Estes Blue Origin New Shepard Build, Part 3, The Tunnels -Gotcha!

There are some small balsa pieces in the kit.

Play it safe and store them in a zip top plastic bag until you need them.

I used a new #11 blade to cut through the hold down ticks and remove the tunnels and ends.

I'd recommend using a sanding block to lightly remove the ticks for a better fit of the ends onto the long tunnels.

TIP: I decided to glue the bottom ends onto the tunnels now to get a flat alignment. It would be easier to fill the joint and wood grain before gluing to the model. The instructions show the ends glued on later.

Here's a dry fit - The tail cone isn't glued in yet.

The low end fit is good.

On the top side - 

GOTCHA! The tunnels were short by about 1/16"! The tunnel should be long enough to reach the end of the tube. A fix is coming up in the next post.

These two kits were probably pre-production. These things are usually taken care of before kits are sold.