Estes Saturn V Build Part 7 Couplers

Sorry this blog entry is out of sequence.
I do most of my blogs in draft form, sometimes two weeks in advance.
I skipped right over this entry, Part 7. After this post, scroll back down to Part 8 to get back in the build.


I decided to make the other coupler assembly from the next step before forming the shrouds.

The light shining through the joint gap shows how much smaller the ring is than the coupler.





Both of the smaller rings required beads of white glue to build up the edges and increase the outside diameters.

Here I'm leveling the ring with the top edge of the coupler by rolling a dowel over the joint. This way, the ring is only pressed in as far as the upper edge lip of the coupler.

The rings were initially tacked down with just four small drops of glue around the perimeter, enough to loosen and reposition if necessary.

When I was sure it was square and flat/flush with the coupler, a fillet was added to the inside.

This second adapter is smaller and you can't get the glue bottle nozzle inside of it to lay down a good fillet.

White glue was applied drop by drop and smoothed out with the rounded end of a dowel.