Estes Advanced Target Drone, Kit #1913, Build, Part 2, Redrawing The Cardstock Intake

 

Here's the scan of the intakes from the Jim Z's website:

CLICK HERE

I appreciate the patterns, but sometimes the scans are a bit rough.

Good thing the ruler is on the scan!

I dropped the art into Corel Draw and drew a 1" square box.

The art was sized so the 1" square box matched the 1" measure on the ruler.

Notice how the intake pattern and the ruler aren't on the same baseline.

Drop down a horizontal alignment line. Double click the intake scan and you can rotate it.

Start drawing the outside cut lines and the inside fold lines.

To be sure the long top and bottom trapezoid shapes are the same size, I drew a box that aligned with the top half.

Copy and slide down the copied box to check the lower half height. 

The slot was drawn with a thin solid line,

The folds got a dashed line.

Great thing about computer graphics,

Copy the original, paste and drop down an exact copy.

Estes Advanced Target Drone, Kit #1913, Build, Part 1, Parts

This will be a spare parts build.

Clockwise from left to right:

BT-50H (Heavy wall tube) 11" long

Apogee PNC-24C (a bit shorter than the original kit nose cone)

Odd'l Rockets 12" chute 

Some leftover Air Force decals I might be able to use

1/4 oz. Clay nose cone weight

3/32" Balsa sheet

1/8" dia. Launch Lug 2 3/8" long

20/50 Engine Mount

Round elastic shock cord

135 lb. Kevlar

More about the cardstock in an upcoming post.

Estes Advanced Target Drone, Kit #1913, Clone Build Background

The epoxy fillets on the Mega Initiator will take some time, I'll get back to that build soon -

Introduced in the 1983 catalog is the ADVANCED TARGET DRONE.

Kit # 1913, available from 1983 through 1985. Original cost was $6.00.

Information from Jerry Fortin's database: CLICK HERE

This is a four fin, nose cone model but has cardstock intakes that slot over the longer "wing" fins.

15.3" tall, 1.3 oz weight, BT-50 based with 18mm power. 12" parachute recovery.

The interesting part will be making the white decaled areas at home.

The build starts tomorrow!

Builds On Display!

While the epoxy dries on the Mega Initiators -

Around a year and a half back, I donated ten display builds to Colonial Hobby in Orlando, Florida.

I checked back last December and the models were still in a cardboard box, sitting on top of a file cabinet.

I let them know if they weren't going to display the builds, I'd rather have them back. They took the hint and finally put them on display!

Most all these are my builds, from left to right - 

The Andromeda, Long Tom, Sprint XL, Alien Invader, Laser Lance, Scram Jet, Bullpup, Goblin, QCC Explorer, Little Honest John. I don't know who built the others.

They did honor my one request - keep them out of reach! They are up on a shelf at the back of the store, to the right of the rocket kits.

Aerotech Mega Initiator #89541, Part 11, Gluing In The Engine Mount

Test fit, test fit, test fit -  before gluing on the centering rings.

The mount is slid into the airframe tube and the fin tabs slipped into the fin slots into the centering ring notches.

Here I've marked the position of the bottom edge of the ring with masking tape.

This allows me to apply the epoxy to the upper side of the ring. After that dries, the tape is pulled and an epoxy fillet is applied to the underside joint. Repeat the epoxy fillets on the other centering rings.

You are given the choice of gluing in the mount then attaching the fins or - 

Extend and cut the fin slots down through the bottom of the body tube. The fins are glued onto the mount then the entire assembly is slid into the tube thru the extended fin slots.

I decided to not extend the fin slots. Sometimes this extended cut allows the tube end to flare out.

Before you use epoxy - 

Some people are allegic to epoxy. Use a gloved finger to smooth out epoxy fillets.

With the fins dry fitted in their slots, 

this puts the low centering ring just under 7/8" from the end of the airframe tube.

To glue the upper ring in place,

Slide the mount down, about 1/4" below the final position. 

This lowers the mount and upper ring. Epoxy can be applied from above, then the mount slid up into the epoxy glue ring.

 

I used a dowel to reach and apply a ring of epoxy glue.

With the upper ring in the lowered position, the dowel was marked to be used as a depth guide.

To reach in with the epoxy,

Roll just the end of the dowel in the glue. This is set into the tube up to the mark and rolled around the tube wall. 

Continued next post -

Aerotech Mega Initiator #89541, Part 10, Final Fin Fill & Dry Fits

The fins on the flight version were left square.

That inside leading edge angle still wouldn't match up. I added some CWF for a better flow.

Here's the same fill after sanding. Some 400 grit was wrapped around a pencil to sand the angle.

Another dry fit of the fins showed the ring slots were too tight.

The sides were shaved down, widening the slots.

Here's how far the engine mount is recessed, the ring face is just under 7/8" from the end of the tube.

With the fins in the slots set the placement depth of the  engine mount.

Aerotech Mega Initiator #89541, Part 9, Assembling The Engine Mount Adapters

In the last post, I did some dry fits until the rings were tight on the tube, but still moveable.

Here I'm using the flat face of my sanding block to get the lower ring flush and square with the end of the motor mount tube.

Here's the engine mount ready with the upper ring 1" from the top of the tube.

A dry fit ready for the epoxy fillets.

Epoxy fillets were applied with a gloved finger and smoothed with alcohol.

In the picture, I've applied a fillet and am removing most of it with a Q-tip. This is the ring that "sockets" into the larger engine mount tube. You don't want excess glue to hinder the fit.

 

The finished adapter.

The other two mount assemble and glue up the same.