Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 45, Adding More Details

TIP: Contact cement dries yellow. Be carful not to get any excess glue where it could be seen later on the finished model. 

The inside surface the propulsion units get more details.

Glue the small rectangles first, covering the rectangle line outline on the decal placed earlier.

The rear of the dowel end sets into the circle printed on the decal. The front end stacks on the low end of the rectangle.

Now we can concentrate on all the other decals that aren't covered with cardstock or dowels.

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 44, Adding Details

Immediately at the rear of the glued on caps,

Wrap the marking guide around the tube with the arrow in line with the bottom node.

Here's a dry fit of the rectangles. The front is at the halfway point of the shoulder cap ring.

I marked with pencil the glue contact points of the rectangle.

These are the areas to get contact cement, inside from the edge. 

Contact cement is applied to both parts and allowed to dry. 

Don't use the big brush that comes attached to the bottle cap. I used Q-tips to control how much glue was set down.

Touch both dried glue areas and contact cement will grab! 

I used tweezers to place the rectangles.

Here's the finished assembly.

Notice a little yellow discoloration on the lower corner of the top rectangle. That's a bit of contact cement and will need a paint touchup. 

Be careful when applying contact cement. Strings of glue can end up on outside surfaces.

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 43, Starting The Decals

Here's the original kit decals, probably from the mid 1970s.

They aren't creased or yellowed.

I've had the same bottle of MicroScale Liquid Decal Film for years, it seems to last a long time. This comes in handy when you have older, questionable decals.

It seems to brush on thick but dries very thin on the decal face.

A few of the decals are set down first, then more cardstock rectangles and a dowel are glued down with contact cement. 

Down the inside centerline of the propulsion unit tubes. That forward rectangle will get a cardstock piece glued over it. A dowel is glued on over that.

Micro-Maxx Estes Fat Boy, Part 9, Decals & Finished

I thought the FAT BOY body tube decal font was something drawn up by the Estes artists. Turns out it is a legit font named "Bauhaus 93".

The picture below gives an idea how small it is in my hand.

The F. A.T. fin decals fit well with just enough border edge. I drew them up (copied and mirrored) so both sides of the fins would have letters.

Mask the nose cone shoulder and spray it red.

Now that I know the decals fit, the decal PDF is available to Patreon subscribers. If you'd like to build a micro FAT BOY, email me at oddlrockets@bellsouth.net and ask for the FAT BOY decal PDF.

Micro-Maxx Estes Fat Boy, Part 8, Engine Mount & Streamer

The engine mount was slid in until the MMX motor was higher that the trailing edge tips of the fins. I didn't want the model standing on the engine mount tube.

After I was sure of the engine mount position, a glue fillet was applied using a Q-tip. 

The body is short so an upper glue fillet was also applied around the forward centering ring using another Q-tip.

The Kevlar line is tied to the elastic loop in the nose cone base. The loose end was pushed into one of the holes in the shoulder plug.

A plastic streamer was taped onto the Kevlar line one third the way down form the nose cone tie.

Micro-Maxx Estes Fat Boy, Part 7, Mask & Paint

After filler/primer and sanding - 

The model was slid down a painting wand for white undercoats.

The engine mount hasn't been glued in yet so the rocket can slip onto the 18mm motor casing attached to the painting wand. 

On the left, 

Sharpie inked Scotch tape is run down the root edge joints. The leading edge masks are "rounded" by using multiple small pieces of tape.

Before cutting the Sharpie marked tape, wipe off the excess Sharpie ink with a paper towel so no ink gets transferred onto the model.

On the right,

The rest of the body above the fins is taped and blocked with a cut plastic grocery bag.

The fins after the masking tapes were pulled -

I found a picture of the Semroc FAT BOY online and used those colors.

The fins were painted light blue. I had to make a trip to Ace hardware for this "one-time use" color. The nose cone is off the model to be painted gloss red.

Disappointed - Badly Done 3D Print!

I want to build a Estes Sandpiper, Kit #1389. It requires the plastic PNC-50S nose cone with the "finlets" on the side like the larger Jayhawk.

I didn't want to pay a premium for an old unbuilt kit. After having some beautiful 3D parts made for the recent Centuri Skylab build, I decided to have one of the online 3D printers make the nose cone for me.

After a search, I found Jack Hydrazine had submitted 3D files for the PNC-50S nose cone to thingverse.com. Thanks Jack! The hard work is already done . . .

After too many text messages, and a assurance that the sizing was correct, I used PayPal funds to pay for the nose cones. Two nose cones and two bases for $18.00

On the right is what I received. The outside diameter is only .60". It should have been larger, at .976" diameter to fit a BT-50.

Here's a closeup, check out the ridges.  

The finlet trailing edges are rough, looks like my dog chewed on them.

I'm not mentioning the vendor name yet - I'll give them a chance to correct the mistakes.