Estes Strikefighter, Kit #2015, Build, Part 15, Some Early White Paint

I shot the fairings early to better see the fillets. 

Look close - the glued edge areas are shiny, the center of the strip isn't. 

The edge fillets are sealed by the glue. The paint soaked into the cardstock where there wasn't any glue. Paint will seal things up, some light sanding is needed to even out the surface.

 

The core tube and vanes would be impossible to paint once they are slid into the nacelle tubes. These will also get a shot of gloss white.

I did mask the glue areas. Notice the thin tape strips covering the outside edges of the vanes.

After the paint dried, I found some small fillet bubbles.

Rather than using the glue bottle on the bubbles, I applied small drips onto a toothpick tip and pressed the glue into the recess holes.

Estes Strikefighter, Kit #2015, Build, Part 14, Gluing On The Fairings

The upper picture shows how the glue beads up when applied to the cardstock fairing edges. This is much more glue than is needed.

Using a finger and a Q-tip, remove the excess making the glue line as even as you can.

The fairing ends should have been curved as shown in the previous post.  

The nacelle tube glued onto the wing - 

It's easier to start with the shorter nacelle fairing pieces.

Set the end tips into the root edge and the rest of the fairing should lay right in place.

Double check to be sure the fairing is straight. Use a Q-tip to softly press the glued fairing edges down.

Here's both the nacelle and wing fairings. There are eight in total.

To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to gluing the fairings on. They turned out to be easier than I thought. Keep the fillets small.

I shot the fairing areas with gloss white, knowing there would be some glue fillet sanding.

The scoop was glued on, 1/8" from the bottom of the BT-55 tube.

Estes Strikefighter, Kit #2015, Build, Part 13, Nacelle Tubes & Fairings

The nacelle tubes were marked and the primer lightly scraped for better adhesion. 

WHOOPS! I scraped the entire length of the tube, the fin root edges aren't that long. Some sanding between white paint coats should smooth this out.

Notice the pencil alignment line extended around and over the lip of the tube end.

The fairings were printed on 65 lb. cardstock.

The curved ends were rounded n a sanding block where there wasn't a smooth arc.

The ends were curved in over the barrel of a Sharpie.

Notice the print lines will end up "inside". Sometimes printer ink can bleed through white paint.

Estes Strikefighter, Kit #2015, Build, Part 12, Engine Mount

I use a rounded dowel to apply a ring of glue inside the low end of the body tube.

Note the (2") pencil mark on the dowel and the glue around the top.

Slip the dowel in up to the pencil mark depth.

Roll the glue in a ring inside the tube. Add more glue if needed to complete a complete circle. 

Insert the mount until the tube ends are even. As you are pushing the mount in, try to turn it to even out the inside glue fillet.

To add glue around the rear ring,

Use a Q-tip to apply and spread out the rear ring fillet.

With the Kevlar slipped through the top of the tube - 

Mark the line below the upper lip of the tube.

Keeping the Kevlar below the lip of the body tube prevents zippers (where the Kevlar cuts through the body tube) because of an early or late ejection. 

Run the Kevlar out the back of the model again.

Tie a overhand loop with the mark at the top center of the Kevlar knot.

Tie a overhand loop knot in an elastic shock cord.

Weave the loops as shown on the left.

Pass the knots through the loops - 

Tighten up the connection.

Note the Kevlar mark at the end of the loop.

Estes Strikefighter, Kit #2015, Build, Part 11, Final Fills

There were five tubes and three launch lugs that needed seam filling.

Look close at the top nacelle tube. The seam was so tight it didn't require CWF filling, just a shot of filler/primer and sanding. 

The lower tube needed both CWF and filler/primer.

The 3D printed nose cone felt smooth to the touch. There were very slight ridges.

The nose cone ridges were first sanded with 400 grit.

Filler/primer was shot and sanded. What little ridges were left after the initial sanding were filled with the primer/filler. 

Those vertical white areas are raised lines left after the 3D process.

3D nose cones might take a little filling and sanding, but it's no more work than filling a balsa nose cone.

3D printing has come a long way!

Estes Strikefighter, Kit #2015, Build, Part 10, Fitting The Core Tube Vanes

Gluing on the interior core tube vanes is a bit confusing. 

The three longer vanes go on one side, all three side by side. 

The three shorter vanes glue on the opposite side. 

These vanes are close so smoothing out a glue fillet is tight. Glue on a vane, let dry and fillet the first vane. 

Then move on to the second vane, and so on.

Here's the first long vane, the tapered tip spaced 3/32" from the front of the tube.

Glue on a vane, let dry then fillet.

Here's the first three long vanes, glued side by side.
 

All six vanes are glued on. 

The outside edges needed sanding to slip fit into the BT-50 nacelle tube.

The back edge of the three short vanes line up with the back of the BT-50 tube.

Tips From A Shipwright

Too much rain in Orlando, so any pre-painting on the Strikefighter will have to wait!

"Once too much wood is gone - there's no bringing it back!" 

One of the more interesting videos on Facebook.

To watch the video, CLICK HERE

I know it's not rocketry, but it shows pre-planning, patience and experience.

Making your own dowel plugs. 

Matching the grin lines when hammering them in place. 

Picking the right woods for bending and fit -