This is a great looking model at a great price. All was great except for the short coupler and stick on decals. This should be a good fly...

The shock cord seemed a little short for me, they usually are. Rather than cut a new piece of elastic, I simply tied on another scrap pi...

There was a little bit of white along the body tube edge at the top of the sticker. When the two tubes were coupled together, you coul...

Look close and you can see the center pencil marks. The upcoming numbered strips are being fitted into some concave joints. These are ...

Those wrap around bands were set down first for a reason. You'll be setting the Solar Explorer name stickers centered between them. ...

The decal bands were a little bit of a problem. I tried to set the lower red band against the joint of the 50/55 tube. The fillet got i...

I hate stick on decals! It would have been easier to scan and print out a set of water transfer decals, but I went with the stickers supplie...

The  humidity has dropped in Florida! I was looking forward to the cool weather and faster paint drying times. I had done two light coat...

Look at your first white coats under a strong light from all angles. Any specs of paint or glue blobs should be sanded down now before any...

This is the nearly complete Solar Explorer after the first coat of Rustoleum gloss white. This is a great looking - LONG - BT-50 based ...

The instructions have you glue the two short lugs centered between two fins. They are glued 1/4" from the top and bottom of the BT-5...

The fins are glued 3/8" from the front and rear of the BT-55 section. A straight strip of masking tape was set down at the 3/8"...

The two BT-50 body tube sections are joined with a 1" long coupler. I thought this coupler was a little too short. A 2" long cou...

With the BT-55 section in place, slide it to 3/8" from the end and mark with a pencil. Slide the BT055 section away from the pencil...

In the next few posts I'll refer to the lower body tube assembly (BT-55 and 50/55 Centering Rings) as the BT-55 section. The BT-55 ...

A line of Titebeond Molding and Trim Glue was used for the inside fillets. Lonnie Buchanon gave me this tip: TIP: Be sure your fingerna...

While the instructions don't get into any detail about gluing the outside fins - Alignment of the top of the "T" fins shoul...

In this picture, the CWF has already been sanded down with 400 grit on a block. All the flat surfaces and edges were sanded flat. Here ...