Quest Intruder Kit Bash, Part 4, Parts Prep & Centering Rings

The shoulder base was glued into the nose cone using Fabri-Tac glue.

This glue works great on simple plastic to plastic and plastic to body tube joints.

It is not recommended for delicate assemblies like a Mercury Redstone tower.

The Quest instructions offer a great TIP:.

For a better fit over the engine mount tube: Use the tapered nose cone to compress down the burrs and slightly widen the diameter of the centering rings

I'm replacing the thin yellow engine mount tube with an Odd'l Rockets heavy wall BT-20H. This will require a some  peeling of the inside layers of the centering rings to fit the  slightly wider diameter tube. 

It doesn't take much of a peel for a good sliding fit.

Odd'l Rockets BT-20H heavy wall tubes are only available through jonrocket.com. 

TIP: In the left pic: To prevent peeling, don't cut an engine hook recess slot on the diagonal inside seams. 

Right side pic: Start your notch on the other smooth side.

On the left: The engine hook notch is cut. I marked it with pencil to show up better in the picture.

On the opposite side of the engine hook notch, the upper ring gets a Kevlar notch made with a diamond file.