Red River Rocketry Starliner DST, Finished

This was an easy build and a change from the ordinary.
A long piece of round elastic was substituted for the shorter flat elastic from the kit.
The elastic was tied on making sure the Kevlar didn't overhang the end of the body tube.
The red Mylar eight shroud line parachute looks great.

I'm looking forward to flying this one.

Red River Rocketry Starliner DST Part 10 General Decal Tips

On the Starliner you've got to center the window decals on opposite sides of the body tube. But on the back end there are three fins, not four. You can't line them up looking down the edge of the fin.
Go ahead and wrap a strip of paper around the tube if you were making a four "fin" marking guide.

Work off the #1 fin opposite the launch lug under the body.
With the model painted you can look straight down from the front and see the fin leading edge reflection down the tube.
In front of the reflected line is the marked strip of paper. One pencil mark is lined up with the reflection of the #1 fin.

On the sides you should now have four marks on the sides of the paper strip. Use the marks on the sides to line up the long windows decals on each side of the tube.

TIP: When placing a canopy window decal over a curved nose cone -
Cut the decal in half down the middle between the windows.

When cut in half it will better fit the curve of the nose cone with fewer or no wrinkles on the side.

TIP: When soaking smaller decals -
It's a pain to chase them around the bottom of your water glass.

Use long tweezers to hold the decal. Totally immerse the decal in the water while still holding onto the decal with the tweezers.

Then "float" the decal on the surface of the water.
While still holding onto the decal bring it to the surface. Open the tweezers and leave the decal on the top. It should float.
With the decal floating at the top of the glass it makes for an easier pickup out of the water.
After soaking set the decal on a paper towel until you are ready to transfer it onto the model.
Only soak one or two decals at one time.

I'll typically leave decals in the water glass for 20 seconds. Lightly rub the decal to see if it easily releases from the backing paper. If it is still holding on soak a few seconds more.
Kit decals come from many sources and there is no standard soaking time. 20 seconds is just a good average for me.

Red River Rocketry Starliner DST, Part 9, Decals

Here's the tail cone and fin end after the "wet" final coat.
Around the lug hole the only fill material was Titebond M&TG and sanded primer filler.

You'll have to go by the face card for decal placement.
The decals aren't difficult to place but you'll have to plan ahead for the long side window decal.

TIP: Never cut a decals inside angle with a sharp corner. Always round off corners when cutting out decals. A sharp inside corner has greater chance of tearing.

Notice the tic mark on the masking tape around the front of the model.
The tape edge gave a reference so both long decals were set the same distance from the front of the model.
The tic mark is the center to line up the red line down the middle of the long decal. The long launch lug faces the bottom.

Stand the model up on the flat tail cone. Use the side of a book (or any other square corner) to be sure the "1" is vertical.

The "1" decal goes on the fin opposite the launch lug side.

The hexagons go between the fins at the center of the tail cone.

Red River Rocketry Starliner DST, Part 8, Sanding The First White Coat

After the gray primer was sanded down a first light coat of white followed.
After the white has dried you'll be able to see any glue fillet irregularities.
The glue bumps usually show up where the leading and trailing edges meet the body tube.

Here you can see the sanded area at the top of the fin. The white has been sanded back and gray primer is showing through.
You can be as careful as you want but there will probably be Titebond M&TG "boogers" showing up under the first color coats.
Lightly sand them down with 400 grit and the next color coat will look smoother.
This is an extra step that could bring your finish to the next level.

After all this prep the model gets another light white coat then the final "wetter" coat of gloss white.
The model is painted and overall white. The decals make the model on this one.

Red River Rocketry Starliner DST, Part 7, Fin Shaping and Gluing

The instruction say to sand the fins to an airfoil shape.
I couldn't see any reason for this, a high drag model with an efficient shaped fin.
The fins are small and it would be hard to shape an airfoil.





I simply sanded the leading and trailing edges round.

Here the fin is set next to it's glue line on the shroud.
A thin strip of masking tape was set on the line before spraying some primer.


After spraying and sanding down the primer you can see where the engine mount glue has slightly puckered in the body tube.

I didn't use much glue inside the tube before sliding in the mount. I was relying on outside fillets for strength.
I could be wrong, but this might be a recycled paper body tube. You'd never run into this problem years ago with the older brown tubes.

TIP: To hide the glue tab overlap on the shroud, glue a fin beside the stepped tab joint, not half on - half off. This also means the other two fins will be glued beside and just to the left of their position lines.

On the left is one of the two fins glued beside the printed lines.
On the right is the fin being set in the side of the overlap joint.
Glue it in the "step" and the joint will be hidden after a fillet or two.

Red River Rocketry Starliner DST, Part 6, Shroud Glue and Fillets

Before the shroud glue dries slide the lug in place and make sure it lays straight.

Remove the lug.

A small amount of glue was slid under the sides of the open slot where it touches the body tube.
Very little glue is needed.

With a clean dowel roll roll the corners of the open slot down onto the tube.

The inside shroud ring joint got a glue fillet.
It's too tight to get the glue nozzle or a finger in the small area.

Glue was applied drop by drop on the end of a rounded dowel.
Excess glue was picked up with a Q-tip.

Red River Rocketry Starliner DST, Part 5, Shroud Forming and Gluing

Before cutting off the overhanging edge of the interior shroud,
give the edge a coat of medium CA.
This hardens up the card stock and makes it easier to trim off.





Use the edge of the upper shroud as a guide for the razor blade cut.

After the lip is removed, sand the edge flat on a sanding block.

Slide the shroud down onto the 20/55 ring and draw a pencil line around the small end of the shroud.

Slide the shroud up and apply a small line of glue below the pencil line.
You won't need glue where the lug will sit.

The instructions say to apply glue around the edge of the 20/55 ring. It's really not needed yet.
Wait until the shroud is in place and apply a fillet afterwards from the bottom.

Red River Rocketry Starliner DST, Part 4, Shroud Cutting and Forming

The engine mount is glued into the BT-50 tube.
It is slid in until the 20/55 centering ring butts up against the tube end.

The instructions say to apply glue inside the tube and around the lower 20/50 ring.
Slide the mount in place then twist it at the end of it's travel. This will even out the inside glue line into an even fillet.

The shroud was scanned and extras printed.
This will be a doubled or nested Super Shroud.

There is quite a bit of exposed shroud around the engine mount and I wanted it to be stronger.
A hard landing could dent a single layer shroud.

For a better fit around the launch lug the shroud was cut as shown in the picture.
This cut allows the open top slot to fit tighter around the back of the launch lug.

On the left is the single shroud cut on the black border lines.

On the right is the shroud cut as shown above.
Two stacked, nested shrouds are used. The inside shroud overhangs the bottom and will be cut off after the glue dries.

Red River Rocketry Starliner DST, Part 3 Engine Mount

The 20/50 rings needed some inside notches to fit over the engine hook.

A Kevlar line was knotted and the loop slipped under the top bend of the engine hook, Semroc style. I didn't go with the supplied tri-fold mount.
A 20/55 flat centering ring goes against the side of the lower 20/50 ring.
This is the rear form support for the conical shroud.
A 3/16" square notch is cut for the launch lug to slide through.

Here's how the engine mount sits in the rear of the BT-50 mainframe tube.
The long launch lug will fit in the notch after the shroud is glued in place.
(The lug is just held in place for the picture.)

Red River Rocketry Starliner DST, Part 2 Parts

The nose cone seems to be made by BMS.
It has the dowel already glued in place with yellow wood glue.

The nose cone was made from dense balsa and a little rough.
Sanding with 220 then 400 will smooth it out.

The 12" parachute was interesting.

There are eight shroud lines, not six. The paper reinforcement rings are placed on the fold points.
The parachute instructions have you put a reinforcement disk on both sides of the parachute. The supplied kit rings are paper.
I switched out the paper rings for some Avery plastic rings.
Paper rings can tear, the plastic rings are much stronger and would only require a disk on one side.

It's interesting the chute was cut round and not eight sided. There are no corners where a tear could start.
Mylar tears pretty easily if there is a nick in the side.
One paper ring on either side could prevent a tear from starting, but I'd rather go with a single stronger plastic disk.

Red River Rocketry Starliner DST, Part 1 Parts

I bought this one on sale from Uncle Mike's rocket shack.
An interesting design with conical stability.

Parts were of high quality.
The model is BT-50 based. This is another of the better BT-50s. They seem a bit thicker walled.

The parts of interest:
12" diameter red Mylar parachute.
3" long launch lug
Three small laser cut fins, 3/32" thick stock
20/55 centering ring for shroud base
Tri-fold shock cord mount.
I'll replace with Kevlar from the engine mount.
The conical shroud printed on 65 lb. stock.
I'll scan it and reprint on 110 lb. card stock.