Estes Delta Wedge Clone #1931 Build, Part 10, More Decals

Here's a good fit of the forward wrap decal.

Look close at the second picture - you can see a light pencil line beneath the decal.

Set the decal edge in line with the pencil line. It is very important to get the initial placement straight or the decal won't match up when the remainder is rolled around the tube.

Here's how the roll decal looks from the side.

A home print decal set over silver paint gives the red ink a candy color look.

 

This USA decal struck me as being too wide. It crowds the leading edge decal and the fin on the right side.

On my decal re-draw I made the USA decal a bit narrower.

I used two shorter scrap lengths of 1/8" elastic left over from other builds. These two lengths were tied together and joined to the Kevlar line from the motor mount.

A 12" Odd'l Rockets chute was tied onto a shock cord loop a few inches away from the nose cone. Normally I'd use a snap swivel, but didn't have any close by.

Estes Delta Wedge Clone #1931 Build, Part 9, Paint & Decals

NO masking!

The entire model was spray painted with Rustoleum 2X, Metallic Aluminum. 

These days I don't like using Rusto 2X, but have had good results with their metallic paints.

These long leading edge decals were tough to apply.

I set the decal in place (dry, before soaking) to get an idea of the spacing from the leading edge.

These decals didn't go well!

The long leading edge decals curled onto themselves.

The forward body tube wrap red color cracked.

It was also too long and the overlap didn't match up. 

I tried cutting the wrap decal shorter but took off too much!

I went back and copied a few of the leading edge decals to have some extras.

To get the right size, I made three different wraps, each one a little different width. All three were tried - #2 will end up on the final decal sheet.

Estes Delta Wedge Clone #1931 Build, Part 8, White Undercoats, More Fillets & Cleaning Up

After the white undercoats are shot - 

All the imperfections show up!

Fillet bubbles around the launch lugs and another bubble at the body tube/wing joint.

More glue applied and smoothed. Another coat of white is shot.

Some of the folds raised fibers on the canopy card stock.

The wing edges are also fuzzy.

TIP: Run some medium CA glue over the fuzzy edges. Lightly apply the CA with a Q-tip. After it dries, the glue stiffens up the fuzzies and allows it to be smooth sanded with 400 grit.

Estes Delta Wedge Clone #1931 Build, Part 7, Canopy Gluing

Set the canopy over the center raised crease line 3/4" forward of the top wedge fin.

Trace around the edges with pencil.

Again, it doesn't take much glue to adhere cardstock to cardstock. After applying a line of glue around the inside edge, remove any excess and even out the glue with a Q-tip.

Using the pencil line, center and press the canopy onto the wing. Hold until dry making sure the sides stay down against the wing surface.

On the left is the glue applied.

On the right is the finger smoothed fillet.

Estes Delta Wedge Clone #1931 Build, Part 6, Lug Fillets & Engine Block

After the glue dried, This shows how little was used in the rear plate fillets.

No glue on the lugs yet.

I ran a line of glue down one side of the lug.

The lug is turned from the back pushing the glue line into the joint.

Now you can add some glue to the back end of the lug/plate joints.

I didn't like that there was no engine block. I'd rather use some Kevlar tied to the block than have a tri-fold shock cord mount blocking the parachute.

A notch was cut in the block and Kevlar tied on.

The block will be slid down from the top of the tube dry, and meet the glue line applied in the next picture. 

For now, position the block in a "ready" position to be slid down using a dowel.

Using a dowel, a line of glue was set in the tube just above the upper bend of the engine hook.

The block was pushed into the glue, down from the top using a dowel. Keep sliding the block down until it rests against the upper bend of the hook.

Remove any excess glue using two Q-tips taped together for the extra length needed to reach it.

Estes Delta Wedge Clone #1931 Build, Part 5, Gluing It All Up

Here's a good fit of the wedge fin in the triangular slot.

This is still a dry fit - no glue yet.

Before the wing is glued on,

Apply some glue over the engine hook.

This could help as there isn't an engine block.

I added a glue tab to the cockpit. The original kit has you butt up and glue just the edges together. Notice I don't put glue on the tab, but inside the opposite edge. 

On the left you can see very little glue applied.

On the right, the glued area is held with long tweezers.

I didn't apply any glue until after with wing was slid on.

Fillets were applied and smoothed with a Q-tip.

Glue was also applied and smoothed around the narrow end of the wing/body tube joint.
 

Estes Delta Wedge Clone #1931 Build, Part 4, Fitting The Parts

Note the glue line down the tube in front of a wedge fin. You really don't need much glue to adhere the internal fin extension ribs.

The instructions better show this part of the build.

Before the ribs are glued in, the engine hook was placed and a retainer ring glued on top.

The notch under the long support ribs goes over the Mylar ring.

There isn't an engine block, some kits from this era didn't include them.

Here's the view from the back plate.

The wedge fins are glued to the tube and overhang the face of the rear plate.

The tabs on the plate slide into the wedge fins.

Another test fit of the large wing before gluing.

This model required a lot of fitting and adjustments before glue is applied.

On one side, the cut out for the wedge fin had to be widened slightly.