Dr. Zooch Vanguard Eagle Build Part 42 FINISHED!

I used a wrap of masking tape to help line up the stickers on opposite sides of the booster and sustainer tubes.

I won't do a blog entry about the parachute and shock cord attachments. It's all pretty standard stuff.

The Dr. Zooch kits use the Estes tri-fold method of retaining the shock cord.

The suggested measurement of the rectangular tri-fold seems small to me, so I made mine in a longer trapezoid shape.

Here's three views of the finished model. For the correct matte finish, I'll give the model a final spraying of dull coat.

What a great kit! I especially liked the venting for the gap staging.

Check out the staging pictures on the Dr. Zooch website HERE. Click on the Vanguard Eagle name to see the pictures. You can actually see the vented smoke coming out the rear bells!
The detailed nose cone is a departure from the balsa cones usually found in the Zooch kits.

This model presents a good challenge. Some new construction methods made it a rewarding stretch.

This finished model went into the mail yesterday to Steve McGrath, the Vanguard Eagle Team Leader. Wes (Dr. Zooch) asked me to build this model for him.

Dr. Zooch Vanguard Eagle Build Part 41 Nacelle Motors

The nacelle Motors are cut from the finger grips on fancy toothpicks.

They work very well for small nozzles.

These are tiny! When cutting, be sure to hold down both ends of the cut or they can fly across the room.

I actually lost one and had to make new bells from my own (fancy) toothpicks.

I would recommend painting them black before gluing them on the nose cone.

I set a drop of thick CYA on a scrap piece of cardboard. Using tweezers, dip the end of the motor in the drop of CYA. While still holding the motor with the tweezers, set it onto the lower end of the nose cone nacelle.

Here's the motors in place.

The self adhesive stickers went on without any problems. You can take a few tries to get the smallest pieces lined up. The adhesive backing allows for lifting and repositioning.

Full color illustrations are provided so there isn't any questions about positioning.

Dr. Zooch Vanguard Eagle Build Part 4

I know, this one is out of order!
This Part 4 Blog Post disappeared and I had to write it up again.
Continue with the build going back to the Part 5 post from January 11, 2011.

In Step 2, you cut some smaller segments from the the T55 body tube.

You could use the supplied marking guide, but mine didn't make it all the way around the tube.

You could still use this guide easily enough.

Make a pencil line as far around as you can, then rotate the guide and finish the line.

Instead of using the supplied cutting guide, I used my Odd'l Rockets Cutter tool. (I know, it's a shameless plug.)

The first cut segment is 1 7/8" long. A second 1" long piece 1" is then cut.

Here's the 1 7/8" long and 1" long piece cut from the T-55 tube.

Dr. Zooch Vanguard Eagle Build Part 40 Sustainer Fins

The upper fins are glued in place to matching the cruciform spacing of the booster fins.
TIP: Here's how to make a four fin marking guide with a scrap piece of paper.

1. Cut a strip of rectagular paper not quite a tall as the fin root edge. Be sure the edges and sides are square. Make it long enough to overlap when wrapped around the tube.
2. Wrap the strip tightly around the tube.
3. Where the start point met the wrap, I ran my fingernail down the joint making a slight crease. A pencil line was drawn down the crease. (Picture on left)
4. Remove the wrap from the body tube. The wrapped area (between the start and pencil line) was folded in half and a pencil line was drawn down that crease. (In the second picture, the overlap is to the left.)
5. Fold the outside ends into that middle pencil mark and crease the paper.
6. Draw pencil lines on those two new creases. (Picture on right)
7. Wrap the pencil marked guide around the tube and mark the top and bottom at the pencil marks.
   

Paint will have to be scraped off for better adhesion of the fin.

Here I'm using the fin root edge and a wrap of tape as a length guide to make sure I don't scrape off too long a line.

The trailing root of the upper fins was glued right on the forward edge of the blue trim line.

Dr. Zooch Vanguard Eagle Build Part 39 launch Lug

You'd think the launch lugs would have been glued on earlier. But, positioning of the lugs is important , the lower lug goes to one side of a SRB.

Here's the upper lug being lined up with a 1/8" rod.

Enlarge the picture and you can see a pencil line drawn beside the rod.

This line is for reference. I'll have to scrape and sand off some paint for better adhesion of the white glue.

The paint was lightly scraped off and a little of the blue wrap cut out.

I should have layed the blue wrap on after gluing the lug. The seam would have been hidden on either side of the launch lug.

Dr. Zooch Vanguard Eagle Build Part 38 SRB Engine Bells

Here's the four smaller SRB engine bells.

The glued in dowel gives support and helps position the bells at the correct angle.

This shows the drill in place and a toothpick used to widen the hole diameter just a bit.

I used a good sized drop of glue in the hole applied by a toothpick.

When the toothpick was set in the drilled hole, the glue overflowed around the outside edges of the hole.

The toothpick was turned to spread out a round glue bead around the hole edge.

With the right amount of "too much" glue:

When the SRB engine bell was pressed in place, I had an automatic fillet.

Trying to add a fillet afterwards in this tight area would be very hard to do.

Time to take a break!

Dr. Zooch Vanguard Eagle Build Part 37 Engine Bells

The engine bells are glued in place, centered behind the SRBs.

Drilling the centering ring for the rear vent holes took a little bit of work.

I first used a sharp awl to mark the center and to make something for the drill to center itself in.

To start the hole, I used a smaller drill than the recommended 1/8" drill.
The 1/8" drill was used for the final hole size.

I covered the front of the body tube with the palm of my hand and blew into the engine mount tube. My breath did come back out through the engine bells!

Dr. Zooch Vanguard Eagle Build Part 36 SRB Nose Paint

The SRB half nose cones were taped down to a scrap piece of cardboard for painting.

These will be painted with gray primer. Gray is the finished color.

I sanded a little off the shoulder that will be covered by the end of the SRB tube.

This made it easier to slide the nose cone halves into place.

Once I was sure all the half cones were recessed to the same depth, a little thin CYA was applied to the sides with the tip of a toothpick.

White glue fillets followed. White glue dries clear and flat.

After all construction is finished, a flat clear spray will be applied.

All the white glue fillets will disappear.

Dr. Zooch Vanguard Eagle Build Part 35 Fin Painting

The fins were set up on their root edges for primer painting.

Notice the booster fins are masked away from the root edge. I didn't want a lot of paint thickness to hamper the fit of the fins in the slots.

Here's the fins after sanding down the gray primer.

Again, note the masked area on the larger booster fin.

To clear the wrap of electrical tape around the engine mount tube, I had to file in a long notch, a little wider than the tape span.

This notch will insure the top and bottom of the root edge will glue solidly to the engine mount tube.

All four booster fins in position.

Dr. Zooch Vanguard Eagle Build Part 34 Nose Cone Paint

The trim colors on the nose cone would involve a change in method.

A blue MonoKote trim band would not fit well around the tapered base of the nose cone. This lowest band on the nose would have to be spray painted blue.
I have an can of old formula blue Krylon that's a very close match to the blue MonoKote used before.

I masked off the lowest area of the nose cone. This is not a critical mask as the lower body tube will give a good color separation.

The lower taper was sprayed blue.

Above this spray painted blue band, a strip of black electrical tape will be applied. Even though this area is tapered, black electrical tape is flexible and should conform well - as long as the strip isn't too wide.

The mask was removed and a strip of black tape was applied above and over the upper masked blue band. The black tape strip overlapped the upper color edge of the blue.

Here's the finished upper body paint and trim.

Dr. Zooch Vanguard Eagle Build Part 33 Blue Trim Bands

If you've followed the blog, you know I won't mask if I don't have to.

The website illustrations show blue bands at every body joint.

I took a guess as to the width and cut Trim MonoKote Royal Blue strips.
These were simply wrapped around the body where shown in the drawings.




The trim band below the SRBs took a little work to get into position but in the end came out well.

Dr. Zooch Vanguard Eagle Build Part 32 Adapter Shroud

The Dr. Zooch shrouds always fit well.

Using my sharpie pen, I extended the printed black area slightly to insure black coverage at the seam.

According to the box illustration and the Vanguard Eagle website, the black and white color separations in the printed shroud line up with the booster fin positions.

After trying a dry fit (no glue) I decided not to glue the shroud tab together off the model. Instead I'll glue and join the shroud on the model.

Normally you would glue the shroud and let it dry, then slide it in place on the body tubes and centering ring. This was just a judgement call made on this individual model.

A thin white glue ring was run around the extended centering ring and top of the body tube.

Here's the shroud after coaxing it in place.

Dr. Zooch Vanguard Eagle Build Part 31 Paint

In Step 7, the instructions have you glue on the launch lugs after painting the two stages white.

I would have rather filled and glued the lugs before the body was painted.

I followed the instructions, in order. I'll have to glued the lugs in place after the body was painted. It'll involve marking and scraping away some paint for a good bond on the body tube.

Here's how the lower SRBs turned out after the white paint was applied.

I was happy with the fit and filling of the joints.

And, the nose cone with the white base coat.

Dr. Zooch Vanguard Eagle Build Part 30 Primer and Masking

TIP: Be sure you wash and brush off the nose cone before finishing!

For better paint adhesion, lightly rough up the surface and use a primer before spray painting the final white coat. Otherwise, the paint will not stick well to the aluminite nose cone material.

The stages were joined and sprayed with gray primer.

I tend to spray primer on a little thicker than most. I remove the bulk of the sprayed primer layer with 220 grit and smooth out that surface with 400 grit.

The picture at the right shows how a typical tube might look after sanding and before the white spray.

Look closely and you can see the masking tape in place where the transition shroud will sit. There is a thin line of masking tape over the centering ring that extends over the top of the T-60 lower stage tube.

Another wider line of tape covers about 3/16" below the separation joint between the two stages.

I had to mask the black centering ring and black rear stiffeners in the SRBs to protect from white over spray.

The picture to the left shows my patio door glass. Masking tape was stuck down and circle mask pieces were cut by tracing around BT-60 and BT20 tubes.

Here is the masked centering ring and rear SRBs ready for the white paint.

Dr. Zooch Vanguard Eagle Build Part 29 Engine Bells

It was raining too much today to do any painting, so I jumped ahead to the engine bells.

TIP: Make your shrouds with the printing on the inside. Sometimes the printed words "Shroud Adapter" or cut the lines can show through the finished paint.

This is still the best method I've found for forming shrouds and engine bells.

Using a clean sharpened dowel, press the shroud into the soft heel of your hand.

TIP: Press the dowel over the entire width of the shroud giving a little more attention to the sides. Give the sides a little more curl and the glue tab will lay down easier.

After gluing the tab, the engine bell is being held shut with long, smooth jawed tweezers.

TIP: It takes very little glue to make a shroud stay together. I usually lay a bead down then remove the bulk of it leaving a very thin coat on the tab.

After the bell dries, it'll probably be a little "out-of-round".

TIP: Before you think about coating (strengthening) the shroud with CYA:

Reform it to a better circle by rolling the shroud in the heel of your hand with the sharpened dowel.

I blackened the inside of the engine bells with a Sharpie permanent pen before using the CYA.

If I were to use the CYA before coloring the bells, the black Sharpie ink wouldn't have permeated the paper shroud as well. So - blacken, then use CYA to stiffen the bell.

If you were to glue coat the shroud before reshaping it, it'll be to stiff and dried hard in a distorted shape.

Dr. Zooch Vanguard Eagle Build Part 28 SRB Seam

The SRBs were lightly pressed down so the edges made contact with the body tube.

A drop of CYA on a toothpick tip was drawn down the seam maybe an inch at a time closing up any gaps.

I dipped the tip of my hobby knife in thinned CWF (Carpenter's Wood Filler) and dragged it down the seam filling in the edge.

In the picture, the upper SRB is dry and ready for sanding with 400 grit sandpaper. The lower SRB has been sanded.

After the filler was sanded, a light fillet of white glue was run down the seam.

This "locks" the filler in the seam.

Be careful and quick when smoothing out the glue. The CWF is water based and the white glue can break it down and make a mess if you're not careful.

I repeated applying another round of filler, sanding and white glue.

After that last white glue fillet had dried, one more final glue followed.