Estes Cosmic Interceptor Build, Part 3, Prepping The Engine Vanes

Lightly sand the laser cut ash edges with 400 grit.

The pics show the before and after sanding.

The exposed edges (shown here marked with pencil) should be sealed. If not sealed, the paint will soak into the open fibers and the edges will be uneven.

A segment of tubing will glue over the edge without the pencil line. 

Run a narrow bead of glue down the side edges. 

With the side of your finger, even out the bead getting a rounded even coverage from side to side. 

After the glue bead dries, lightly smooth with 400 grit.

Estes Cosmic Interceptor Build, Part 2, Centering Ring Fitting

Here's all the engine mount parts - 

The centering rings are on the laser cut cardstock sheet to the right side.

This build will involve some fine fitting of parts.

Save the excess cardstock,

at least the large pieces left over.

It'll come in handy for a future build.

The fit of the rings was so tight, they wouldn't slip over the engine tube!

Wrap some 220 around a finger to enlarge the hole until you get a friction fit.

 

Here's the fit I was looking for!

Estes Cosmic Interceptor Build, Part 1, Parts

This one has been in the build pile too long!

40" tall, 2" diameter and the upscaled Interceptor nose cone.

Multi-piece wings , a detailed engine and an air intake scoop.

Another great John Boren design. released in 2012 and discontinued between 2017 and 2018.

Two lengths of 2" diameter body tube, the two long tubes are the main body, the shorter (slightly wider diameter) tube is for the intake.

Two couplers, one to join the main body tubes, the second is for the engine mount.

That small ring fits over the engine mount ribs.

Other parts, most are self explanatory.

A 24" nylon parachute,

1/4" wide x 38" long elastic shock cord

Two 1/4" diameter launch lugs

That coupler is one from the above picture, used in the engine mount.

Four sheets of 1/8" dense balsa.

Plenty of laser cut, cardstock details. The smaller piece is for the air intake scoop, the larger piece holds the engine mount parts.

Estes Mini Scale Combo Pak, #0874, Tomahawk & Exocet, Build, Finished

Not much to these BT-5 based, mini rockets.

Nose blow recovery, no parachute or streamer. I did add streamers to both models. Without the chromed streamers they'll be hard to track during recovery.

The die-cut cardstock fins were difficult to get smooth and flat. 

The fin decals on the Tomahawk weren't much. If you didn't black the outside edges before applying the decals, you'd end up with white borders on all sides. 

The shock cord cover could have been better positioned, lower so the black band decal wouldn't go right over the lumpy top cover. Oh well!

Estes Mini Scale Combo Pak, #0874, Tomahawk & Exocet, Part 17, Recovery Streamers

Before simply turning the screw eye into the nose cone shoulder - 

Find the center with a pencil point. It might take a few tries to find the actual center. If the screw eye isn't centered you might rub against the inside of the tube.

Screw in one full turn and check the vertical alignment. Adjust before continuing.

Here's the Exocet nose cone, the forward fins require the nose weight washers for stability. The diameter of the washers are another good reason to be sure the screw eye is centered. 

The shock cord is tied on using the Duncan Uni-Knot: CLICK HERE

Using this knot the shock cord end points down. When packing the shock cord you'll appreciate the shock cord end facing down into the tube.

The streamer (dollar store table cover) material was gold on one side and chrome on the other.

Tape the shock cord to the streamer . 

Fold the overhang and tape again.

Estes Mini Scale Combo Pak, #0874, Tomahawk & Exocet, Build, Part 16, Exocet Paint & Decals

Earlier in the build I questioned why there two tubes joined by a coupler. As it turns out, the upper tube on the Exocet is the color separation line between the orange and black paint!

It's a simple mask, body tube color separations usually come out very clean. The upper body was covered.

The Scotch tape mask left a very clean line.

Only two decals, centered between the upper fins. 

The same decal is on the other side.

These decals are old, but held up very well when transferred. They just needed a longer soak time.

Estes Mini Scale Combo Pak, #0874, Tomahawk & Exocet, Build, Part 15, Tomahawk Fin Decal

The Tomahawk also has black decals that cover both sides of one fin.

That leaves all the exposed edge white. 

Before placing the decal fins, I blacked the edges with a Sharpie.

The root edge is cut right up to the black ink. This gives you a clean root edge color separation. The rest of the fin though -

The fin decals are slightly larger than the fin face.

Roll over the edges as best you can. They aren't long enough to stick to the other side of the fin.

Apply one side of the fin decal and let dry.

You can trim them to the fin edges using a new single edge razor blade.