Estes Star Seeker (Tri-Pack) Kit #0866, Part 6, Fin Assemblies

Keep your glue lines short - 

Set the lugs in place and make the fin edges with pencil. 

Apply some glue up to the pencil lines and place the lugs.

Here's how the lugs set when set against the fin joint.  

The wing fin assemblies are glued to a standard 120 degree three fin spacing, using just two of the pencil lines. This makes a wide "W" shape.

The "flight" launch lug is glued onto the third pencil line.

Estes Star Seeker (Tri-Pack) Kit #0866, Part 5, Fin & Launch Lug Assemblies

The dowels are glued to the top of the upper (unmarked) fins.

Two launch lugs are glued side by side.

Make two sets. I found it easier to make glue fillets now.

On the left, I've lightly sanded the glue line for better glue adhesion. 

On the right, the dowel fins are glued with that spacing overhang on the outside.

Be sure to make two "mirrored" fins.  

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 7, Gluing On The Upper Tube Assemblies

 

The glue spacing between the assemblies is set using the vanes between the segments. No glue on the vanes yet.

These are the larger vanes between the two low tube/ring assemblies.

Here's the middle tube/ring segment in place.

Apply a thin glue fillet to the upper open joint. After this glue dries, slide out the lower vanes and apply a thin fillet to the lower joint.

NOTE: I mentioned a thin fillet. A large fillet could interfere with the fit of the vane corners.

The smaller vanes are used to space the upper segment.

Here's where the highest ring will end up below and inside the upper assembly.

You can apply a interior glue fillet using drops of glue applied with a Q-tip.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 6, Gluing On The Low Tube Assembly

The tube assemblies haven't been glued on yet. They were dry fitted on the central tube and sprayed with filler primer.

After the filler/primer fully dried, the tube assemblies were slid off. 

On the left is a segment of tube between where the assemblies fit.

The filler/primer was sanded to surface filling any remaining tube seams.

To attach the lowest tube at the engine mount - 

I apply a ring of glue on the inside edge of the ring. When slid in place, it makes an internal fillet.

After the lowest tube is glued in place, you can fill the seams with CWF and sanding.

Take a look at the next step - 

I wouldn't recommend applying a glue ring then sliding the tube assemblies over the glue. That would make a mess!

See the next post on how to set the upper tube assemblies.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 5, The Upper Tube Assembly

The top tube/ring assembly has the bottom ring flush with the low end of the tube. 

The upper ring is recessed 1 11/16" below the top end of the tube.

The instructions have you apply a glue ring and slide the centering ring in position. Good luck with that, the ring will spin and probably end up crooked in the tube.

I applied the glue ring using the top edge of a dowel.

Notice the tape ring set at 1 11/16" from the top.

Apply a ring of glue around the top of the dowel. 

Use the tape ring as a depth guide as you roll the ring of glue onto the inside of the tube.

Used the flat end of a ruler to push the ring into position. 

The square end of the ruler helps keep the ring flat as it is slid into the glue.

Check around the perimeter of the ring making sure it is flat and the same distance from the top of the tube.

You can apply a glue fillet using small glue drops applied using a Q-tip.

Centuri Quasar Clone Build, Kit #KC-7, Part 7, Gluing Up The Ramjets

The plywood stop disk (from my Odd'l Birdie and Sputnik kits) was glued to the top of the BT-5 sized coupler.

The hardwood Ramjet cone is glued on top of that.

The Bic pen segment nozzle is glued onto the narrow tapered end of the nose cone segment.

A "fillet" of CA glue was applied around the joint using a toothpick.

Both the front end Ramjet and the rear end 

Nozzle are recessed 1/16" down inside the BT-5 tube.

All three are ready to go - 

To be glued onto the outside edge of the three fins.

Estes BOSS Kit #7316, Build, Part 13, Motor Intake Disks

The medium front motor disks (Parts I) are sprayed black, the smallest dots (Parts J) are sprayed yellow.

The instructions says to use colored markers but I thought I could get a more even color coverage by spraying them before gluing them together.

Both colors were sprayed on the same scrap cardboard. A piece of cardstock covered the smaller yellow disks while the upper disks were sprayed black.

The black disks were covered with the same cardstock and the small disks sprayed yellow.

After the first coats of white and black, the disks got a light sanding.

The black disks didn't need a white undercoat.

The centers of the Part I disks got the paint scraped off for the best glue bond.

The yellow disks are glued in the center circles.

The flat fronts of the motor tubes will be painted yellow before these are glued on.

Estes Odyssey #7235 Build, Part 26, Silver Mask, Chrome Trim & Gun Gluing

I love a simple mask!

The vanes and area either side of the leading and trailing edges of the vanes is painted silver. 

Scotch Tape initial mask and masking tape outside those. Plastic bags covered the rest of the body.

I had already test fitted the chrome strip around the front of the gun tube.

Start and finish your wrap where the seam won't be seen, inside facing the fin leading edge.

The front of the gun was slid in place.

A Q-tip was used to apply a drop of glue. The Q-tip was then used to spread out an interior fillet and pick up any excess glue.

On the right is the finished wing tip gun.

The plastic nose cones were glued in using - 

Everybody say it out loud on the count of three - 

Beacon Fabri-Tac!

Estes Odyssey #7235 Build, Part 18, Wing Detail Guns

The small rings (Parts R, S, T,U & V) were a bit loose around the supplied dowel. 

Some glue was set in the center hole to narrow the diameter. Let the glue dry before fitting on the dowel. 

I applied a small ring of glue around the ring position and slid the ring into the glue.

The right side picture shows the careful glue applications on the bottom of the S ring. Remove any glue that gets into the slots. Keep glue off the flat faces.

Here's the second T ring slid into the small ring of glue already on the dowel.

Hit the glue and turn the ring to even out the fillet. 

Doing it this way I kept things clean with most of the glue underneath. Sometimes applying additional fillets on parts this small leads to a messy final finish.

After the S, T, U & V rings were in place and the glue dried, The Y pieces are glued in the slots.

Note the small line of glue on the "root edge" of the Y piece. More glue was applied underneath the ring keeping the visible top joints clean.

Estes Space Shuttle Columbia Build #1385, Part 6, Assemblies

The fit of the triangular wedge in the rudder wasn't great. On the right you can see some of the distortion at the top and bottom.

This took some additional trimming for a slip fit.

Notice the balsa extending outside of the bottom of the cardstock wedge. After the cardstock rudder triangle was glued in place, the overhang was sanded even with the flat backside.

The split rudder was used as an air brake on recovery of the Shuttle. This model version uses the "open" air brake to deflect airflow and keep the boost vertical.

A quick search of the real Shuttle rudder:

"The split-rudder on the orbiter works as a rudder and also as a speed brake (found on most airplanes as a spoiler located on the wing). It does this by splitting in half vertically and opening like a book. This deflects the airflow, increases drag and decreases the orbiter's speed as it rolls along the runway upon landing."

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The original kit tape disks had lost all their stick. I substituted new Avery reinforcement disks.

The 18" parachute print was obviously an enlargement of a 12" chute. The blow-up works except where the tape disks are supposed to go. The location position circle is a bit large.                                                                                                                           

The body tube seams got a fill with CWF. Notice the exposed motor mount tube has some seam fill.

The CWF was knocked out of some small areas and required a second application and sanding.

The plastic nose cone mold lines were filled with a bead of medium CA and sanding to surface.

Be careful - the CA glue will run! It takes a while to dry so set the nose cone up so the clear glue can't form a drip.

Estes Super Orbital Transport Build, Kit #7314, Part 21, Final Decals, Ends & Edges

Before soaking the long narrow side decals -

Cut a relief at the bottom of the decal to clear the small front canard fins on both sides.

If you have built the Low Boom SST, you know about the long decals that can stretch.

TIP: I cut the long side stripe decal in two halves. Trust me on this one!

Apply the front half, let dry, then transfer the rear half.

The rear surface of the engine mount centering ring is even with the end of the BT-55 booster body tube. This is why you'll want to sand centering rings flat (before assembling the engine mount) so on the finished model the ring end will show a smooth surface.

I hadn't glued the engine mount in the body yet and it still needed to be painted gloss white. The rings and the extension of the engine hook were taped off and sprayed.

The interior of the glider nozzle is black. I used a wide point black Sharpie to color the inside surface.

On the left you can see some of the black on the edge of the nozzle.

Some very light sanding with 800 grit removed the black ink and gave a clean, white edge. 

Before gluing the nozzle in the rear of the glider, 

You can still do a little forming of the circle shape if it ended up slightly oval.

The nozzle is glued into the rear of the glider, with the centering ring even with the end of the tube. 

TIP: Rotate and line up the shroud seam at the bottom and it won't be as noticeable.

Estes Blackhawk #2053 Build, Part 7, Gluing The Mount & Tubes

Again I used some 220 grit wrapped around a casing to open up the side tube hole.

A dry fit and tracing around the tube joint with pencil. 

A glue line was set on the pencil line and the tubes joined. 

Double check the alignment before the glue starts to set up.

Like on the old Estes Trident -

TIP: Be sure to add some heavy fillets that won't blow out at ejection.

Estes EAC Firecat #0821, Build, Part 7, Sub-Assemblies

The BT-48 tube had it's seams filled - the seams you'll see anyway. 

The front and rear of the end joint and spiral seams were filled.

The area in the center will be glued onto the balsa standoff covering most of the seam.

The raceway was painted with some CWF. While it was still wet - The Antenna was slipped into the drilled hole, turned to round out the hole then removed so the CWF could dry.

The instructions don't mention rounding any of the fin edges, but the drawings show them rounded.

After doing some dry fits I realized rounded leading edges would leave gaps at the front corners. (See inset picture) I decided to leave them square.

Here's the wings, raceway and intake/engine glued in place.

Notice the back "step" placement of the small wing tip. A very creative kitbash.

Quest/Enerjet Minotaur Q5015 Build, Part 5, Nozzle Assembly

The small nose cone nozzles had some mold flash shown on the left.

This was shaved off with a knife and sanded smooth.

To fit into the SRB tubes, a single centering ring is glued onto the small end of the nozzle.

I used some medium thickness CA glue, transferred onto the joint with a toothpick.

Look at the dried ring from the side to make sure it is on straight.

To spray paint the nozzles silver - 

Set them on a scrap cardboard on masking tape with the sticky side up. 

Notice the "X" cut into the cardboard to allow the nose cone tip to go into the surface and let the ring sit on the tape.  

Many people recommend spraying silver over a black undercoat for better contrast.

I was curious to see if there was any difference as the nose cone was white and the ring black. I didn't notice any difference in the silver color on the two different parts.