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Estes Plasma Probe Finished

Classic lines and a good tribute to all the "Probe" models that preceded it.
I do recommend this one - just be careful with the decals!
Taking cues from the Centuri Laser X HERE and Stellar Photon Probe HERE,
they really got this one right.

Plasma Probe Decal Fix

The Plasma Probe decals were a little thin.
A crease in the orange area cracked off a sliver of color and the white base coat showed through.
I have a second Plasma Probe kit, this second model won't get the Estes logo or nameplate.




Look closely at the orange area of the "A" in the word Plasma.
The black border line was removed and a piece of the orange decal cut off.

When putting a decal this small in water for soaking, hold onto it with tweezers.

To the left is the small orange piece sitting on the surface floating on a drop of water.

The inset picture shows the orange piece in position.

Save the old decal scraps - they'll come in handy sooner or later!

Estes Plasma Probe Build Part 19 Decals

Even before the decals were put applied, this is a sharp design.

It's a practical size and feels strong with that BT-55 lower body.
BT-55 and BT-60 models always felt like they would last longer.
It's the perfect LPR wall thickness to body tube diameter.

Keep track of time when soaking the decals. They will release from the backing paper at 30 seconds!
These decals were thin! Look close at the orange strip at the right and you can see how it broke up when positioning the decal.

The upper body wrap fit well and the edges matched up.
The lower BT-55 decal wrap had some overhang and the black squares looked a little long.
TIP: Try to start a wrap decal at the launch lug location.
If the decal wrap doesn't make it all the way around the body tube (or if it overlaps) the mismatched graphic will be hidden when the model is slid down the rod for a prelaunch photo.

After the decal had dried, some careful cutting with a new razor blade got rid of the overlap.
It's fairly easy to remove a overlapped decal area before any clear coats are applied.
I'll probably just seal the edges with Future/Pledge on a Q-tip.




I don't normally add the Estes name to a kit, but they overlapped the logo onto the "Plasma Probe" name.

TIP: When centering a decal like this, don't pay attention to the small Estes name. Center the larger kit name between the root edges of two fins, preferably opposite the launch lug. Again - for photos on the launcher.

Estes Plasma Probe Build Part 18 Orange Paint

The instructions recommend Testors Fiery Orange, # 1831M.
While the Testors spray paint is great, I have trouble paying $8.00 for a small can of spray paint.

I checked my older can of Real Orange Rustoleum 2X next to the orange on the decal sheet. It looks like the same color to me and this big can is half the price!
Decision made.

Be sure to hit the back trailing edges and back of the model.
This is to be sure there is color in all the nooks. Usually you see the areas missed when you are outdoors at a launch. After the decals are applied, it's hard to go back and touch things up.




After two lighter coats I did some wet sanding.

The inset picture shows the fin after wet sanding. In person, it's not really that glossy. The wet sanded fins are duller.
You don't have to totally sand to surface when wet sanding, take off the tops of the "pebbled" surface. A little of the gloss will be beneath that.


Here's the lower body after the tape was removed.

Many builders use the expensive hobby masking tapes.
Enlarge the picture and you can see the clean mask you can get with Scotch tape.
Again - don't expect clean mask lines if the surface under the tape isn't smooth. The Scotch tape (or any tape) has to have a smooth surface to adhere to or you will get paint under the edge.

Estes Plasma Probe Build Part 17 Fin Masking

This is why I left the small tips of the forward fins square, it make for an easier mask.
Masking around a rounded leading edge takes a lot of small pieces of tape.
Here I've just did one wrap over all four fin tips.

A long piece of tape goes down all the root edges.
Try to center the tape line down the middle of the rounded fillet.






Along the back the overhanging root edge tape was trimmed using the body tube edge as a guide.
Use a sharp knife and don't cut into the white paint on the edge.






Masking tape strips went down the open middle areas between the root edge masks.
Around the top was two wraps of paper.

All the edges got a light rubbing over with a sharpened dowel to seal the edges.

Estes Plasma Probe Build Part 15 Gluing the Upper Strakes

Here's Step 15 - Sorry, it was out of order!

The upper tube marking guide didn't quite meet up around the BT-50 tube.
I ended up making my own with eight divisions for eight strakes.





Mark the extended lines just inside the length of the strake root edge.
Sand the gluing lines to rough up the body tube for better adhesion.

You don't have to sand much, just remove the primer and rough the tube a bit.

Glue on four of the strakes at the 90 degree spacing. (Strake 1, 3, 5 and 7.)
Then go back and glue 2, 4 6 and 8 between the first four. You'll find it easier to get the spacing right visually by centering the second four between the strakes already glued down.

Notice the paper marking guide was left on the tube as the strakes were glued down. This helps get all eight to the same height on the tube.

Estes Plasma Probe Build Part 16 Nose Cone and Adapter

After the strakes are glued on the upper tube, the instructions have you glue the adapter and nose cone in place!
Don't glue the adapter and nose cone in yet - wait until after painting them black.
You'll save yourself some masking and the color separation lines will be sharper if all three pieces are painted separately then glued together.

The upper tube with the strakes in place was painted gloss white.






The nose cone and adapter were taped to some scrap pieces of BT-50 and BT-55 tubing.

Pull the adapter and nose cone out slightly so a little bit of the shoulders  are exposed and get painted black.

Here's the three pieces dry fitted after the paint had dried.

No masking and sharp color separations defined by the ends of the white body tube.

Estes Plasma Probe Build Part 14 Main Fin Gluing

A dry fit of the fins show the body tube sticks out a bit longer than the end of the root edge.
I really wanted the trailing edges even with the end of the engine mount tube.

Rather than try to cut a sliver off the tube, the engine hook was pulled back and the tube sanded with 220 grit on a block.

Earlier I had reinforced the inside lip of the tube with some medium CA glue.
This made a stiffer ended tube that would stand up to the 220 grit sanding without tearing or fuzzing up.
smoothing with 400 grit followed.

It's hard to get an even fillet on the root edge at the centering ring step.

I used another Q-tip to remove the excess glue.
Use the Q-tip once and throw it away.

Estes Plasma Probe Build Part 13 Main Fin Fitting

Because of the "stepped" root edge, there are three sides that'll have to be fitted to the body.
Fit the fins one by one and mark the tube and root edge as you go.






Most of the fin edges should fit pretty well. A little sanding with the block will get them tight against the body.

The raised glue fillet on the rear ring and engine mount tube prevented the fin corner from sitting in the joint.

Slightly round the corner to go around the rounded fillet.

It takes very little sanding on the corner for a better fit.
Sand a tiny bit off and check the fit.

Estes Plasma Probe Build Part 12 Engine Mount Gluing

The centering rings were a little small so I had to build up the inside diameter of the BT-55 tube.
A piece of copy paper was cut and glued into the tube for a tighter fit of the engine mount.






The BT-55 tube was short enough to add an upper centering ring fillet after the mount was in place.
The mount was slid in from the rear (no glue yet inside the tube) up to this point shown.
A line of glue was run around the inside lip of the body tube.

The rear ring of the mount was pressed into the glue ring.

I used the flat side of my sanding block to insure the ring was even with the end of the body tube.
This ring must be even with the tube end. The cleaner this joint, the better the fit of the fins.






A Q-tip was taped to a dowel. It is shown here outside the tube to show where the upper ring is located inside the tube.
A drop of glue was set on the Q-tip and an inside fillet made at the upper ring and body tube joint.

Estes Plasma Probe Build Part 11 Sanding the Dowel Joint

I wanted a small rounded piece of sandpaper to smooth off the CWF in the dowel seam.
400 grit (or any grit sandpaper) won't roll into a tight cylinder without crimping.

TIP: Set the sandpaper over a small dowel and pinch your fingers around the right side. Roll the sandpaper over dowel by pushing your thumb forward and back. This will round the sandpaper without creasing it.





Remove the dowel and you have a tight cushioned circle of sandpaper to sand the CWF joint smooth.
This works well as the tight curve has some give with no creases to scar the filled joint.

Estes Plasma Probe Build Part 10 Gluing Fin Dowels

The fin dowels are glued onto the outside edge of the fins.
The rear of the dowels extends 1/4" over the trailing edge.

Sight down the dowel from the outside edge (inset picture) to check straightness.

Brush some CWF into the open seam.
Wipe off the excess with a fingertip but leave enough over the seam to sand smooth.





The dowel ends will need some filler where it contacts the leading and trailing edges of the fin.
Apply a small amount of CWF with a toothpick.







I picked up the excess by rolling the middle stick of a Q-tip over the joint.

Estes Plasma Probe Build Part 9 Fin Dowels

The 1/8" diameter dowel was sanded smooth with 400 grit then sealed  with some old varnish.
I don't bother getting out a brush, just dip a paper towel in the varnish and wipe it on.

After drying the dowel was sanded smooth with 400 grit.

The dowel is almost 9" long. The instructions say to cut it into four equal lengths so each piece will be just under 2 1/4" long.

You could cut the dowel with a razor saw, but on a 1/8" dowel it's easier to use a razor blade.
TIP: Don't just roll the dowel under the blade, chances are the blade will travel down the dowel and you'll get a spiral cut. Mark the cut lengths with a pencil.
Start the cut but only roll around the dowel towards you for 1/2 turn.
Go back to the pencil mark starting point and roll the blade away from you.
Doing the cut "half and half" helps get the rolled cut line meet up.

The forward end of the four dowels are rounded with 220 grit followed by 400 grit.

Estes Plasma Probe Build Part 8 Glue Together the Fins

The fit of the forward and rear fins was checked against the corner of my straightedge.

The instructions are vague about sanding the leading edges.
Don't sand the leading edge of the larger rear fin until after the two pieces are glued together.
You can sand the leading edge of the forward fin before gluing.
Round it now.




Glue was applied to the forward fin.
TIP: Notice the glue doesn't go all the way to the end of the (already rounded) leading edge.
Glue can soak into the leading edge of the rear fin making it hard to round the corner when the two pieces are glued together.

Using the strait edge for alignment again, here's how the two pieces look when the glue has dried.

The leading edge of the forward fin is rounded and meets up to the squared leading edge of the lower fin.





Getting into the corner for rounding takes some extra time.
You can see why glue was kept away from the corner. The wood isn't hardened up from the dried glue.

Estes Plasma Probe Build Part 7 Fin Prep - Uh-Oh!

The laser cut "balsa" parts were easily removed from the sheet.

On this kit, the "wedge cut" from the laser was really apparent.
If you didn't square them up, the root edges wouldn't sit at a 90 degree angle to the center line of the model.




The eight forward strakes look like small launch lug standoffs.

They are small and loads of fun to sand square.




I didn't notice the difference in the fin thickness until the forward and rear fin pieces were stacked. The thickness difference is subtle, but would require some filling. The balsa sheet that had the forward fins was thinner on one side so two of the forward fins were a bit off..

I could cut out new fins from balsa sheet of the same thickness - or,
Sand the thicker main fin down to the thickness of the forward fin.
I'll cut some new forward strakes in the correct thickness.