FlisKits Interloper Build More FINISHED!

Looking over the model, it needed some black on the nose to visually balance out the amount of black on the tail end.

I decided to add just a bit of black to the blunt tip of the nose cone.

It'd be a pain to paint it, it's be easier to cut it out of electrical tape.

That clear square is cut from an Estes engine package, it's from the clear blister outer wrap.

On the rotary punch, I chose a hole that was a little smaller than the nose cone tip.

A piece of the black electrical tape was stuck to the clear plastic piece to give it more body for an easier punch.

The black tape was punched. It took a moment to get the tape circle and clear backing piece out of the punch tube. The black tape was then removed from the clear backing piece.

The black circle tip was positioned with the tip of my hobby knife.

Here's the nose cone tip with the new black detail dot.

Finally, a black electrical tape canopy was added to the nose.

Put a fork in it already!

FlisKits Interloper Build FINISHED!

The INTERLOPER is finished!

In the end, I decided to leave off the forward "guns'. They just looked too big and clumsy. I'm still deciding which decals (if any) I'll be using.

I didn't do a blog entry about attaching the streamer, it's a simple assembly. The Kevlar line wasn't attached to the engine block, it was glued to the root edge of one of the white vane fins.

FlisKits Interloper Build Part 12 Fin Tips

The toothpick points are glued to the outside edges of the orange fins.

Both the outside edge of the fin and the toothpick had paint removed for better adhesion.

A small drop of super glue was set on the rear of the toothpick / fin joint and allowed to run up the seam.

The end of the toothpick had raw wood exposed after cutting the toothpick to size. I touched up the end with a Sharpie.

FlisKits Interloper Build Part 11 Fins

The four orange fins came next.

You can see where the paint was scraped off down the fin line for gluing.

These main fins were glued on the same as before, white glue and then thin CA.

This time the thin CA drop was placed on the back of the root edge joint and allowed to run down the root edge.



Here's the view from the rear with all four orange fins in place.






The picture on the right is the back end of my Laser X. Now you can see the rear black / white vane effect I was trying to get.

FlisKits Interloper Build Part 10 Putting It Together

Here's all the parts set out ready for assembly.

This was a different build for me. I don't remember ever pre-painting every part before gluing it together.

First up are the vanes.

The fin lines were marked and a thin line of paint was scraped off for better adhesion.

The vanes were set in place with white glue.

After the white glue had dried, a small drop of super glue was set in the middle of each root edge, near the silver / black mask line.

A toothpick tip was used to "drag" that drop of CA down the root edge.

Here's the back end view with all the vanes in place.

FlisKits Interloper Build Part 8 Black Trim Paint

The scalloped BT-20 piece had the interior colored black with a Sharpie pen.

This would be a hard mask at this size. The Sharpie was just an easier way to go.

I wanted the long main tube to be black at the rear. This black would give the white vanes a greater contrast on the lower engine end.

TIP: You should be very careful when handling any silver or metallic paint. Fingerprints and scratches show up easily long after you think the paint has dried.

I didn't want to use masking tape over the silver. The sticky "gum" of the tape will mar a metallic paint. I simply wrapped white paper around the tube for the mask.

I set the BT-20 piece alongside the body tube trying to visualize where it would sit when assembled. The paper mask went at the halfway point.

The exposed low end of the tube was spray painted black.

FlisKits Interloper Build Part 7 Toothpick Details

The toothpicks were sealed with two coats of sanding sealer, sanding between coats.

I sealed six toothpicks to have extras, just in case. The six were cut in half and punched into cardboard for spraying. These will be cut to size after the black spray dries.

These are the front guns to be glued below the nose cone / body tube joint.

I did my best to match the angle of the trailing edge of the balsa standoff.

FlisKits Interloper Build Part 6 Vanes and Fins Prep

The instructions give you three different suggestions for the fin shaping-

a double taper, rounded or square leading and trailing edges.

The fins feel thick for a model this size. I felt the double taper would look best but would be hard to sand a sharp bevel on such small fins.

I chose a wedge shape. The leading edge would taper to a "knife edge". The trailing edge would be full thickness.

To avoid a hard mask, the fins will be filled, primed and spray painted before gluing on the lower BT-20.

The laser cut interior vanes are thin. After a coat of gray primer they were sanded smooth. Two coats of gloss white followed, sanding between coats.

Any paint will be sanded off the root and outside edges for better adhesion to the body tube surfaces.

FlisKits Interloper Build Part 5 Fins

Both the long main tube and the shorter Bt-20 got thinned Carpenter's Wood Filler to eliminate the seams. This was sanded down with 400 grit sandpaper.

If you look at the original drawing, I wanted the interior ram jet fins to extend out the back instead of being flush with the rear of the tubes. With the outside edge of the interior fins cut trimmed, the BT-20 will end up being a little shorter than the supplied length of tube.

The end was cut at about a 45 degree angle. This first cut fin was used as a master template for marking the other five.

These are the four tiny fins. The face card says "Laser Cut Fins" but that refers to the smaller card stock internal vanes. You still have to cut these from the 1/16" balsa.

The outside edge was cut at the angle as shown in my first drawing.

Fliskits Interloper Build Part 4 Scallops

When I got close to the pencil line I put the paper wrap on again.

It's easier to see the depth of the scallops with the higher contrast of the paper wrap.

Right now I've sanded about as far down as I should using the 220 grit sandpaper. You can see the tube edges are a little rough.

Some thin CA was added to the edges to harden them up for a smoother edge.

Now switch over to a wrap of 400 grit sandpaper on the dowel. After sanding, the super glue hardened edge will have no cardboard "fuzzies".

With an even number of six scallops you can sand across the top smoothing and even up two scallops at a time.

FlisKits Interloper Build Part 3 Tube Scallops

Note: I used a longer piece of scrap BT-20 I had from my spare parts box. It will be easier to shape a longer piece of body tube then cut it down afterwards.

The fin marking guide from the instruction sheet was used to mark the six scallop lines.

A piece of paper was wrapped and a pencil line marked along the top. This horizontal line will be a depth gauge for the scallops.

220 grit sandpaper was tightly wrapped around a 1/4" diameter dowel.

With the dowel almost parallel to the top of the tube, sand a scallop into the top edge of the tube.

Stop sanding just before you get down to the horizontal pencil line.

FlisKits Interloper Build Part 2 Color Plan

I took the original drawing and started dropping in possible color combinations.

This model will have three main colors - silver, orange and white. Black trim will be on all the toothpicks and at the rear of the main body tube.

Because of the size of the model, masking would be difficult. I'll pre-finish, spray and then assemble where possible.

Above the BT-20, silver will be seen between the white vanes and continue up the main body.

The long main body tube will change from silver to black at the rear, under the scalloped BT-20. The black will show through at the bottom between the white vanes.

All the toothpick pieces will be black.

Fins and the upper taper of the nose cone will be orange.

This FlisKit has decals. After looking at the finished, painted model, I'll decide which ones to use.

FlisKits Interloper Build Part 1 Parts

Here's almost all the parts for the FlisKits Interloper.

The toothpicks (for the fin points) aren't in the shot.

I'll substitute two of my own.

This is one of four MicroMaxx kits I recently won on Ebay.

If you go back to this post (click HERE) you can see the slight design changes I'll be making.

This build will cover some things not talked about before. The scallops on the larger BT-20 body tube will be first up.

FlisKit's Interloper Detailing

Jim Flis' designs certainly don't need any tweaking. He's come up with some of the more innovative designs out there.

I recently won four MMX kits on Ebay, the Interloper was one of them.

This is a great design with plenty of detail. Sometimes I'll take a kit and play with the design.

I thought the "vanes" (the internal fins in the larger rear ring tube) could extend out the back of the rocket.

I wouldn't be able to extend them out by very much, they are already laser cut into heavy card stock.

I settled for a short extension out the back by raising the ring tube 3/16" or so. The rear of the internal fins will get a scalloped cut to match the scalloped top of the fin.

The top of the ring tube might get scalloped cuts between the internal fins.

I kept the fin shape but changed the angle of the toothpick tips.

The top end of the main tube is long. I will add some small details to visually even out the detail on the bottom. These look a little like the front guns on the Fliskits Stingray.

Right now it's just a drawing, One day I'll build it.