Estes Indicator #7244 Build, Part 1, Parts

I don't know where I picked this one up - it may have been in an Estes Clearance Sale.

This is a good looking model. The design implies it is two stager and some builders have posted that they will make a conversion.

I'll keep it simple and build as it is, with a few minor changes.

This one feels like a throwback to the 1970s designs. 

BT-50 to a BT-20 with 1/16" this balsa fins. These fin shapes are more contemporary.

Mini engine powered. The Face Card says it will get to 200', I would think it would go bit higher.

Parts of interest:

A 9" preassembled parachute.

Large decal sheet. Note: To use the supplied decals, the face card model (almost) shows two black fins and one red fin. I found out I got the paint wrong when the decals were applied.

The 20/50 plastic adapter.

Two short 1/8" launch lugs.

X-Acto Knife Rolling Off The Table? TIP

In my teens I was fortunate to work at a print shop as a graphic artist doing paste-up.

This involved sitting at a drawing or light table making many long cuts using a straight edge and X-Acto knife. 

One morning our typist Pam was helping with paste-up. We heard a loud scream.

Her X-Acto knife had rolled off the slight angle of her desk and stuck in her thigh.

At one time, X-Acto made a knife handle with a hinge on the top end. You could flip the end making a bend in the handle preventing it from rolling. I couldn't find any of these online.

There is a no-roll handle on this Gripster knife -

On TRF there is a thread on Model Rocket Tips.

Sooner Boomer wrote:

Stick an eraser on the end of your X-Acto handle, this will help keep it from rolling.

GrouchoDuke had the best answer - 

A zip tie works really well too.

I just added a twist tie to the back of my knife handle.

Old (Original) Mars Snooper Instructions

With the upcoming Super Mars Snooper kit from Estes - you might find this interesting. 

When Estes releases the kit, a build will follow on the blog.

On the Estes Model Rocket Facebook page - 

Mark DiGregorio wrote: 

"When I first got into rockets at 10 years old there were no laser cut fins, you would have to cut a pattern from a piece of balsa sheet! I also remember building escape towers with one piece of dowel glued together on a template in the directions, had to make the spike by hand! Also had to cut chute out and put lines on with a sticker, things have gotten a lot easier since 1966!"

This prompted many responses, one from Mike Meyer:

"When I got into Rockets we had to harvest the balsa wood . . ."

James Zelewski (Jim Z's Plans) proved them right with a link to the original Estes Mars Snooper instructions.

Before it was a kit, The Mars Snooper was just an instruction sheet, Estes Industries Rocket Plan #25. To see the entire file: CLICK HERE 

      

The fin pods in the kit were first cut and formed from a balsa nose cone stock.

Simply cut the block into quarters,

Rough carve,

and sand round. Easy, peezy!

Glue onto outside edges of the two main fin pieces.

Check out the shock cord mount!

Make your own coupler, cut slits and weave the shock cord through the cuts. 

" . . . you may use the standard shock cord mounting procedure familiar to most every model rocketeer"

Glue the mount into the top end being sure to recess it 5/8" for the adapter shoulder. Sheesh!

Estes Antar Leading Edge Trim - TIP

I'm a little embarrassed -

I built a few Antars for Estes and didn't notice the silver line running down the leading edge of the wings. I tend to follow the instructions and plan ahead, but didn't see the silver trim.

The Antar is a difficult model to mask and paint. I wasn't excited about another thin mask down the wing edge so I decided to try something new.

Sprayed decal trim has it's place and has worked in the past. But, this trim strip rolls over the round leading edge of the wing. It'll have to be wide enough to hold on when set onto the top and bottom.

This is not an easy technique and might be avoided if you aren't comfortable using water slide decals.

 

I sprayed silver paint on a scrap piece of white decal paper. White decal paper will show off the silver better than a clear decal sheet.

The spray paint seals the surface, no additional clear coat is needed. After the paint dries, you can go right to cutting and a water soak for transferring.

The strip is about 1/4" wide. The front end is rounded to roll around  the leading edge. I was surprised how the rounded edge of the decal disappeared into the fin tip fillet. 

The decal strip was cut a little long and will overhang the the end.

After the decal is fully dry, the overhang was trimmed off with a new single edge razor blade. Try using a back and forth sawing motion.

The decal strip held well but might curl and lift over time.

I don't like clear coats but used a little Pledge clear acrylic on this one. 

It won't take much. Dip the brush and wipe off the excess.

Run the brush over the edge of the decal, only covering about an inch at a time.

Immediately wipe off the shiny excess. 

There will be some of the Pledge that will run ender the decal edge helping it adhere to the surface.

That silver trim line adds a lot to the finished build.

Lonnie Buchanon's Saturn M05 - Some Inspriration

"This is a "fantasy scale" rocket, since it comes from fiction, rather than reality. I have long been intrigued with the premise of what if the U.S. had rejected the Shuttle and had instead continued using and evolving established Apollo-Saturn hardware, in much the same way as the Russians have continued using the Soyuz capsule (from the 60's) and the R7 booster (from the frickin' 50's!).

David Portree has written some wonderful articles about this concept:

https://www.wired.com/2014/10/dreamingadifferentapollo/

Presently, there is a show on Apple TV called "For All Mankind" that—kind of—addresses a variation of this concept in alternate fictional history:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7772588/

But recently I found a story laid out in a discussion board called "Eyes Turned Skywards" that nails the concept and even has some artwork:

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/eyes-turned-skywards.208954/reader/

I went with BT-80, since I could easily get the Saturn V SLA (LEM adapter) and Apollo capsule nose cone assemblies from Estes. The only variation from the image I had to make was to include fins for flight, so I opted for altered Saturn Ib fins, adjusted to scale. While the Block III Apollo service module is shorter than the original, I went with the original length, simply because people are used to seeing it that length and would be confused, and the shoulder lengths of the cone and transition wouldn't let me go that short. The wraps are based on Frank Claunch's Saturn Ib wraps, modified and upscaled to BT-80. I used fine black pinstripe to create neat and defined edges between the wraps and the orange paint.

The detailed "greebly" parts were based on the K-36 and 2001 Saturn V plastic parts. I have these parts but didn't want to use them yet, so I made balsa copies. Some came out pretty good, some acceptable. The CSM RCS units were too small to carve so I just faked them with bits of wooden dowel. The F1A nozzle is BT-60 with an extra strip of body tube wrapped around the end. It serves a dual purpose of looking like a nozzle and taking some of the shock from the delicate fins when they hit the ground. For test flights I had used an old Apollo capsule with the LES tower broken off but it is friction fit in the tube and will be replaced with a complete nose cone soon. For that reason, the dual 'chute recovery system is in place, complete with 15" and 12" Odd'l Rocket parachutes."

As Lonnie mentioned, 

He didn't use plastic parts for all the small details.

The finished model is very impressive.

Lonnie's only regret was using an old can of clear coat to finish the model.

The clear coat yellowed a bit as it dried! 

The model is very stable with the added Saturn 1B style fins.

Quest America Build, Part 2, Stickers & Finished

I made a Star placement template for consistent placement of the stickers.

These two Star stickers go on one side of the four fins.

The stickers are printed on clear plastic. Peel off the sticker, dip in water. Leave wet and set in place on the model. The wet adhesive allows lifting and re-positioning if needed. 

This red bar/name sticker is set between two fins and runs down the body tube.

A problem: The pre-cut band is wider than the area between the two fins!

Cut new vertical lines close to the red lines to fit the space.

See the finished side view picture below - 

 

This is a great looking rocket with clean graphics.

A patriotic 4F/NC model.

Here's the fin with the two sticker star placement.

And finally - The white nose cone to cap it off.

Quest America Build, Part 1, Paint

This won't be a full build. It's a basic model rocket, no intensive posts are needed. I'll be making some observations on how the rocket was finished.

I took the sticker sheet into Ace Hardware to match up the blue color to the available spray paints.

Here I'm removing the Scotch tape masks from the fin root edge / body tube joint.

Notice how the tape is being pulled - Back and folded over itself.

On the lower fin you can see the many pieces of tape used to round over the leading edge tip. 

Any "corners" can be rounded by pushing the paint back onto the blue fin. Note I said "push" the corners back. If the paint hasn't fully set-up, the blue paint should roll back and not effect the white underneath. Avoid scraping if you can. 

It's easier to do this when the paint hasn't fully cured. Don't wait a few days before cleaning up paint masks.

Light discoloration can be removed using a white eraser.

TIP: Don't use the pink eraser on the back end of a pencil!

A pink eraser is more abrasive and can leave pink stains.