo, in draft form since 2011. 

After ten years, the final posts are missing!

That and I can't find the finished rocket.

Hopefully the above illustration from the PDF will explain the fin gluing and detail work. That Piglet-sus PDF is available to Patreon members.

Interesting - This original design was downscaled from the Odd'l kit. New, re-drawn wings are included in the OR kit.

I found some pictures from my launch records on rocketreviews.com.

The mouth, cheek and nostrils were drawn with a fine point Sharpie.

Practice on paper before drawing on the model. The picture shows the black lines have faded over time. 

The old Estes Cloud Hopper Goonybird had hand drawn details like this. 

The larger Pigasus kit includes water slide decals.

I'll have to make up another Piglet-sus to fill out my MicroMaxx fleet.

Piglet-sus! Build Part 9, Ears and Goggles

Cutting out the wings and legs could take some time. This triple ply cardstock is thick. I found it easiest to make wedge cuts and small trims afterwards.

The ears were too thick with the cereal box centers, so I ended up making them out of 110 lb. cardstock folded over itself. Position the ears with white glue, then come back with CA on a toothpick to set them in place. A small drop of CA on a toothpick is easier to set into an edge than trying to apply it directly from the bottle. 

  Just like the ears, set the goggles in place with white glue. Once you are satisfied with the position, go back with CA on a toothpick. The nostrils and smile are drawn with a fin Sharpie pen. Use a fine pen, the larger laundry marker Sharpies are too thick for the fine line work. Practice on paper to get a feel for the size of the nostrils and curves in the mouth.

Piglet-sus! Build Part 8 Nose Cone Nose

The pig nose is a short length of 3/16" diameter launch lug.

The length is 5/32".
For the front end flat plug, I tapered a piece of dowel so it "wedge fitted" into one end.
It was glued in and allowed to dry.

 

After drying, the dowel was cut off a little longer than the lug length. That was sanded flush with the front end of the lug.
A drop of CA gel was set on some cardstock and spread out into a small pool.
The nose was dipped in the CA and set on the plastic nose cone.
You may have to do some adjusting to get it centered before the glue sets up.

Piglet-sus! Build Part 7 Nose Cone

This rocket is so short, there won't be much room for anything above the upper centering ring.

The nose cone shoulder will have to be cut down to 1/4" long.

The bottom, white nose cone is the new one to be used on this rocket.

Before gluing in the shoulder, this model will require nose weight. Fill the nose cone 2/3 full with clay, tamped down into the front of the cone.

    

With the rear plug set in the nose cone, the plug edge overhangs the shoulder diameter.

This will have to be sanded down even with the shoulder.

Piglet-sus! Build Part 6 Body Wrap

The BT-5 body wrap was printed on 24 lb. premium inkjet paper. 

I had to print out eight different body wraps in different shades of pink to find a spray paint match. The nose cone color is Rustoleum Painter's Touch 2X Candy Pink spray.

Here's a glue stick being applied to the back of the body tube wrap.

The pigs front hooves will go over the body tube edge and onto the lower end of the nose cone.

The wrap is shown in place on the body tube.

This picture is from the first build. On your print, the front legs and hooves are a little larger now and the lines thicker.

The engine mount is glued in place, slightly recessed in the end of the BT-5 tube. This is to allow room for a glue fillet. 

TIP: Where I can, I slide an engine mount in place without glue. After I'm sure the positioning is correct, I'll add glue fillets to lock it into place. This "dry position, then glue" idea doesn't work in all cases. If the main frame diameter isn't much bigger than the engine mount diameter, you can add glue afterwards. 

Piglet-sus! Build Part 3 Laminating Fins

Oops! 

I skipped Step 3 of the build! I'll post it here today, then put it into the correct build order tomorrow.

Here's the wing fin "sandwiched" over the straight edge of the cereal box cardboard you cut earlier

Note the fins aren't cut to shape yet.

Lightly coat the back, unprinted side of the fin with white glue.

Set it over the edge of the cereal box stock. Push the fin fold all the way over (in this picture push to the left) until the fold is touching the straight edge of the cereal box stock.

Lay a clean piece of paper over the three layers and burnish. Clean off any glue that squeezes out around the sides.

Here's the side you'll cut on (left) and the other overlap side. (right)

The overlap on the back gives total color coverage to both sides.

 

Piglet-sus! Build Part 5 Engine Mount

Here's both rolled centering rings on either side of the motor mount tube.

I did use a sanding block to smooth out the flat sides of the rolled rings.  Be sure the glue is dry before sanding flat.

A small hole is drilled for the Kevlar shock cord.

Look close at the picture and you can see the gray engine block glued flush with the forward end of the mount.

1/8" was cut from an expended MMX engine casing to make the block.

Two overhand knots were tied on one end of the Kevlar shock cord. The free end was fed through the drilled hole.

The knot was pulled tight against the centering ring and glued down.

Piglet-sus! Build Part 4 Engine Mount

Set the glued wings, legs, ears and razor back piece in a heavy book to dry.

A certain TRF member went ballistic when he saw how I make MicroMaxx engine mounts. He doesn't see any reason to roll centering rings from card stock when all the pieces are available through vendors.

Sometimes a small parts order isn't cost effective. It's a good challenge to make them myself. 

Usually I'd roll the engine mount tube, but I did have a leftover piece of .276" diameter tubing long enough to hold an engine. The tube scrap was just over 1" long.

To make the centering rings, I cut long 1/8" wide strips from 110 lb. card stock.

To mount a 1/4" diameter motor mount tube in a BT-5, you'll need a strip about 12 1/2" long.

 
Start by tacking just the end of the strip to the tube end with a bit of white glue. Before rolling, let that tacked down end dry.

I usually lay a thin bead of glue down the strip about two inches at a time. In the picture a toothpick is used to evenly spread the glue down the card stock strip. It doesn't take much glue.

Roll as evenly as you can, building up the diameter. 

Again, apply glue 2" down the strip, roll and repeat until you get to the end.

Check the fit in a BT-5 tube.

After wrapping the 12 1/2" long strip, you might have to add on a second piece for a good friction fit.

Piglet-sus! Build Part 2 Folding Fins

For sharp folds, pre-score the dashed fold lines. 

On your prints (and in the picture to the right) there are boxes opposite the leg and wing outlines. These are the colored backs of the leg and wing fins. When the fins are glued and folded over the cereal box middle cores, you'll cut through all the layers using the outside lines as a guide. You won't have to worry about lining up any lines on the opposite (box) side. The other side will be fully colored on both sides after cutting out the shapes. 

Here I'm using a strait edge and the backside of a razor blade to score the card stock folds. There is a few layers of masking tape over the sharp side of the blade (facing up) so I don't cut my fingers. 

You can also use the tip of a butter knife with no serrations to score the fold. 

Fold the pieces on their score lines. Set a piece of clean paper over the top and go over the fold with the back side of a burnisher, in this case, the rear of a Sharpie pen. 

 

Using clean paper over a burnished fold keeps the card stock print clean. If there is any dirt on the pen barrel or burnisher, it will transfer onto your fin!

Piglet-sus! MMX Build Part 1, Prepping Cardstock

If you've already printed off the wraps and fins: Rough up some cereal box cardboard with 220 grit sandpaper. Lightly sand both sides. On the printed side sand a bit more removing some of the ink. 

Be ready, sanding the print side will make quite a bit of colored dust that can get everywhere. Wipe it off with a paper towel before laminating the printed fins.

 

Cut a straight strip off the long side of the cereal box cardboard.

This is to insure you have a long straight edge to fold over the fin skin overlays.

Piglet-sus! PDF Now Available

Let me tell you where I'm at -

You may have noticed some random build tips over the past few days. I keep these in Draft form for times like this.

Recently I built two DARC-1 kits and three Super Mars Snooper kits for Estes. Photos of the builds are done and many blog posts are ready to be published online.

But - Estes hasn't released the kits for sale. I won't publish a build until they are listed on the "New" products page.

I actually have about 60 blog posts in draft form  - short tips that can fill in a empty day. I once read that Charles Shultz had dozens of finished Peanuts strips ready for vacations or sick days.

This next MMX rocket was drawn up years ago as a downsize Piglet version of the Odd'l Rockets Pigasus kit. It flys, and flys well! Just be sure to add the nose weight.

The MicroMaxx PIGLET-SUS PDF is available to Patreon subscribers! 

Shoot me an email at: www.oddlrockets@bellsouth.net 

and ask for the MMX Piglet-sus PDF

The  home printed wraps and detail parts are laminated to cereal box cardstock. There are duplicate printed parts as these are smaller builds and some cuts can be tricky.

Parts needed:

The Body Wrap (24 lb) goes around a BT-5, just over 1 5/8” long.

The Nose Cone is a plastic “Mosquito” style cone. Fill it 2/3 full with clay weight for stability.

The pig nose is made from a 3/16” length of 3/16” diameter launch lug. Cap the end with a small disk of cardstock.

Cereal box cardboard

Centering rings and engine mount are up to you! Roll your own rings - it'll be shown in the build.

I can hear it now - "A Micro-Maxx build?" Sheesh!

Smaller models can test your building skills. 

Micro models are a great first launch of the day. That bare nichrome igniter will let you know if your batteries are good. Bare nichrome in the small nozzle will take a few seconds to light with a regular 6 volt home system. They are also good for a laugh before you bring out the big guns.