After sanding down the raised nose cone mold seams, there was still some seams below the surface.These got a bead of medium CA and allowed to dry.
The CA will stay in the seams after sanding down with 220 grit then 400 grit sandpaper.
Sorry Quest, but this had to be the worst body tube I've ever seen in a kit.There was a wide open seam at one end. Halfway down the tube that same seam was now an overlap I tried to sand down.
Enlarge the picture and you can see how the thin outside layer was, nearly sanding through when trying to remove the overlap.
I've built too many kits over the years. You shouldn't have to spend this much time getting all the supplied parts to fit correctly right out of the bag.
So far the centering rings were too large for the blue engine mount tube. Then they had to be built up to fit the main tube.
The nose cone is too loose in the main tube.
The main body tube is of poor quality, seams and overlaps.
The card stock for the tail cone and air scoop is too thin.
I try not to bash one manufacturer over the other, but I find this is a common theme with their kits. Parts too thin/too thick. Not fitting well. A lot of extra finishing work. It's enough to make me think twice when they have a kit I want. One thing you have to credit the big "E" for is that the out-of-the-box quality is consistently good.
ReplyDeleteHi Robb,
ReplyDeleteI hate to bash any manufacturer. But I've recieved some bad parts from all vendors at one time or another. This kit had too many things that needed fixing before putting it together.
But I've got to be honest, it is a great looking model after all the work was done.