Estes Star Stryker Build, #3206, Part 9, Paint & Decal Planning

Here's the model in the red and black paint, before decals.

I used Ace Banner Red. It's pretty dark, probably too dark.

Some of the decal contrast will probably be lost.

In the the box art, the body looks to be more orange than red. Too late, I won't do a repaint.

The box picture shows stripes on some of the fins.

At first glance, it seems half of the fins get decals.

Well, three of the five fins get stripe decals on both sides.

I'll be in California on vacation until October 23. 50th High School Reunion. YIKES!

There may not be any posts until I return.

Estes Star Stryker Build, #3206, Part 8, Payload Section Painting

Here's the payload section after the white undercoats.

The center clear section will be masked off for the black paint. You've gotta' love an easy mask.

On the left is the adapter mask, 

On the right is the nose cone upper mask.

Notice the clear tape edge was marked with a Sharpie so I could see the mask line. You can see the marked tape better on the right side.

The black paint will go over the clear section to cover the balsa shoulder underneath. 

The center section was covered with brown masking tape.

After spraying and removing the masking tape.

Notice the black paint covers a little over the end of the bare balsa. The same goes for the nose cone base. This makes a cleaner look covering the wood shoulder underneath.

On a smooth surface (like the clear payload tube) you can get very sharp mask lines using Scotch tape.

Estes Star Stryker Build, #3206, Part 7, Lower Fin Gluing

The first lower fin glued in place.

Four more to go - 

On the left is how much glue I use on a root edge, right out of the bottle.

On the right is how much glue is used to tack the fin in place. Run your finger down the sides of the root edge picking up and removing excess.

Using less glue means very little squeeze out outside the body tube joint.

Viewed from the rear: 

At the 12 o'clock position you can make out the rear fin in line with the larger forward fins.

All ten fins and the launch lug and standoff in place.

This is a very busy tail end.

Estes Star Stryker Build, #3206, Part 6, Upper Fin Gluing

Here's the first of the upper five fins. 

On the left, notice the wrap of masking tape for positioning the high end tip of the leading edge.

The picture at the right shows the trailing edge on the pencil fin line.

All five upper fins in place. 

That tape wrap above keeps all the fin root edge tips in line.

I went ahead and started glue fillets before gluing on the lower, smaller fins.

I like to start applying glue fillets on the root edge body tube joint - at the top and bottom before filleting the longer sides.

This shows how much glue I use when making fillets.

On the left is the the wood glue right out of the bottle, drawn down the root edge of the fin.

On the right is the glue smoothed out with the tip on my little finger.

Estes Star Stryker Build, #3206, Part 5, Filler Primer Spraying

I slid the nose cone and adapter into the clear payload tube to spray on the filler/primer. 

The clear tube was masked off.

The body tube already had a seam fill of CWF and sanding.

A shot of filler/primer followed. Slide the engine mount into a painting dowel.

The fins were held down on scrap cardboard on tape with the sticky side up.

On the left is a fin after CWF and sanding. 

On the right is a fin side after spraying with filler/primer. 

Note the fin root edges are butted up against each other to keep the primer off the gluing surface.

Estes Star Stryker Build, #3206, Part 4, Joining Tubes & Fin Marking - Gotcha!

I sand the ends of the clear retainer ring with 400 grit to clean up the edges.

Here's the yellow coupler / engine block.

A line of glue is set inside the tube and the block is slid in until it rests against the top ben of the hook. 

Before gluing the long upper tube over the coupler - 

Slide the tube over the coupler (dry). Turn the tube until you get the best match of the two tube ends. Mark the position with pencil. 

Set a line of glue in the upper tube - slide over the coupler and turn so the pencil marks line up.

GOTCHA: The tube marking guide is printed a little wide to fit over the engine hook and retainer ring.

I marked the tube then rotated the guide to check the fin spacing against the next set of marks. It was off no matter how many times I turned the paper guide.

I went to payloadbay.com and printed off a new five fin marking guide. On the right you can see the difference between the two guides. The payloadbay.com guide is on the left.

The payloadbay.com marking guide was printed to fit a BT-20 tube.

I wrapped it above the engine hook and marked for the fins. Extend the marks down the tube.

Estes Star Stryker Build, #3206, Part 3, Engine Hook & Engine Mount

I don't like finger tabs on engine hooks. 

Score it with a wire cutter, then bend back and forth until it breaks off. File off any rough edges.

Flip over with the cut end up.

I made a bent a slight curve into the engine hook.

The extra tension makes for a better hold of the engine. 

Some history:

The top picture is from the Estes instructions.

Notice the engine tube is 3" long, the hook extends 1/4" over the low end.

A couple joins the engine tube to the longer upper tube. The coupler also serves as the engine block.

This design was first used in some minimum diameter Centuri kits. This instruction illustration is from the Scram Jet.

Gluing an engine block in the correct position (by sliding it into some glue in the tube) has always been iffy, especially for first time builders. Gluing a coupler in a shorter tube from the top does two things. It easily places the engine block in the correct position. The longer engine block works as a coupler joining the two tube lengths.