Micro-Maxx Estes Fat Boy, Part 3, Centering Rings

I sure the small rings are available somewhere, I didn't have them. Why wait for an order. I'm cheap so I'll make a few.

A 1/4" punch was used to start the inside ring hole.

The hole was widened using a knife spin followed by a half round diamond file.

The fit was checked with the yellow engine tube I had.

Center the BT-20 tube over the cut just made and trace with a sharp pencil point.

Cut just inside the pencil line using scissors.

Final fitting in the next post -

Micro-Maxx Estes Fat Boy, Part 1, Parts

The picture above is close to the full size MMX build!

This is a spare parts drawer build.

The only parts missing are the centering rings.

Those will be hand cut out of the white framing mat material. 

The nose cone is a leftover from a retired rocket, already painted silver.

Decals have been drawn up, I doubled the F, A and T letters for both sides of the fins. The original kit only included decals for one side of the three fins.

Kevlar line and tablecloth streamer.

Fins will be cut from 1/16" scrap balsa.

The launch lug is a BIC pen ink tube, cut from the end where there was no ink.

The yellow motor tube and engine block are original Quest MMX parts.

Estes Mini Arcas, #2441, Finished

I built and masked the original BT-55 version of the ARCAS.

To be honest, this BT-20 version wasn't a fun build.

The small balsa fin support pieces are hard to form out of balsa. 1/16" thick fins don't allow you to sand a diamond taper. 

The red color mask was difficult on the downsize model.

Here's the upper end and nose cone showing the mask.

The ARCAS is a sleek rocket with a great looking red/white job.

I wish it were the original, easier to detail and paint BT-55 size.

Estes Mini Arcas, #2441, Part 20, Fin Taper Decals TIP

In April of 2024 on TRF, Neil W made a great suggestion about simulating fin tapers on the Mini Arcas.

The fins are only 1/16" thick, sanding a diamond fin taper would be very difficult.

TIP: Neil suggested a light gray printed decal set onto the rear half of the fins.

I had been wanting to try this ever since - Thanks Neil!

I drew up some fin tapers with a 10% black. Extras were copied and pasted - I did need them.

I'm not releasing this decal for home prints. My fin supports are a little thicker than the kit supplied pieces. My decals probably wouldn't fit your build. 

It's a challenge to fit the decals to the root edge details.

Add the fin fillets and they'll require individual fitting. Good thing I made the outside and trailing edges a little wide.

Here's the finished look. From a few feet away, the illusion is good. 

Maybe it's a bit dark. If a 5% gray were available I could have used that.

The overhanging edges were trimmed off with a "sawing" motion using a single edge razor blade.

Estes Mini Arcas, #2441, Part 19, Decals

I referenced Peter Alway's book, Rockets Of The World to double check the decal placement. ARCAS reads up, the ATLANTIC RESEARCH CORP. reads down on the other side.

Sight down the body tube to check the vertical alignment of the long decal.

TIP: Many people post about using a drop of dish detergent in the soaking water. They claim it allows a slippery decal, easier to position. 

On YORF, Micromeister brought up a good point. The dish soap can dilute the adhesive on the backside of the decal. 

Wet the area where the decal will be placed. Dip your finger in the water and rub the painted body tube leaving the (painted and sealed) tube a bit wet. Then slide the decal off the backing onto the wet model.

Here's the ARCAS decal between the two small lugs.

Estes Mini Arcas, #2441, Part 18, Launch Lugs

I didn't glue on the lugs before painting the rocket body. 

I thought they would be in the way of the complex mask.

Sometimes I skip the launch lug fillets. Bubbles are a pain!  

     

I wish the lug placement were different. I would prefer the the ARCAS name decal not in line with the launch lugs. 

The lug glue areas were scraped down to the body tube. Don't scrape too wide, you'll want the lug to cover where the paint was taken off.

The glue line on the small lugs is narrow and even down its length.

Set down the glue line and even the line with a fingertip. Use white glue because it dries clear.

Both lugs are glued in place. 

Even without a glue fillet, they aren't going anywhere.

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 39, Painting The Propulsion Caps

Painting the propulsion caps is a bit tricky. 

On the rim are three raised dots. I decided to mask these, leaving them along with the shoulder ring, a light gray.

This picture shows a marked Scotch tape mask "dot". The next picture shows how it was cut.

To mask the raised dots, I marked a strip of Scotch tape with a wide Sharpie. Wipe off the excess ink with a paper towel.

When punched, you will be left with a perfect circle. Lift it off the dot and hold it on your knife tip.

Place the dot onto the cap while still on your knife tip.

The sides were masked with brown masking tape. Normally I'd use Scotch tape for the mask, but the shoulders of the cap is tapered and Scotch tape doesn't flex. Both brown and blue masking tapes have a little "give".

The back caps were masked using marked Scotch tape.

Here's the caps after the tape was pulled.

That gray might be a little too dark.

The dome color suggestions are copper, bronze or bright orange. I went with Rusto copper.

Thinner, Lighter Centering Rings?

If you don't have .050" thin cardstock centering rings, You can lighten the engine mount a bit by "halving" 5/20 or 20/50 rings.

On the left is a 5/20 thick centering ring.

Start by drawing a pencil line around the outside of the ring.
 

Using a fine razor saw,

Carefully cut around the ring following the pencil line.

Clean up the rough sawn face using 220 grit on a block.

Here's a single ring, split in two.

Maybe not as light as flat white cardstock rings, but still a reduction of weight in the tail end of the rocket.

 

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 38, Paint - Finally!

The contact cement gluing strop was scraped and lightly sanded before masking with brown masking tape.

The underside of the primary hull.

The smaller rectangles and dowels will be glued on after the decals.

The front and rear propulsion caps were also sprayed off the model.

The Tamiya Insignia White spray paint was the lightest gray I could find. It is gray but with a slight beige tone.

The entire lower body assembly was sprayed with Insignia White.

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 37, Sensor Stem Detail, Funky Glue Putty

This works best with yellow wood glue, not white glue - 

Place a drop of glue in the heel of your left hand.

Spread the glue around using your right hand index finger. Let is set up for 20 seconds or so -

As it starts to dry, the glue puddle will gum up.

Continue working the glue into a small ball. Make it as round as possible. Make a few in different diameters.

Let dry overnight.

Drill a tapered hole using a #11 style blade hobby knife. 

This hole should fit onto the tapered dowel.

Here's the sensor stem detail ball in place and shot with a white undercoat.

It's probably too large, but much better than a lopsided glue drop.

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 36, Sensor Stem Detail, Funky Glue Putty

The instructions say to use a drop of glue to simulate the sensor stem detail. 

 

On the right you can see that small drop of glue. I was constantly turning it as it was drying trying to keep it round. Wet glue runs!

I tried three times to get a round drop of glue on the end of the tapered dowel.

I let this part of the build slip until I remembered a fix -

FUNKY GLUE PUTTY!

Here's a picture of my Dr. Zooch Saturn V build. The turbopump exhaust manifold isn't plastic, but formed out of rolled wood glue!

You can form some details out of glue. It's a little like playing with sticky Play-Doh.

I'll explain in the next post . . .

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 35, Repainting The Probe & Secondary Hull Assembly

The recovery probe was sanded and repainted gloss black.

This time all was smooth and glossy.

It'll get a dull coat in a few days.

The second white undercoat showed the fillet bubbles (where the support struts meet the secondary hull slots) were filled.

More fillet bubbles were found.

Glue fillets and another white coat will be needed before I shoot the final light gray. Still, progress . . . 

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 34, Painting The Probe

It's difficult to spray paint the recovery probe, it's over 30" long! It should have been called the "stability extension."

I noticed the upper BT-50 tube dried faster than the low BT-20 end.

It could have been the painting wand locked into the engine mount area. The upper tube was open, I removed the nose cone.

Less air was circulating inside the BT-20 tube.

The probe tube black paint dried rough. I had to sand smooth with 400 grit.

Estes Mini Arcas, #2441, Part 17, Pulling The Tape!

The mask was pretty clean, 

There was some small bleeds under the corners.

Instead of scraping - 

Try pushing the little paint overspray tics back into the red. 

I use a pocket knife, it's not as sharp as a hobby knife. Too sharp a knife might cut in and chip out the white paint underneath.

Here's the cleanup results up until now.

I'll follow with some white touchups. 

Ace Premium enamel is sprayed into a cup and applied with a brush. Applied light and carefully, the Ace paint mixes and "melds" into the paint already on the model.

Launch Pad Inventory Sold To Estes?

From the Rocketry Forum:

"Pleased to announce that The Launch Pad has moved to its new home, with Estes in Penrose Colorado. They will be making the rest of the original TLP inventory available on their website, and they will be integrating the TLP designs into their product line. I think Chuck would have been pleased to see his life's work carried on by Estes."

I have no other information. There is lots of speculation on how these kits and parts will be sold or if Estes may produce kits from the scale data. The kits may just be sold as is - probably at collector's prices.

I've only built and finished one Launch Pad kit, the Pershing. 

You can see the build in reverse order: CLICK HERE

Estes Mini Arcas, #2441, Part 16, Taping The Mask

I wasn't looking forward to this mask - 

The rear "peaks" have outside mask lines. The first angled tape strip is set down. Below it you can see the pencil line for the next piece.

The upper peaks are inside masks with rounded sides.

The curve was cut with small scissors. That curve on the left side almost works like a hinge, allowing you to set the tape at a few different angles until the tip meets at the top.

The top and bottom pieces are in place.

The open center is covered with brown masking tape.

I tried wrapping some grocer bag plastic around the fins but the peaks of the lower red masks were in the way.

Brown masking tape covered all the fin area.