Estes Klingon Battle Cruiser, #1274, Step 15, Warp Drives & Wings

The sides of the Warp Drive pieces don't want to stay together. When you glue down one side, the other side opens up.

Earlier posts had the interior support tubes sanded down so the edges could touch.

More liquid plastic cement with finger pressure on both sides while the glue set up.

The large wing assembly is are confusing. Darn Klingons!

Here's how they actually look. The root edges are facing each other.

The front hull piece joint needed some CWF fill, the filler/primer and sanding.

On the right the front hull piece fits well over the BT-50 main tube. Do plenty of dry fits before gluing the wing in place.

GOTCHA: Those tips above the round center area do not have to touch! If they touch you might not get the angled "down" dihedral. Most of the gap between the tips will be covered by the Access Boom Detail vacu-form piece. 

Check the decal drawings in the instructions. The outside edge of the wing should be below the centerline joint (pencil line) at the body tube. 

Estes Maxi-Brute Honest John (Kit #1269), Part 15, Gluing Up & Sanding The Fin Sides

Before gluing up all the fin halves - 

Wait to read Step 16. I did a fin reinforcement to stiffen the plastic fins. 

This post shows how the fin sides are joined per the instructions.

The leading edge is already glued shut and remains closed in the following steps.

Slightly open up the gap on the root edge side a sneak in the brush to apply a wet line on both sides.

Close and hold until the glue sets up.

Where you can, open the two halves up enough to get the wet brush between the two fin halves.

Where you can't get the seam to open wide enough for the brush,

Brush on some glue over the closed edge. The glue is thin and some should seep into the joint.

After the glue dries, continue sanding using a block with 220 grit sandpaper.

Here I've started to sand down the overhang edge.

A joint has opened up - 

Brush on more glue and hold the gap closed. 

Don't sand all the way down and Don't remove every bit of the overhang lip.

Notice I traced a pencil line around the raised fin sides to better see the height of the overhang lip.

Sand very "close" the the fin side - 

Then sand and round off the remaining lip, shown on the right.

This leaves the fin a little stronger. If you were to sand to far, there is just two thin ends butted up against each other. Stopping a little early leaves a bit more contact of the plastic at the bonded sides.

Estes Maxi-Brute Honest John (Kit #1269), Part 14, Gluing Up The Fin Halves

(My camera focused on the closest edges. Look at the blurred right and left wider sides of the fins.)

On the left - 

Notice one side is higher than the other.

On the right - 

This is what you are looking for. Both sides are in line with each other. You can't count on evening up the overhang edges. Look beyond them and focus on the sides of the fins.

Alignment of the fin sides is VERY important. If one side is high, you could sand through it trying to even up both sides.

After checking the alignment on all four sides - 

Tape together the fin halves with a strip on masking tape, making a hinge. Check the alignment again before using any glue.

Open the two halves.

This allows you to apply liquid cement to the edges on the tape side.

The inset shows the Plastruct Plastic Weld glue I use.

Brush a fairly wet line down one side of the "hinge" edge. Work fast - This glue dries quickly.

Close up the fin and hold until the glue dries.

We'll glue the other three sides in the next post.

Estes Maxi-Brute Honest John (Kit #1269), Part 13, Thinning Down The Fin Sides

You are instructed to thin out the fin edge overhang to 1/2 of the original thickness. This is much like the old two-sided vacu-form fins in the older Centuri style Saturn 1B and Saturn V kits.

   

The big fin plastic halves are flexible.

Don't sand like the picture on the right - 

Sand as shown on the left, flat over two sides.

This prevents any scratching (and possible  thinning) of the inside wall.

After some scratching up the interior of the first fin half,

I taped the inside wall to protect the surface. 

Notice the forward fin half. The side edges have been thinned.

Note the inside corners are sharper, more defined than the unsanded fin in the back. 

I ran a Sharpie marker over the edges to show the thickness.

On the left is a fin half, not yet sanded and thinned out.

On the right is a sanded, thinned fin edge.

Estes Maxi-Brute Honest John (Kit #1269), Part 10, Spin Nozzles Units, Part 2

Mentioned in the last post - 

The curved top and bottom will be sanded through first.

On the right, the curved edges are trimmed off leaving the straight sides. 

The straight sides are trimmed off with a sharp knife and straight edge. 

Sand and clean up the straight sides with a sanding block.

Do some test fitting on the low nose cone section.

In the top picture, there is still a gap on the straight sides. This tells me I've got more sanding to do on the 220 grit wrapped around the lower nose cone piece.

Here's a better fit, all the way around the piece.

The spin nozzles will be glued on (later) with liquid cement against the molded lines around the nose cone base.

Estes Maxi-Brute Honest John (Kit #1269), Part 9, Spin Nozzles Units, Part 1

Score around the raised spin nozzles leaving about a 1/16" edge. Bend and crack off the sides.

Hang onto the larger scrap pieces. You might need them for patches on the fin edges. Anytime I've worked with vacu-form parts before, I've needed patch plastic.

Looking ahead - 

The instruction illustration shows a spin nozzles being glued in place. The drawing shows a flat edge border around all sides of the spin nozzle piece.

That's not how they end up after sanding in the bottom curve.

I taped some 220 grit sandpaper around the low nose cone piece. 

Go back and forth in a straight line (here going left to right, right to left) over the sandpaper.

The two side curves will be reduced first, the straight top and bottom edges are reached last.

Estes Skylab #001973, Build, Part 19, Almost Ready For White Paint

And now, back to our regularly scheduled program . . . 

Here's the seam side of the low wrap before the lower launch lug was glued on.

The wrap seam fill was medium CA glue.

Squeeze a drop of CA on scrap cardboard.

Dip a toothpick in the glue and drag the drop of glue down the joint seam.

Fold a piece of 400 grit (not a sharp crease) and sand the glue in the joint.

Run a dull knife blade over the filled seam - If you can still feel a seam gap, do another fill and sand pass.

 

On the details wrap, you can see the joint where the corrugation space is a little wider. 

The joint seam is filled, smooth and not that noticeable.

The upper wrap joint fill.

On this build I tried to fill the joints at the tunnel ends. 

I used the toothpick/dip CA glue transfer method but I found the dried CA hard to sand. I was concerned I might sanded through the thin plastic. Dried CA is much harder than the vacu-form wrap.

I didn't sand through it. Results were just OK, I wouldn't recommend filling the tunnel joints the way I did. Some of the White/black color separations fall right on the joints anyway.

Estes Skylab #001973, Build, Part 13, Fin Fairings - Enough Already!

Here's what the fin slot looked like after fitting and trimming.

You'll know when you've got the slot right when the fin slides in (dry fit against the lower body wrap) and there is a straight line down the long sides of the fairing slot - No bulges or distortion of the fairing!

The rounded tip of the fairing overhangs the top of the low wrap. This overhang leaves a gap.

You don't have to fill this tip gap, it's up to you.

I mentioned about keeping some of the excess border from the vacu-form sheet.

Cut a slightly oversize piece, slip it under the fairing tip and trace with a pencil.

After the tip is glued on,

Cut and sand to the fairing. 

The picture on the right is slightly distorted, that tip piece is glued on straight.

Estes Skylab #001973, Build, Part 11, Fin Fairings

Before I get into the Fairings: 

They will fit - if you take the extra time to get the sides sanded and trimmed enough to fit just inside the ribs in the low wrap

TIP: Don't cut the sides off too close! The excess edges will crack off when sanding.

Leave a good 1/16" around the fairing sides.

NOTE: On this build I cut out the fin slot before sanding down the sides.

Next time, I would probably work on sanding the sides before cutting out the fin slot. With the slot intact the fairings seem stiffer making sanding down the sides easier.

Trace around the slot recess with a pencil before cutting. This makes the inside lines easier to see.

Some 220 grit sandpaper was taped around the widest, open part of the main body tube.

This is what takes the extra time.

Back and forth, back and forth over the sandpaper

Keep an eye on the sides and corners as they get thinner when sanding.

They will start to fold back.

When the plastic gets thin enough, you can bend it and remove the edges.

Add the reinforcement disks inside the bottom of the fairings before continuing sanding.

I did something similar on my Saturn V #1969 build. Those were simple 110 lb. card stock glued to the bottom face of the fairing.

These thick crescent disks are glued inside the fairing base. I used Fabri-Tac to adhere them.

Notice the inside edge overhangs the crescent disks. There is still more sanding and fitting to be done.

Estes Skylab #001973, Build, Part 10, Adapter Joint Fill & Tunnels

You should tape the wraps tightly shut until the adhesive completely sets up.

I mentioned to keep the scrap plastic after cutting out the wraps.

I cut a thin strip of plastic to fill the gap. It was pressed into place even with the two side edges. Medium CA glue was carefully applied with a toothpick.

The long bottom was trimmed off after the glue dried.  

The tunnels are cut to size to fit in the space between the wraps.

Notice on the left picture - the pencil lines ended up a little off after the wraps were glued in place. As mentioned earlier, the tunnels should run straight, you might have to make wrap adjustments so they are perfectly vertical.

Be aware - the corrugated wraps can stretch a bit.

The instructions don't mention this - 

TIP: I cut out a notch in the wrap edge so the tunnels fit flat against the body tube.

After you fit a tunnel - 

TIP: Mark the back of the tunnel and its body tube position.

The bottom four tunnels are in same-size pairs and easy to mix up!

Estes Skylab #001973, Build, Part 9, Adapter & Third Stage Wrap

Double check the Third Stage Wrap to be sure you know the top and bottom. I marked mine TOP on the inside wall in pencil.

Tape the wraps down before spraying and adhesive on the back.

Notice the wrap is a little taller than the top of the body tube.

The instructions show the Third Stage Wrap being glued  down before the Body Wrap (adapter) Reduction.

GOTCHA: I'd recommend sticking down the Reduction (adapter) wrap first, then apply the Third Stage Wrap.

I had what I thought was a near perfect fit of the Reduction (adapter) wrap by itself before the Third Stage Wrap was in place. 

I followed the instructions placing the Third Stage Wrap first. That spaced out the fit of the Reduction adapter fit making a gap at the butt joint.

I had to cut a small slice around the low end of the Third Stage Wrap as it was laying over the top edge of the cardstock shroud. This should allow the vacu-form reduction gap to close up a bit. 

This picture shows a dry fit. The gap is shown  before the thin slice was cut from the bottom of the third stage wrap. 

After removing a bit off the Third Stage Wrap, the gap is still there, but no where near as wide.

Estes Skylab #001973, Build, Part 7, Wrap Clean-up & Seam Filling

On the left -  a bit of the spray adhesive got on the outside face of the wrap. Clean this off before using any spray paint.

On the right - There is some adhesive bits along the edges of the wrap. Try to remove them with a knife blade tip and tweezers. You can use regular strength  Goo-Gone on a Q-tip to pick them up. But go light - the Goo-Gone can dissolve the primer coat on the body tube.

The edge seam joints can be filled with medium CA glue applied with a toothpick. This technique works for me, but fill with what you are comfortable with.

Squeeze out a drop of medium CA on scrap cardboard. Dip a  toothpick in the drop of glue and run it down the joint seam. Make a long, shallow bead line of CA glue. Don't go too wide, you are trying to fill just the seam recess crack. Quickly pick up any excess with a Q-tip. 

Lightly sand the hardened CA glue joint with a piece of folded 400 grit. Repeat if needed until the seam joint is filled.

Lightly feel the joint with a dull knife blade to see if the seam is smooth and filled, if not - repeat.

Estes Skylab #001973, Build, Part 6, The Vacu-Form Wraps

There are no shortcuts to fitting the wraps.

Wrap around the tube and mark the overlap. Trim a little oversize.

Then sand and check the fit. 

Repeat until both ends match up with (hopefully) an equal spacing between the ribs and very little seam to fill.

Notice on the right side - pencil marks to reference the 1/16" wide edge border cut.

Before spraying the backs with adhesive - 

Double check to be sure you are spraying the back side.

I use a small roll of tape to hold the wrap down on scrap cardboard for adhesive spraying.

Spray directly over the back, not from the sides. You want the adhesive just on the back. It would be difficult to remove adhesive from between the corrugation ribs.

I used the 3M Super #77 permanent spray.

You will be lining up the left edge of the wraps down the vertical pencil line.

GOTCHA: The Upper 2nd Stage Wrap end does not start on the pencil line!

Check the single conduit position on the Second Stage Wrap and line up the conduit top in the upper wrap to find the correct start position.

Be sure to double check the alignment of the conduits. Sight from the rear. 

If they are not in line, the conduits will end up looking crooked on the finished model.

A few points didn't want to stay down on the body tube.

Some CA glue was slipped in on a knife blade.

A smooth pointed dowel held down the raised areas as the glue set up.

Estes Saturn 1B, #7251 Build, Part 12, Upper Wrap GOTCHA!

GOTCHA: After the middle wrap is in place - Don't immediately adhere the upper wrap using the single pencil line drawn down the body tube.

On my two builds, I found the longer tunnel would not sit  perfectly vertical in the upper wrap recess. If the edge is started on the pencil line, the upper wrap tunnel recess ends up almost 1/16" to the left of the lower wrap. (See right inset picture)

Extend lines up from the lower wrap tunnel recess and adhere the upper wrap positioning over the new pencil lines.

My two kits were pre-production. This upper wrap alignment might be fixed when the kit is released. Double check before adhering the upper wrap.

Here you can see the butt joint of the wrap edges, where they end up a little to the right of the original pencil line. (Enlarge the picture)

After spraying with 3M 77 and rolling around the tube, tape down the ends securing the joint. 

As with most wraps, the ends can lift over time. 

A drop of medium CA was squeezed out onto scrap cardboard.

Did the tip of a toothpick in the glue and run it down the joint and hold closed until dry. Medium CA can help fill the crack at the ends. 

Pick up any excess CA glue with a Q-tip before it sets up.

You can fold a piece of 400 grit and sand down the corrugation recess seam. If needed, go back and do another pass of CA seam fill. The medium CA should sand easily - don't sand through the thin vacu-form wrap.

Build time:

Fit and Adhere Upper Wrap: 45 minutes

Total build time so far: 8 hours