Estes Wolverine Downscale "HOW TO" Pt.1

UPCOMING PROJECT - I've been away from home for the past three days and have been posting some Little Joe II steps that have been saved earlier. Until I get back home tonight, here's something I've just started working on.


I had a great time downscaling all the GooneyBirds, Sky Writer and A20 Demon.

Through these series of posts, you'll see the process to do the art for making a downsized "carded" model rocket.

The carded models I've made require very little painting. You print out body wraps and glue them to the appropriate sized tubes. These are stronger than the usual rolled 120 lb. card stock models. The fins are a printed ply "sandwich" folded over cereal box cardboard.
The nose cone on this model is balsa. It's the only part needing filling and painting.
To me it doesn't look like a downscale unless the finished model is about half the size of the original. It wouldn't really be a downscale to go from a ST-10 to a BT-50. It's too subtle of a change in diameter and length.

The Estes Wolverine is an interesting candidate for downscaling, Larry Renger was the designer. It was kit #0816 available from 1973 through 1979. Powered by a "T" engine model it had a BT-50 airframe. A BT-50 is on the large side for a mini engine power. This downscale will be BT-5 based and could fly with anything from a MMX to an A10-3T engine.