S.D. Xanadune Build FINISHED!

This model was a great break after the Saturn V build.
I was ready for something different and this certainly fit the bill.

I have to give credit to whomever the designer was. There are a few great innovations but other ideas fall short.

The laser cut parts fit together very well, but the burns weren't clean.

The integrated baffle/centering ring assembly was interesting. (The instructions still call for a single square of wadding on top of the baffle.)

The round shock cord seems stiff and too short for the model.

The provided parachute shroud lines were half the length they should have been.

The engine lock ring is new to me and works well.

There is very little room for the parachute.

I can't quite figure out the reasoning behind the "nasal strip" tape strips and plywood reinforcements.

Angled spin fins. The wood grain wasn't parallel to the leading edge.

Still, a welcome change from the ordinary.
That silver and gold paint is already showing fingerprints!

I look forward to seeing how well it flys!

Followup: The first flight wasn't successful. While the boost was spinning and straight, most of the ejection charge blew out the back side of the square engine mount! The nose cone dislodged, but the parachute stayed inside. The parachute had a small melt, even with the baffle and a recommended square of wadding.
The flight report with pictures is HERE

S.D. Xanadune Build Part 12 Assembly

The parachute was tied to a snap swivel.
Again, note the short shroud lines.

The snap swivel was attached to the shock cord a few inches down from the nose cone attachment lug.

Here's a picture of the the engine lock ring holding an engine in place.

This picture was taken before all the fin trim lines were on.
A pretty interesting way to lock in the engine. It fits well and cannot be shaken loose.

S.D. Xanadune Build Part 11 Trim Stripes

1/16" wide strips were cut from the Contact paper for trim.
(I should mention the while the Contact paper is called a "paper" it's actually a thin vinyl. )
I wanted to have angled trim strips going around the nose cone and lower engine mount bodies.
The only problem, the vinyl strips won't lay flat around the corners.

I ended up using the small scissors on my Swiss Army Knife to cut the corners apart.

The pieces were individually removed and slight angles trimmed on an area of the backing sheet.

S.D. Xanadune Build Part 10 Paint and Trim

After the gray primer was sanded down, here's the main body with the white undercoat.

I decided to paint the model with metallics, gold and silver.
I'd always liked the bare metal look of the science fiction concept ships.

Two opposing fins were glued in place and fillets applied.
This entire assembly would be silver.
Actually, I'll be using a can of the cheap WalMart Aluminum. I've had great luck with it in the past.
The two other fins and long nose cone were painted with Krylon gold.


This trim material is amazing. It's Contact paper, a semi gloss black made to be used as a blackboard covering. I picked up a roll at Michael's craft store.

Tapered strips were cut with a straightedge and stuck down a little below the leading edge.

This will be the cockpit glass on the nose cone.
All pieces were cut to size while still on the Contact paper backing sheet.

Only the black top layer was cut completely through.




The masking tape is there as a guide to line up the two opposite sides.

A final piece of the canopy glass went over the top.

S.D. Xanadune Build Part 9 Uh Oh!

This actually happened twice before. I'm tired of gluing them back on.

On the low side of the nose cone base and top of the engine mount sections are a scalloped area with a "suspended" circle.

The laser cutting was rough and the side strips supporting the center circles are too thin! This was the third area that broke during construction.
To be honest, this was one design feature I didn't like.

So - I broke them off.

There was no way to sand the rough laser cuts smooth. I didn't like the idea of a charred up decoration on the finished model. This design is so different, nobody will miss them.

Here's how the ends look now.

S.D. Xanadune Build Part 8 Fins

All four fins were warped!

I'll take out the curve before gluing them in place.
A little bit of water then sitting in a heavy book overnight should take care of it.


I tried a dry fit of the fins.
You can see the cant of the fin in it's root edge slot.
The two launch lugs are also in place.

S.D. Xanadune Build Part 7 Mid Body

The narrower mid-body is glued together. There are no internal supports, it's a hollow square tube.

This is the dry fit of the three sections. Everything slip fits very well.

You can see the laser cut geometric design swirls over the side walls. I can't see how to finish these, sanding the parts square just about removes them. If I didn't sand everything smooth, they'd probably show up in a color coat.

This is the Teflon engine lock ring in place.

An 18mm engine slips in easily. The ring tabs go into their four slots and the ring is turned to hold the engine in place.
Pretty ingenious, as long as you don't lose the ring.

S.D. Xanadune Build Part 6 Engine Mount

Before gluing the motor mount together, I covered all the (engine side) baffle pieces with white glue. This will help protect the baffle faces from the ejection charge.

Once again, the tab sides that will make contact were lightly sanded to remove the rough edges.

The engine mount goes together much like the nose cone except there is four supports.

The lowest support is the engine block, in the middle is two baffles. The shock cord attachment is on top.

This is the mount glued together and drying.

S.D. Xanadune Build Part 5 Nose Cone

The front support piece is then glued into the first nose cone wall.

The two side wall are glued on, and lock into the long tabs on the first side's base.

This is the nose end. I lightly sanded down the rough laser cut edges for a little better fit in the end.

The nose cone tip must be bent to meet at the tip. CA glue was used to tack it together, followed by white glue fillets inside.

To glue town the last side, white glue was applied to the edges. the glue was applied to the inside of the edges so the glue wouldn't ooze out to the outside surfaces of the nose cone.

I didn't know yet if I wanted to stain the rocket or not. Stain won't permeate white glue.

Rubber bands were used to hold everything together while it dried.

S.D. Xanadune Build Part 4 Lug Gluing

Here's a dry test fit of the forward and rear nose cone supports. The lower support has a slot for the shock cord lug attachment.

The shock cord "lug" is slid through the slot and glued in place.

If you ever build one of these kits, be careful here. I broke the centering ring support on the engine mount side when pushing the low lug in place.

The laser cut pieces are thin and delicate.

The shock cord is tied on before gluing the support into the nose cone side. It'd be hard to tie it on after the support is glued in.

S.D. Xanadune Build Part 3 Parachute

While the lugs dry, the parachute is next up in the instructions.
The tape strips are unlike anything I've ever seen in a kit.
In addition to the weird shape, they seem too large for a 12" parachute.



A reinforcing plywood piece is stuck near the center fold of each strip.




The lower half goes under each corner.
You have to be careful when folding over the tape strip. The shroud line holes must line up.




I used a toothpick to be sure both holes were on top of each other.
The parachute material is translucent, it's easier just to look through before folding over the strip.

These tape strips are difficult to position and center correctly.
I don't see any reason for the plywood reinforcements.

S.D. Xanadune Build Part 2 Lugs

The instructions are confusing. It looks as if the patent illustrations were used.
There is plenty of copy but only four illustrations are shown.
The illustrations are exploded drawings. While the laser cut parts are lettered, the instruction parts are numbered.

A first time builder would have trouble getting through the build.

First up, the lugs are made.
Two are glued back to back, making two sets of each.

The larger holed lugs on the left are the launch lugs.
The smaller holed "lugs" are actually a shock cord retainer.

The two matching pieces were glued together and held in a clothespin until dry.

Stellar Dimensions Xanadune Part 1 Parts

I picked this kit up for $10.00 at the May TTRA Tampa launch.
I'd seen a few on EBAY, but never closeup.

Stellar Dimensions is no longer in business, they had a half dozen kits in production in the late 1990s.
Their claim to fame was their rocket bodies were square. Most all parts were laser cut from basswood and thin ply. The visible side of the body parts had faint laser cut lines in geometric patterns.

Here's all the parts laid out. If you count everything, there is 48 pieces to put together.

In the bag, the kit seems flat. There is no round body tube or nose cone to be seen. Some of the laser cut parts had broken free from the sheets. The loose pieces were taped together for the picture.

Along the bottom from left to right are the 4 engine mount sides, 4 fins, 6 engine block centering rings and 4 mid body pieces.

The four long tapered pieces above are the nose cone sides.

Here's some of the more interesting parts.
One the left are the big shroud line tabs and plywood reinforcements. The tabs look like Breathe-Right nasal strips!
The white circular piece is the Teflon motor lock ring.
The black coil is the short shock cord. It's like a thin piece of licorice, too short for my liking.
On the far right is the "centering rings / baffle" pieces. More on those later.