Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 28, Fin Joint & Inside Brace

These fin braces will be seen, so they got a coat of CWF and sanding.

I still had to sand more, making the braces smaller to fit inside the joint. On the far left is the original fin size right off the balsa sheet. The brace next to it is a bit smaller for a concealed fit.

Like the inside of the fin surfaces, the outside face was blackened with the felt tip, brush pen.

I didn't use much glue, any more would make a mess trying to position this tricky fit.

The brace was pressed into place using the side of my tweezers.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 27, Fin Joint & Inside Brace

The U support pieces have to be tapered to fit inside the fin half joint.

Notice in the inset drawing - 

The outside corners aren't really seen, set down inside the joint edge.

Here's the piece dry fit before sanding in the tapered sides. 

It fits too high, outside the the fin half joint.

I marked the fin sides so I could see what was being sanded off.

That black inked edge gives you a visual guide to keep the angle even.

The left side picture shows the sanded angle about halfway through.

On the right is after more sanding, just a bit of the black remains.

D.I.Y. Making Centering Rings, Part 2

Depending on the thickness of the mat board, you cut probably on the outside line using scissors.

Check against the end of the larger tube. Chances are this diameter will be to large.

Here's why you cut out four rings - 

You'll need the thickness and stiffness of all the rings to sand to the correct diameter. One or two rings by themselves would flop around when sanding to size.

On the left I'm sanding the ring edges with a rotating motion. Check the fit, sand some more until you get a friction fit.

Here's a good friction fit of the ring in the BT-50 tube.

I originally was going to have the build powered by 13mm  diameter mini motors. After studying the design I decided to go with 18mm standard motors.

I won't need these rings now, but will hang onto them for another time.

D.I.Y. Making Centering Rings, Part 1

While I wait for warmer weather, the Black Star Voyager spray painting will be delayed! 

I'm doing a slight upscale of another OOP kit that needs centering rings. This was to be a spare parts drawer build. 

I didn't have the correct size centering rings, a BT-5 to a BT-50. Rather than wait for a mail order, I decided to make them from framing mat board, a thicker cardstock.

TIP: To get some cheap centering ring .050" thick boards, go to a frame shop and ask if they have any "window mat" scraps. .050" thickness is what kit makers use for most all their kit part cardstock. Some mat boards will be thicker, but that is certainly useable and stronger than the .050" board.

Trace around the larger body tube with a sharp pencil.

If you need two rings, trace four rings.

Carefully center the smaller tube and trace around it.

Check to see it is centered. If needed, erase and trace again.    

 

Cut out the smaller, center hole first.

This is one of those times you should use an X-Acto #11 style blade. Cut right on the pencil line.

On the right, you can see the cut isn't perfect, those rough edges will be covered with a glue fillet later.

If you cut on the pencil line,

You should get a good friction fit over the smaller tube.

If it seems too tight, 

roll some 400 grit over a finger and sand the whole a bit larger.

More in the next post - 

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 26, General Assemblies

In the shock cord mount instructions, note where the glue is placed. You fold the mount into a pool of glue.

TIP: You'll make a cleaner mount if you apply a thin coat of glue on the section to the right and fold onto the dry section on the left. It doesn't take much glue (a thin skin) when gluing paper to paper.

 

With the backside of the mount dry, press and form the still wet mount into the inside tube wall to form the curvature of the tube.

This kit was bagged in 2014 or so, when many kit shroud lines were weak. 

A quick, easy pull and the string breaks!

The shroud lines were cut off the parachute.

I used a plastic Avery reinforcement disks to strengthen the tie off points.

New #10 cotton embroidery thread was cut. 

It's easy to re-tie knots using long tweezers.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 25, Painting The Vanes

It is difficult to get smooth fillets inside the tight corners of the vanes. I did sand and reduce the glue boogers and some still were visible when some gloss black was shot. 

I thought about painting the vane areas with flat black, flat colors are a great way to camouflage imperfect areas. Gloss finishes show everything! 

Another idea - why not paint the vane areas with a metallic paint? The model is an overall black, some metallic paint could cover things up and give it contrast.

   

On the left is the before - 

There is some white showing through where I sanded some glue and rough areas. The tubes are masked off.

On the right - 

The same area after spraying with the metallic black. A picture does not show the metallic effect. It shows up best in sunlight.

The paint I used for the vanes,

Rustoleum Black Night Metallic, #7250.

I don't normally like Rusto spray paints, but their metallics are very good.

Be careful though, these are thinner and could run. Spray in light coats. 

Here's the upper basswood vanes, sprayed with a non metallic Ace Gloss Black.

It look like there is white streaks, but that is light reflections.

I've still got some rough areas that need sanding before final paint coats.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 24, Fitting The Fin Halves

The instructions have you glue the rear fin half on,

Then glue on the upper half (and hopefully match up with) the low fin.

I've got to give John Boren props for the design. It's an amazing assembly but needs some fine tuning before gluing down the root edges.

As careful as I was assembling the halves, I didn't get a perfect fit.

With the upper fin half taped down to the body tube, I held the lower half to meet and touch the upper half. It needed adjustments.

The angle of the bottom half should to be lowered, sanding with emphasis on the front end of the assembly, ahead of my thumb. 

This tipped down the front and made for a better joint at the juncture of the two halves.

I still had to make some sanding block adjustments until this outside end joint was fully closed.

You should fit the fin pairs separately. As you fit two halves, pencil mark sets 1, 2 and 3 on their inside surfaces to keep track. 

There is good reason why this is a Skill Level 5!

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 23, Pre-Painting, Pre-Assembly

There is an open area where the balsa pieces join on the lower fin unit. I decided to fill it.

Some CWF was dropped in using a toothpick and allowed to dry. It took another drop of CWF to fill as the first application shrunk as it dried.

This was sanded with 400 grit on a block.

Thinking ahead - 

TIP: There are visible inside areas that would be impossible to shoot with a spray can once assembled. I could use a brushed enamel paint, but I didn't want to seal the glue areas.

I ended up using an alcohol based "brush" marker. It's a flexible soft marker that allows you to get into tight areas. I couldn't blacken the tightest inside corners, but these areas won't be seen.

More areas that would be hard to reach with a spray can - 

There are tight inside corners at the root edges of the vanes. You might use too much paint tying to cover the surrounding white surfaces.

I went ahead and sprayed some black concentrating on the inside corners. This showed me more glue boogers that required sanding. The pictures show after that sanding.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 22, Forward Basswood Vanes

TIP: You'll have better luck and less mess applying the wood glue to the bottom length of the basswood vane - as opposed to laying a bead of glue down a pencil line on the body tube.

I set down a wrap of masking tape for a bottom alignment of the vanes.

While you could set the glued vane on the pencil line,

TIP: I set it on the side of the drawn line.

You can use an aluminum angle to be sure the strips are straight on the tube.

Wood glue fillets were applied.

I gave this section a shot of gloss white to make sure the fillets were smooth and without bubbles. 

Some small bubbles did show and some glue ridges needed sanding.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 21, Forward Basswood Vanes

There are nine basswood vanes to be shaped.

Start by sanding and squaring the rough sides with 400 grit on a block.

The pictures show the before and after.

For consistency, I taped up two groups of vanes. One group with five, the second group with four.

The tops and bottoms were sanded to get them the same length.

Mark the taper line across all the grouped vanes.

Using a block, sand a 45 degree angle across the tops and bottoms.

Mark the centers with a small pencil centerline.

Round over the 45 degree taper cut in the previous step.

Here's the side view.

Repeat on the other 17 ends.

The instructions show a full rounding of the ends. I rounded just the sides of the angle.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 20, Rear Vanes

I don't extend the pencil lines all the way down the tubes, just closer the to top and bottom of the vane ends.

TIP: Mark tubes with pencil, NOT INK. 

I see it all the time on Facebook rocketry groups. New builders using ink to mark the body tubes. That ink can bleed through paint and be visible on the finished model.

TIP: For easier visual alignment, extend the pencil lines over the end of the tube lip.

When gluing on the vanes you'll be covering up the pencil lines. Having the pencil line rolled over the edge of the engine tube makes for easier alignment.

Apply glue to the edges,

Smooth out the glue bead with a fingertip.

TIP: Use a tweezers for easier placement. 

The G alignment piece comes in handy.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 19, More Smoothing of The Vane Edges

Here I go, overdoing a build.

Earlier I glue sealed and sanded the outside exposed edges of the cardstock vanes. I wanted a smoother edge on the cardstock.

Looking at the vanes again, I realized the inside edge (the flat side parallel to the body tube) would also be seen. 

On the left, you can see a glue bead going halfway down the inside edge. I addition to the outside edges sealed earlier, I'm adding the glue sealing to the long, visible edge closest to the body tube. You'd really have to look close to see the other inside edges when the vanes are glued in place.

 

After applying a slim glue bead, 

smooth the bead with the side of a fingertip. You should end up with an even, rounded glue bead.

Let dry.

Sand the bead with 400 grit. 

If you could compare sealed and unsealed cardstock edges, you could really see a difference once the paint is sprayed.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 18, Fitting The Fins

The leading edge width of the lower fin assembly was wider than the upper fins.

On the right I sanded the lower edge width to match the uppers.

On the left, you can see where I sanded into the balsa to adjust the width. This will have to get a recoat of CWF and smooth sanding.

Before the vanes are glued on,

The root edges are sanded to fit around the BT-60 tube body.

Wrap some 220 grit around the tube and sand using a up and down motion. Be sure the assembly is in line with the tube.

Do your fine fitting with a wrap of 400 grit.

Here's a good fit of the lower fin unit.

 

And a good fit of the upper fin assembly.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 17, Marking The Tubes

 

From the instructions - 

You are directed to wrap the fin marking guide around the lower tube. This wrap fit very well.

GOTCHA: Not mentioned in the instructions - 

I'd recommend centering the engine hook between two of the "S" lines. You don't want the engine area vanes to hit the engine hook.

To go one step further, center the engine hook between two of the "SF" fin lines.

As in most instructions - 

You are told to extend the fin lines using a pencil and door frame.

TIP: I'd highly recommend buying and using an aluminum angle to extend the pencil marks, especially on larger models like this one.

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 16, Prepping The Vanes

Using 400 grit, sand off the laser cut ash. 

You'll end up with a better finish on the outside edges and a stronger glue bond on the root edge. 

I like to "seal" the exposed edges with wood glue.

Apply a very narrow glue line down the outside edge you'll be seeing on the finished model.

Smooth the bead using the side of a finger.

After the glue dries,

Sand the glued edge with 400 grit.