Saturday, November 22, 2025

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 14, Secondary Hull Brace Slot Cutting




I put off cutting the brace slots in the secondary hull. I wanted to practice on cutting the tube slots first.




Draw a pencil line a bit smaller than the brace width. Square on the front, round on the back. 




Use the tip of the knife to make the square corners.
Note the blade is turned up to make the lower corner cut first. 



The long sides are cut.


Leave the rounded back end for last.



I used a round diamond file to extend the width and round the back.

Finish up with a flat file for the sides.





Here's a good friction fit of the brace in the slot.

Friday, November 21, 2025

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 13, Pylon Brace Gluing




A quick update after my dog Dakota's first camping trip - 
She did great! Lots of new smells on the hiking trails. Met a few people and slept through the night on her dog bed from home. 
Didn't bark once - until she got home.
    

The instruction drawing shows the interior brace contacting the tube at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions.

My brace position ended up lower inside the tube.
You can see some glue reflection inside.





I used a glue bead on a Q-tip to reach inside and apply fillets.







The corner of a CD case was used to check the right angle of the pylon brace on the tube.

Tuesday, November 18, 2025

I'm Camping!

 

No posts?
I'm camping with my dog Dakota!
I'll be gone from Tuesday November 18 through the 20th.

Things should resume on November 21.

Monday, November 17, 2025

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 12, Gluing The Support Ring

The contact cement capsules have dried out and aren't useable. I bought some new contact cement at Home Depot.

If you've never used contact cement before - 
You apply the glue to both parts and let it dry. When the dried glue touches the other glued part, it grabs and holds strong.

There is a good reason why it is called "contact" cement.

The support ring is centered in the bottom hull half and the perimeter is traced with pencil. Center and trace the ring on the upper and lower hull halves.

A ring of contact cement is brushed on the pencil line.
Contact cement is applied to the edge of the support ring and allowed to dry.

Center the ring inside the pencil line and press into the hull.

Here the lower edge of the support ring is set and glued in place.

Apply contact cement to the upper edge of the support ring and inside the pencil line in the upper half.
Fit, press and join the two hull halves together adhering the support ring in place. 



Held up to a light you can see the ring inside the round hull.









Run liquid plastic cement inside the overlapping joint.
Dip and push the brush into the seam as best as you can.

Sunday, November 16, 2025

An Earlier Vostok Build Part 2 -

 
This is the "Build To Fly, Build To Display" MPC Vostok.
To see the bog build: CLICK HERE


The finished model weight with no engine is 4.27 oz.! 4 oz. is the maximum weight for a C6 engine. I should have waited for the C5-3 with an 8 oz. max. weight. 

The box advertised a C9-3 engine, I don't think MPC ever produced it. The picture to the left shows what happened!
(Picture by Roger Smith.)

Saturday, November 15, 2025

An Earlier Soyuz Build Part 1 -


With the debut of the new Estes Soyuz kit - 
I remembered an earlier Dr. Zooch Soyuz build. There was no plastic parts, just balsa, body tubes and rolled cardstock. The cardstock "witches hats" at the top of the strap on boosters took a few tries to get right. You even had to build the interstage trusses with dowels! 
The model is BT-50 based and uses 18mm motors.
 
Before I started this build blog, I posted builds on The Rocketry Forum.
This one goes back to 2009. 

Dr. Zooch Soyuz
CLICK HERE
http://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?t=5213