Estes Aries SST, #1927, Build, Part 1, Parts

 

The Estes Aries SST kit had a short run, from 1984 - 1985. It was described as a "futuristic transport".

It used the PNC-50S nose cone with the Sandpiper "finlets". I have a second nose cone 3D printed by Augendoc. I'll put it to use on the only other kit to use it.

The model is BT-50 based, the length is 13.5 inches tall.

Another spare parts drawer build, other than the 3D printed nose cone.

Note: Nose Cone is same as BNC-50Y with added finlets.

1  Engine Tube            BT-20J    2.75"                     30326

1  Engine Hook           EH-2                                     35025

2  Centering Rings      AR-2050                               30164

1  Marking Guide                                                     83702

1  Body Tube               BT-50H   7.75"                    30360

1  Shock Cord             SC-1        1/8" x 21"             85730

    1  Balsa Stock             BF-1927   3" x 12" x 3/32"   32627    

1  Pattern Sheet           SP-1927   2.7" x 8.5" card    83703

 1  Launch Lug             LL-2B      2 3/8" Length       38178 

1  Plastic Nose Cone   PNC-50S 4 3/8" Length       72045

1  Parachute                PK-12A  12"                         85564

1  Shroud Line            SLT-72   72"                         38237

            6  Tape Disks              TD-3F    1/2"                        38406           

     1  Decal                       KD-1927 Red/Blk                37242   

I added a engine block, Kevlar line and heat shrink tube, not included in the original kit.

Not shown: Decals and pattern sheet. Those are still being drawn up.

Why Do I Redraw Decals & Templates?

The next project:

Why bother redrawing online scanned decals?

I do appreciate the instructions and scans at spacemodeling.org/jimz/ and at oldrocketplans.com. Sometimes I use them for initial tracings in Corel Draw.

The problem - You never know when the decals were scanned and at what resolution. Every time something is copied, original details are lost. Many scans don't include a 1" reference

measurement. Sometimes the color register is off.

Working at a print shop probably made me too picky! 

 

On the left is the name decal from the online scan.

On the right is the name set new after a font search.

Things become pixilated when copied and transferred. Here's one of the windows before and after redrawing.

These are enlargements and the rough edges are magnified. Some of the pixilation would disappear when the images are reduced.

Estes Sandpiper, Kit #1389, Finished

 

Another build crossed off the list!

Trickiest part of the paint is the nose cone tip.

The white underlays work well. The green and brown bands set over the orange paint could have used a white underlay. Oh well! 

The vertical stripe band sets right on the top of the shroud joint. This would cover any rough edges.

I haven't added the clay weight in the nose cone yet. 

Does anybody know the clay weight that came in the original kit?

Estes Sandpiper, Kit #1389, Part 16, Painting The Nose Cone Tip

One way to mask a nose cone tip - 

Set down a strip of clear Scotch tape.

Draw a curve with a wide point Sharpie. Let dry, wipe off excess ink with a paper towel.

Cut a smooth arc through the middle of the ink line.

The winglets are masked of with strait pieces of tape.

Cut the curved tape in half into shorter segments.

The curve allows you to lay the tape line in a "straight" line.

The lower half of the nose cone is masked off with brown paper tape.

Here's the finished nose cone.

Scotch tape masks will give a good line if your surfaces are smooth (no fillet bubbles or balsa grain) and the tape is sealing the edges.

Estes Sandpiper, Kit #1389, Part 15, More Decals

Note the tunnel (launch lug) is considered the bottom when the model is held horizontally.

Set down all the wrap bands first - 

then center the Air Force logo between the two forward bands.

The stars and bars were slid back a little to cover the white underlay. 

The TARGET decal follows behind the stars and bars. Another TARGET decal goes on the opposite side.

Two TARGET decals go on both sides of the wings.

The largest USAF and black stripes decals are a little confusing.

The USAF and stripes decal is separated on the decal sheet. The two pieces go on either side of the tunnel.

Cox .049 Engine History

 A well produced and narrated history of the Cox .049 model airplane engine.

CLICK HERE 

Lots of childhood memories here - The smells and the sounds of a Saturday at the school yard.

Estes is mentioned in the video.

I have a personal tie to this box art.

My cousin's ex-husband was a graphic artist. 

Here's one he produced for Cox.

Estes Sandpiper, Kit #1389, Part 14, White (Under) Decals TIP

On the decal sheet are star and bar outlines. These will be the white decal layer under the blue and red Air Force logo.

The dashed blue border lines are a hair smaller than the blue border on the Air Force logo overlay decal.

The underlay decal is sprayed with gloss white paint. This seals the surface, no clear coat is necessary for a water transfer. 

You should still be able to see the dashed cut lines.

Cut out the white sprayed decals. 

Soak and transfer the white underlay decal.

I'm rolling a damp Q-tip over the paint thickness "decal" to smooth it out and remove excess water and air bubbles. Let dry.

The white decal on the model gets some water lightly rubbed on with a finger - leave wet. This water acts as a lubricant for the overlay positioning.

Soak and transfer the red and blue Air Force logo. In the right side picture it isn't in position yet.

After sliding around a bit, you can center and cover any white edges with the overlay decal. Use the rolled damp Q-tip again to smooth it out.

This white paint decal idea works well in some applications. It certainly looks better than the orange paint showing through the clear areas.

Estes Sandpiper, Kit #1389, Part 13, Orange Paint

Finally, a dry afternoon for painting!

The model is an overall orange with a black tip of the nose cone.

Most of the prep was worth it, I had two areas of concern - 

The orange Ace enamel was a bit runny.

The upper edge of this fin had a run. I might wait for it to dry, sand and spray just the outside of the small fin. 

Dog hair! 

It had to happen sooner or later.

Look close and you'll see the fine line hair.

The finlet isn't a clean orange, some of the gray plastic is showing through from some earlier sanding. I may mask this finlet, spray white then orange again.

Improvements In Odd'l Rockets Kits

While I wait for drier weather to paint the Sandpiper -

Here's two improvements in the Odd'l Rockets 104 Starfighter kit.

3D printing has come a LONG way!

This is the PNC-24D nose cone from Apogee. Resin printed and very smooth. The plastic color is a light gray, the older cones were bright yellow. The gray is much easier to cover with lighter spray paints. Here is one coat of gloss white.

The intakes of the F-104 kit were split balsa nose cones.
While I pre-split the nose cones, the builder was still required to sand the inside contour to fit tight against the body tube. 

The new intakes are resin 3D printed by reallykoostuff.com 

Light gray, smooth and the underside is curved to fit the heavy wall BT-50 tube.

Estes Sandpiper, Kit #1389, Part 12, Ends & Edges, Decals

While waiting two days for the white undercoats to dry.

I doubt I'll get to the orange paint today, it's Father's Day. I'll be spending the afternoon with my daughters. 

My eighth grade woodshop teacher told me: "Anybody can get a table top smooth. A craftsman will focus on the ends and edges."

That statement stayed with me.

One thing I usually do is round out the cut ends of the launch lug. Rotate a sharpened dowel in the lug ends without flaring out the diameter.
 

I re-drew the kit decals. They'll be available soon to Patreon subscribers.

At the bottom are outline templates for cutting out white decals that go underneath the stars and bars. 

Estes Sandpiper, Kit #1389, Part 11, Screw Eye & Nose Cone Pattern

I picked the nose cone shoulder with the screw eye attachment.

The hole did need enlargement using a small file.

Before I can release the decals and templates, I have to print and test the size and fit.

I printed and cut out the nose cone decor pattern over the nose cone and winglets. The black paint line is at the bottom edge of the pattern. 

The one I drew up was a little too long. The lower edge should be just above the halfway point of the finlets root edge.

I made adjustments to the template page.

Here's the templates, as close as I could get them.

These and the decals will be available to Patreon subscribers after I place the decals on the painted model.

Estes Sandpiper, Kit #1389, Part 10, Sanding The White Undercoats

After the first white undercoat,

fine sanding with 400 grit showed there was still some uneven fillets.

The inside fillets are a little hard to reach.

This one showed a bubble after sanding. More glue - 

This had to be the best fitting shroud I've ever done!

It was surprising, I didn't have a shroud tool, the one at payloadbay.com wasn't available. Those tools are now at jonrocket.com.

Smooth, with very little filling.

The 3D printed nose cone turned out very smooth!

Initially, there were very subtle ridges, but those sanded out. One shot of filler/primer and sanding got it ready for color.

Estes Sandpiper, Kit #1389, Part 9, Fillets Down The Long Launch Lug

Sometimes I don't bother with launch lug fillets, it's a pain dealing with the air bubbles when the glue dries.

To the left is the first glue fillet still wet, just smoothed with a finger. Let the glue totally dry.

Here's the same fillet, dried with air pockets. Another glue fillet will fill some of the open holes.

It'll take three or four fillets to fill and smooth the glue line.

After three fillets the inside fill is looks smooth. 

You can lightly sand the fillet to further smooth before paint.

This launch lug/tunnel reminds me of the old Estes Wac Corporal kit. The long lug on the Wac Corporal is concealed with balsa strip sides.

Estes Sandpiper, Kit #1389, Part 8, Gluing The Lug Shroud

The sides of the lug shroud spread out when the glue on the bottom dried. The sides needed to attach to the launch lug.

A line of glue was spread down the edge of a razor blade.

This was transferred and spread down the inside edge of the shroud.

A dowel was pressed against the side to form the shroud flat against the lug.

Hold the dowl in place until the glue starts to set up. Repeat on the other side.

Here's the finished shroud, straight and tight.

Estes Sandpiper, Kit #1389, Part 7, Gluing The Lug Shroud

The launch lug shroud is glued on, centered between the two wing fins.

The bottom end is even with the motor mount tube.

The fins are glued on, centered and perpendicular to the wings.

The glue on the shroud bottom shrank a bit and turned the sides out.

It'll take some patient pressure to get the sides adhered to the launch lug.

Estes Sandpiper, Kit #1389, Part 6, The Long Launch Lug

The launch lug is 9 1/2" long.

I slid it over a straightened coat hanger for support when I sanded down the CWF filler.

In the instructions is a full size drawing for the angle cut of the top of the lug.

The low end of the launch lug hangs over the tail cone. To connect the sides, a folded "shroud" glues to the tail cone and the sides of the launch lug.

Pre-fold the lines before cutting out the shroud. I'm using the tip of a non-serrated butter knife to emboss a fold line.

After embossing the fold lines, cut out the shroud.

Coax the lines gradually working up to sharp folds.

Estes Sandpiper, Kit #1389, Part 5, Filling The Balsa & 3D Nose Cone

After brushing on CWF and sanding smooth, 

thin strips of masking tape were set on all the edges that were to get glue.

The fins and "wings" were taped down to scrap cardboard for a filler/primer spray.

After drying, the filler/primer was sanded to surface filling any remaining grain line.

Here's the tail cone - 

The tube seams and tube/tail cone joint got a line of CWF and sanding.

Filler/primer spray followed.

Here's the tail cone and low end of the body tube.

That black line at the joint isn't a gap, it's the printed cut line of the shroud border.

The plastic ridges on the 3d nose cone were initially sanded with 320, then 400 grit. This removed most of the print ridges. 

This shows the nose cone after the filler/primer was sanded. There are still some shallow ridges. It'll take another shot of filler/primer and more sanding to get it smooth.