Quest Tomahawk SLCM Build FINISHED!

Many of the points brought up in the RocketReviews.com builds are consistent with my experience.

Matching up the decal color to the red and blue spray paint would be difficult unless you did a custom color and shot it through an airbrush.
The decals are tough. There's many pieces to line up, the stripes are made up of five segments! I have plenty of extra small decals left over. I have no idea where they should go. I tried to match the face card illustration.
Fitting the shroud was difficult, the supplied card stock is too thin. Both the shroud and air scoop should be replaced with thicker card stock.
The body tube shouldn't have been sent out in a kit. I would have looked on it as a "factory second" not suitable for retail sale.

Still in the end, it's a sharp looking rocket!

Quest Tomahawk SLCM Build Part 21 Decal Patching

You'll probably have some decals that aren't quite long enough.
Save any scrap pieces, you'll need them.

Under the wing fin I had a gap.






A 3" long strip of the blue decal was cut away from where it intersected the launch lug. A small piece of that strip patched the gap.






One of the four red strips is longer than the others. I assumed it was underneath on the scoop side, and lining up with the front edge of the wing fins.







Even though this was the obvious location for the long strip, it still needed a small piece added to meet the blue stripes on both sides.

Quest Tomahawk SLCM Build Part 20 Decals

As careful as I was to match the 3/16" mask to the decal, the first red curved decal didn't match the masked back shroud.

To match the width, I had to split the decal. I'll patch it with red decal scraps later on.




The long horizontal stripes are pieced together. There is five separate pieces that have to butt together and stay aligned.

I used my aluminum angle to be sure the edges were parallel to the length of the tube.


The very thin stripes are hard to keep straight.
A strip of paper was wrapped and taped around the body tube for a straight line reference.

Who knows where all the decals go?
There isn't a placement illustration in the instructions. I used the face card picture and guessed. The face card decals (and face card decal placement) don't match some decals supplied in the kit. I had a few decals left when I was done.

Quest Tomahawk SLCM Build Part 19 Masking

Sorry, Entry 18 and 19 were out of order. The NEW #18 post is below (this already posted #19) and all is in the right order now.


The red has been shot and this is the mask for the blue.
Once again, I'm using Scotch tape for the line masks. Over the top and around the fins are cut up squares from a grocery bag.

I know now why the instructions never mentioned rounding the fin edges. It'd be much easier to mask square edged fins.

With the tape removed, this is the red side.











And, the blue side.

Quest Tomahawk SLCM Build Part 18 Masking

After reading some reviews of the Tomahawk on RocketReviews.com, I knew the mask would be interesting.
Step 18 is a little vague. "Cut a 3/16" strip of masking tape with a hobby knife. Apply the strip of tape even with the top of the right and left fins." Huh?

You've really got to dry wrap the red decal piece to understand the mask.
With the air scoop facing down, a 3/16" strip of tape goes above the root edge of the fins on the left and right side.

The picture shows the rear decal wrapped around the tube. The white line between the red and blue areas is where the mask will connect to.



To be sure my mask would be the correct width, the marked Scotch tape was checked on the decal sheet.
If the width is off just a bit, the decal wraps won't match up.





This is the 3/16" wide tape strip in place.

On the opposite fin, the strip goes above the root edge facing up, not below.

Quest Tomahawk SLCM Build Part 17 Paint Match

I'd read reviews where other builder's have had problems matching the paint colors to the decals.

The cap on the Rustoleum 2X red is a pretty good match to the red on the decal.
I took the decal sheet to Home Depot and the Navy Blue looks to be a near match.
I hate buying a new can of paint for a "one shot". I doubt I'll ever use this blue again on another rocket. But for $3.77 it won't break the bank.



The instructions simply say to spray the rocket red and blue.

This picture is from the Quest website.
It looks like the catalog builder had problems matching up the red paint to the red in the decals.

Quest Tomahawk SLCM Build Part 16 Air Scoop

TIP: While the glue is not quite dry, you can coax any bulging out of the slightly wet glued card stock with a toothpick.
At the back of the scoop at the point of the fold, both sides wouldn't lay flat.





A view from the front of the air scoop.
Titebond Molding and Trim Glue was used for fillets here.
There was a small gap where the turned in tabs met the body tube.




The outside of the scoop got a coat of CA applied with a Q-Tip.
Normally I'd put the CA on the inside surfaces of a shroud. But gluing the reinforcement pieces and curving the shroud prevented this.

After adding reinforcement cardstock pieces and a brush of CA, this shroud feels like it's made of thin plastic.

Quest Tomahawk SLCM Build Part 15 Air Scoop

The paint will have to be scraped down to the bare tube for the best glue bond.
After positioning the scoop, it was traced around with a sharp pencil.

The picture shows the scoop moved away from the pencil line.






The paint was scraped inside and up to the pencil line with a hobby knife.
That was followed with some light 220 grit sanding.





After gluing, this is the scoop view from the back.
Pre-forming the scoop (with the dowel in your hand) really helps get a good fit on the body tube curvature.

Notice the left rear (long) side of the scoop.
The card stock will tend to bow out a bit.
See the next post for a tip.

Quest Tomahawk SLCM Build Part 14 Air Scoop

From the kit bag, the air scoop was printed on thin cardstock. Too thin for me.
I scanned and reprinted it on 110 lb. cardstock.

Still, I felt it needed to be a bit thicker.
I always print off a couple of shrouds, this time I did print off a few air scoops.
From the extras, I cut out sides and top pieces, my cut lines were inside the indicated fold lines.
In the picture at the right you can see the pencil lines drawn to the sides of the dashed fold lines.
These cut pieces will be glued inside the scoop, centered between the fold lines.
With the reinforcement pieces to the sides of the fold lines, they won't interfere with the folds of the outside cardstock.



This is Brian Urban's Quest Tomahawk from the last Tampa TTRA launch. Brian is one of the better builders I've seen in a long time.
He ditched the cardstock and made his air scoop out of plastic. Check out the scoop curvature, it's closer to scale.





Here's the final shape of my stronger cardstock shroud.
I decided to turn the gluing tabs inside.
The outside curvature was made by rolling over the scoop with a dowel in the palm of my hand.

Quest Tomahawk SLCM Build Part 13 Re-Gluing the Upper Fins

The wing fins were cut off without too much difficulty.
You can forget about reusing the launch lug!
You are best off trimming it down to the surface, not trying to cut it off at once.



Here's what's left of the launch lug fillet on the wing fin.
This was trimmed and sanded down to the surface with 220 grit.

The wing fins and new launch lug were glued on again, this time facing the right direction. Next time I'll check the illustration in the instructions instead of following the (normal) balsa grain direction parallel to the leading edge!

Quest Tomahawk SLCM Build Part 12 Gluing the Fins

Sorry I missed the blog posts yesterday! I was in transit and am home now.
Things should be back on track for the time being.

The fins were glued onto the shroud.
I found myself gluing the fins upside down. Be sure you check the balsa grain direction and the illustrations to get it right.

One fin glues directly on the shroud seam. I sanded the seam down as much as possible for a smoother gluing surface.
I ended up using the thicker Titebond Molding and Trim Glue to fill the gap.
White glue fillets followed.


Here's the upper wings in place.
Do you see my mistake?
The grain on the forward fins DOES NOT run parallel to the leading edge!
I'll have to cut, remove and re-glue them.


The 2" long launch lug is glued to the side of a wing fin.
It is centered along the root edge.

TIP: Draw center ticks at the mid point of the lug and wing root edge.
This is a quicker way to center something rather than measuring the overhang on both sides.





I found this profile view of the real Tomahawk.
Look how long the wing fins are!

Quest Tomahawk SLCM Build Part 11 Fin Glue Prep

The fins were cut from 1/8" balsa.
The instructions never say to round the edges, maybe they were looking for "squared" sharp edges. But, at this thickness, they looked clumsy.
After the previous filling and priming, I rounded the leading, trailing and outside edges. I'll have to refill and prime the fins again.
The fin on the left is square, the fin on the right is rounded.

Because I had problems with the body tube roughness, I went ahead and primed, then sprayed a white coat to be sure it was smooth.
This is not the best way to get a good glue bond, so the paint will be sanded down to the tube at the fin locations.
I used 220 grit on a block trying to sand a thin rectangle about 1/4" wide. Any roughness to the sides of the root edge should be covered with the fillets.

These four lower fins glue right to the shroud. It's hard to see in the picture, but the white paint was carefully sanded down to the card stock shroud surface. You can barely see what's left of the penciled fin alignment lines.


Five inches up from the top of the boat tail are the rear of the forward wings.
When the paint was sanded down I cut into the tube layers again.
Luckily this will all be covered by the wing and fillets.

Quest Tomahawk Build Part 10 Shroud Form and Fill

While the glued edge is still wet, the card stock shroud is pliable.
Use a clean dowel to roll over the edge. You can mold the card stock for a better fit around the tube.







To fill the seam, thinned CWF is brushed on.
Here I'm using my thumb to direct the line of CWF over the open seam and removing some of the excess.







This is the seam after sanding down the filler with 400 grit sandpaper.

Quest Tomahawk SLCM Build Part 9 Shroud Fitting

This shows the new tape width and position to allow clearance for the stiffening ring inside the shroud.

I ended up adding cardstock strips all the way around the rings for a better fit. One thickness of 110 lb. cardstock gave a better fit.

The Quest instructions show a gap between the wide end of the shroud and the lower centering ring. I felt with that gap there wouldn't be any support for the top edge of the shroud. I slid the shroud up and slightly over the cardstock wraps on the centering ring.
If done like in the Quest instructions, there would be a hollow area under the top of the shroud. It would be nearly impossible to get the shroud edge glued properly to the end of the main tube.

A ring of glue was applied inside the tube and around the cardstock strips.
The entire mount was slid in place.

If you left a gap between the end of the shroud and the lower centering ring, your engine mount tube will be flush with the small end of the shroud. In this build the engine mount tube extends out the bottom of the shroud by about 1/8".

Note the length of the slot for the engine hook.
The supplied shroud has a small notch for the hook. It was too small! When the hook is lifted, it would tear the shroud.
The top of the new, longer notch is 1/2" from the bottom of the shroud.

Quest Tomahawk SLCM Build Part 8 Shroud Support Ring

In Step 6, a stiffener ring is glued inside the shroud.
Cut a notch for the engine hook. It'll be too tight a fit otherwise.
Be ready, it'll take a few tries to get it straight.

Use very little glue in the fillet. White glue could shrink it up and leave a ring.
I applied the glue with a toothpick tip. The excess was removed with a Q-tip.


After the white glue fillet dries, a medium CA coat was added using a Q-tip.
This hardens up the cardstock and after drying makes it feel like thin plastic.

Keep the CA coat away from the edges where you'll be using white glue later.
White glue won't stick very well to the edges if the CA glue has sealed up the cardstock.


I noticed a "gotcha" coming up.
The instructions have you use a tape wrap to hold the engine hook in place.
With the tape as the picture shows, you'll never get the shroud over it!

Cut the width of the tape in half and move the tape forward against the lower centering ring.

Quest Tomahawk SLCM Build Part 7 New Shroud

I needed a new shroud, the supplied shroud won't fit around the new ST-7 motor mount tube.

Go to www.payloadbay.com and then to "tools".
At the shroud tool input the measurements:
Tube 1 = 1.57" (The Quest 40mm tube)
Tube 2 = .759" (The ST-7 engine mount tube)
Length = 2.16" (The height of the Tomahawk boat tail shroud.




The outside shroud lines were extended forward until they crossed.
Using the fin marking lines on the wide end of the original shroud, tick marks were made for the fin lines.
These tick marks were extended to the intersection of the extended outside lines.






A test fit of the shroud showed it was a little wide at the top. I carefully sanded down diameter.

Quest Tomahawk SLCM Build Part 6 Air Scoop

Jumping ahead to Step 14:
I scanned the supplied air scoop and printed two on some thicker 110 lb. cardstock.
The fold lines were scored using the backside of a razor blade and a straightedge.
Notice I've taped over the sharp side with a few wraps of masking tape.





I used the edge of my metal straitedge to fold on the scored lines.







This is the finished air scoop ready to be glued on the body tube.