Estes Monarch Build, #7214, Finished

The Optima is a great design, at any size.

I'll worry about printing a name decal next time I make decals.

That Rusto Metallic Black Night paint is a favorite.

I didn't worry about the break line between the two body tubes. Normally I'd fill it.

I didn't notice it until now -

The Monarch face card art has the same trim style as the Optima! Different colors but the same idea - vertical shiny fin stripes and a body wrap around above that. 

Estes Monarch Build, #7214, Part 14, Placing The Upper Tube Trim

The upper body was spray painted gloss black, followed by two coats of my favorite Rusto Metallic Black. The black extends down 8.5" from the nose cone tip.

The metallic black compliments the reflective specks in the purple vinyl trim.

A 1/4" wrap of chrome is space about 1/8" from the bottom of the black.

The 1/2" wide purple butts up against the chrome.

Another 1/4" wrap of chrome sets against the bottom of the purple.

Estes Monarch Build, #7214, Part 13, Placing The Purple Fin Trim

The wider purple trim is cut much the same way as the chrome strip. 

A light wipe of glue stick and press the template onto the trim material.

Cut out the purple trim, a little long for overhang of the trailing edge. 

The purple is rolled over the leading edge and evenly spaced from the chrome strip.

The picture was taken after the overhang was trimmed off.

The left side shows the rolled over purple and chrome on the rounded leading edge.

The inset picture shows the trimmed squared trailing edge.

Estes Monarch Build, #7214, Part 12, Placing The Chrome Fin Trim

With the right side of my ruler set into the root edge - The right side of the chrome strip is about 2 1/16". (The ruler has a little extra border on the left side.)

This measurement is consistent from the top to the bottom.

 Notice the masking tape set down as a right side vertical guide for the chrome strip.

Set the center of the chrome V strip on the rounded leading edge.

The tails on the sides aren't stuck down yet.

Set the right side edge down using the tape edge.

When all it lined up, burnish the chrome strip down.

Trim off the overhang from the trailing edge with a sharp knife using a short back and forth sawing motion. 

With the tape guide removed, 

the chrome strips are placed, parallel to the root edge line.

Estes Monarch Build, #7214, Part 11, Cutting The Chrome Fin Trim - TIP

TIP: The larger Estes Optima kit supplies you with holographic tape trim. It's a long strip that won't wrap over the rounded leading edge of the fin, leaving a gap. Here's how I made a continuous "roll-over" piece. 

   

A fin tracing and indications of the purple and chrome trim.

The tracing is mirrored so the pieces could smoothly cover and connect on the leading edge.

A little bit of planning could saves a lot of frustration when dealing with peel and stick trim.

Here's the two templates cut from cardstock. The wider purple piece is on the left, the thinner chrome strip is to the right.

Mark the center fold over line.

Note the top and bottom ends are extended beyond the trailing edges of the fins. This allows an overhang to be trimmed off later.

Apply a light wipe of glue stick to the backside of the thinner chrome template.

The glue coat holds the template in place as you cut the chrome underneath.

The top picture shows the template tacked to the chrome. Cut around the template using a straightedge and sharp knife.

The light wipe of the glue stick allows the template to be lifted after cutting and used again.

Estes Monarch Build, #7214, Part 10, Planning Ahead For Paint & Trim

The instructions don't mention where the black paint starts on the upper end of the body. 

I assume the black paint separation mask is at the low end of the payload tube. The payload tube (catalog #031380) length doesn't come up on the Estes website.

To estimate the length - On my computer screen, I enlarged the instruction picture close to the diameter of the downscale BT-55.

The black paint area measured out at 8 1/2" from the tip of the nose cone down.

The instructions show colors and dimensions of the holographic tape trim. I'll simply half the height.

At Hobby Lobby I found some self adhesive metallic purple vinyl.

The self adhesive chrome is left over from the Estes Doorknob build. I didn't use the chrome trim on the blue "sport" version. I sometimes hang onto unused parts and trim for moments like this.

While not an exact match to the full size Pro 2 holographic trim, it's close enough for my downscale.

Estes Monarch Build, #7214, Part 9, Gluing On The Fins

Here's the build with the rear and forward fins in place. 

On this downscale, the smaller fins are 4 5/16" from the rear of the tube.

The rear lug is glued 1/4" from the end of the body tube.

The forward launch lug is glued 7 5/8" from the rear.

TIP: You can fill bubbles that form in dried lug fillets. It takes three applications of wood glue.

Apply and smooth the first fillet, let dry.

Apply second fillet, smooth and let dry.

Apply a third fillet, smooth and let dry.

Those bubbles should be gone -

Estes Monarch Build, #7214, Part 8, Downsizing The Optima To A BT-55

Downsizing is often a compromise.

I don't have a Optima shaped nose cone. For now, I'll be using the nose cone from the Monarch kit.

The Estes online specs say the Pro Series II Optima has a 2.5" (outside diameter) body tube.

This might be a BT-80 tube with the diameter rounded down to 2.5". The BT-80 diameter is actually 2.6".

This downscale is built around a BT-55 at 1.325" diameter, very close to a half size downscale.

For my build, I used the 2.5" tube measurement, downscaled to the BT-55 size of 1.325".

Multiply all dimensions by .53 to get your downsize dimensions.

The full size Optima is 48.5" tall.

Multiply the 48.5" X .53 = 25.70" downsize height.

The nose cone length is 5" exposed. 

That leaves 20.70" of body tube. The fins are even with the bottom of the lower tube.

Using just the original two tubes from the Monarch kit, the downscaled Optima looked short.

The lower tube (with the engine mount) from the Monarch kit is 9" long.

I cut a scrap BT-55 tube to the remaining 11.70" for the upper tube.

Estes Monarch Build, #7214, Part 7, Nose Cone Seam

This kit had a definite stepped seam on both sides of the nose cone.

Before filling the low side, sand the high sides down a bit using a sanding block.

To fill in the remaining recess, some medium CA glue was run as a long bead down the seam. 

The wet glue can run so only do one side and let dry. The CA glue bead on the surface can take some time to dry.

Sand to surface with 400 grit on a block.

The small, thin shock cord tie ring in the nose cone shoulder are prone to breaking. 

The tie down ring was cut off. A hole was drilled for the shock cord attachment.

Estes Monarch Build, #7214, Part 6, Rounding The Leading Edges

From the new Optima kit instructions:

The leading edges and outside edges are rounded.

The trailing edges remain square.

The short leading edge of the forward, smaller fins was tricky.

I used my sanding block to knock off the edges then a piece of 400 grit around my fingers to get the final round.

Here's the three forward fins,

note the squared trailing edges.

 

Here's the larger rear fins showing the rounded forward and outside edges.

Estes Monarch Build, #7214, Part 5, Cutting Out The Fins

There is enough "free" balsa on one side of the Monarch fin sheet to cut out one of the larger, lower Optima fins. 

The other two larger fins will be cut from two glued together  Monarch fin pieces.

Before gluing together the fin pieces, sand the laser cut burnt edges square with a block. Glue the two pieces flat with weight on top.

 

The third fin only needed a small fin tip extension glued on the trailing edge.

From the remaining balsa the smaller forward fins are cut.

All the fins are cut and gang sanded.

Estes Monarch Build, #7214, Part 4, Fins

 

I decided to kitbash the Monarch into a downscale Optima.

I've always liked the dual fin design and bold graphics.

I couldn't find a fin pattern so I looked up a rocksim drawing on rocketreviews.com.

This was copied and dropped into Corel draw.

To do the quick downscale, a circle was drawn to 1.325", the diameter of the Monarchs BT-55 tube. The drawing was reduced to match the tube diameters. This also reduced the size of the fin templates.

A print was made and the patterns cut out.

Now . . . how to cut new fins using the existing kit laser cut balsa sheet.

Joel Shepherd's STM-012 Inspiration

From the Estes Model Rockets Facebook page:

Joel Shepherd posted -

"This is an old Estes STM-012 that my daughter picked out of the free pile at our first club launch, about a year ago. I wasn’t crazy about it but then saw some posts by someone who converted theirs to dual deploy. That seems like a good thing to learn about so that’s the plan for this one. The electronics bay, etc., is all ready to go: just need to learn how to do it. Color scheme was inspired by the Terrier Mk70 Improved Malemute sounding rocket."

I like the paint treatment! Gives it a real scale look.

Here's my kitbash of the STM-012, called the B32-M Spike:

This one borrowed some design elements from the Madcow AGM-33 Pike.

Here's my B32-M Spike build from repairs, the finished model to the start of the build: CLICK HERE

Here's what the original STM-012 looked like:

I originally was going to make a sport-scale Amramm.

But, the Amraam had two sets of four fins, the STM-012 body tube was slotted for two sets of three. 

Rob Caswell's Jetliner

I've shown Rob Caswell's work before! This is a great kitbash of the Estes Jetliner.

It reminds me a little of the Shrox Lexxjet.

"I still need to throw a final clear coat on, but otherwise my modified Jetliner is done. I really should think up a new name for it, since 90% of the Jetliner’s parts were replaced and/or rekajiggered. And yes, it’s highly inspired by the Honda HA-420. Decals are my own creation… and “RADSA” is the “Rob and Deb Space Agency”: our own logo and name for our collective flying model works."

"Based on reviews I read, I upgraded the Estes Jetliner design from a 13mm to 18mm design as many had complained it was underpowered. In its one test flight, with a B6-4, it flew rock solid."

Here's how the original Estes kit looked - 

I like Rob's version better! Custom decals, details and an upgrade to 18mm motors.

Estes STM-012 Kitbash to the B32-M Spike, Part 11, Nose Cone Paint

Damn paint!
Painted plastic nose cones take forever to dry!

Sure, the can says "Recoat within one hour or after 24 hours." I waited a few days after the white undercoat. That seemed to take forever to dry.
The red coat wrinkled!

This slowed down the finish of this build.
This picture shows the wrinkled surface after wet sanding with 400 grit.

I think I'll wait a week before trying to spray the red again.

Estes STM-012 Kitbash to the B32-M Spike, Part 10, Decals and Trim

The fins got a different decal treatment.
I used a marked spacer strip to be sure all three bars were consistently spaced.

The home print decals stuck and wrapped around the outside edge very well.

The payload section also got something different.
On the left was the initial aluminum paint and decal wraps.

The inset shows some random pieces cut from chrome Monokote trim.
These were simple strips and rectangles. While the chrome on aluminum contrast looks great, it needed something more.

I made some round spots with the rotary punch.

The inset picture shows the knife tip picking the circle out of the cutter tube. The rotary punch cuts through both the chrome and backing paper.

Initially I was going to place the circles over the chrome pieces already on the model. I thought it might show up better. Look close and you can see the first circle placed over the chrome. It almost disappeared!

The inset picture shows the final look with the chrome dots placed.
A repeated chrome overlay is also on the other side.

Estes STM-012 Kitbash to the B32-M Spike, Part 9, Paint and Trim

The low end fins were sprayed with Rusto 2X Aluminum. This metallic paint dries very quickly and decals adhere to it well.

As usual, I stuffed a rolled paper towel in the rear engine mount recess to keep paint out.

The upper payload section was also masked and sprayed with aluminum paint.

The main color on the model is white, the secondary color is aluminum. The decals add trim red and black.

I wanted to use one of the original decals supplied in the STM-012 kit. The center of the decal wrap was cut out leaving just the black.

The two halves were butted up at the centers. The inset shows the final look.