Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 9, Pylon Supports & Dowels

I fitted the pylon into the pylon brace, then set it next to the body tube. The pencil line is the masking area to keep the filler/primer off the gluing areas. 

On the right - the notched end of the pylon is dry fitted in the bulkhead and marked, again for a mask. 

Here's the pylon masked for a shot of filler/primer.

After the filler primer was sanded -

The cut out is revised to fit the pylon, rounded dowel on the back side.

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 8, Pylon Supports & Dowels

I'll usually fill the tube seams before gluing things together.

On the left - Thinned CWF filler in the seams,

On the right - The filler sanded to surface.

A shot of filler/primer and sanding followed.

The pylon supports got some CWF and sanding.

The dowel/plywood joint got a second brushing of CWF and more sanding.

The propulsion unit marking guides were cut out and pre-rolled.

Press a dowel into the heel of your hand as you roll over the cardstock to put a curve into it.

On the right - the marking guide retains the cylinder shape after forming. 

The pylon slot is printed as a long rectangle.

The pylon is square on one side and rounded in the back.

I'm going to cut the slots to fit the actual pylon shape.

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 7, Pylon Supports & Dowels

Removed from the die-cut ply sheet - 

The picture shows how rough the pylon support pieces are. 

Set on a flat surface, one was die-cut a hair wider.

The wider piece was sanded down to the height of the shorter piece. 

A dowel is glued to the back edge of the pylon.

Cut the dowel a little longer than the pylon.

Center the dowel and glue down the pylon edge.

After he glue dries,

Sand the dowel ends even with the pylon length.

R.O.C.K. Launch Nov. 8, 2025

This was a "make-up" launch, the field was too muddy last Saturday from all the rain. Few participants today, three regular club members and and few first timers launching their RTF Estes Pumas.

The ASP D REGION TOMAHAWK had an impressive boost with the A3-4t motor. Altitude was an estimated 500'!

Touch down was on the opposite side of the field under the long yellow streamer.

I'm always surprised how well the 13mm engines perform in a minimum diameter BT-5 tube.

This is my Estes EAC VIPER upscale housed in a BT-55 tube.

The B6-4 was just about right with an altitude of 375'. 

My new dog Dakota didn't bark or bat an eye during the launches. 

She did appreciate her new shaded play pen. 

The next dog "test" will be a camping trip later this month.

The Semroc MMX MARS LANDER was disappointing.

After clearing the launch rod, it looped and landed dislodging one of the lander leg fins. 10' high!

Even though the weather has been cooler lately, today was HOT!

Few flyers sent us home early.

My last rocket up was my GOONY X-15 with an Estes B6-4. Textbook flight with an easy recovery.

I only had four launches and wanted to get my dog cooled off! All recovered, no damages.

 

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 6, Internal Support Ring

The internal support ring  (RT-99D, 3.7" diameter)

has to fit over the "hump" in the primary hull bottom disk. 

Cut the template using a straightedge on the straight lines an scissors on the curves. 

The template doesn't go all the way around the support ring. 

Mark the cutaway crescents with pencil.

Cut the crescents out with a sharp knife.

Here's how the cuts are placed on the ring, directly on opposite sides.

A dry fit in the lower hull disk. Note they do not contact the hump when centered on the disk.

I'm not gluing the ring in place yet.

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 5, Cutting Out The Vacu-form Parts

I saved the large hull disks for last. 

As before, trace around the edges with a ball point pen.

Score along the pen lines.

Free up the edges for easier bending and cracking by cutting relief segment lines.

Sand the disk edges with a block.

The right side picture shows the upper and lower primary hull halves dry fitted. Note the overlap of the top half.

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 4, Cutting Out The Vacu-form Parts

Here's what I mean about the high pieces being thin at the baseline.

There was a crack in the thin area of the secondary hull.

This happened before I sanded the base edges.

A strip of the scrap plastic was cut and folded to a "V" shape.

This was glued in place over the crack using liquid cement.

Another area of concern - 

The front of the secondary hull halves were also thin.

Sand the edges on a block using 220 then 400 grit sandpaper.