Mars Snooper Build Part 28 Masking the Shrouds

This is going to be a harder mask than normal.
You've got to mask around fin root edges and the top of Shroud #1.

This is clear scotch tape. It was stuck down to my patio door glass.
A thick, permanent marker line was drawn down the middle.
With a straightedge the tape was cut down the length through the middle of the marker line.
With the black edge, it's easier to see where your mask line will sit.


Squares were cut from a plastic grocery bag.
Masking tape strips were set on the straight edges, half on and half off.
The exposed masking tape was set over the scotch tape masks already on the model.
Roll the excess grocery bag squares over the fins and tape closed.


Two light coats of gloss black were sprayed allowing five minutes between coats.
A final heavier third coat was sprayed on and allowed to dry.

After the masks were removed, here's the results.
With a complex mask like this, some touch ups will be needed.

Mars Snooper Build Part 27 Decals

This is the Snooper decal as copied from JimZ's: http://www.spacemodeling.org/JimZ/estes/k-20.pdf

In this form with the blue-ish background it won't be useable. If printed from this scan, the cut-out decals would have a light blue edge.
But there is plenty here to re-draw the decals.

It was loaded into Corel Draw and "traced."
I searched through too many fonts to find some that were close.
I had a good idea what to look for, I worked on a photo typesetter back in high School.
It's not an exact replica, who knows what original fonts came from what foundry in the 1960s. But it's close enough for me. No one will know the difference unless they saw it side by side against the original decal.

I won't be able to send out PDFs on this one. These are images owned by Estes. But, you can order decals from Excelsior or Tango Papa for your Snooper build.

Mars Snooper Build Part 26 Re-Mask and Spray

At the top of the fins pod edge I rolled the fillets over the top with a toothpick tip.
Enlarge the picture to see the rounded joint.






The lower half of the model is ready for the white coats.
A casing and dowel is in the engine mount for a spraying wand.
Rolled up paper is in the top of the body tube to keep out the spray paint.





The vane gluing lines were again masked off with 1/16" thick masking strips.
These strips will stay on until after the black is sprayed.

Defender Post Flight 3X C6-7s

After a launch, I'll inspect, repair and clean up any soot.
The three friction fit C6-7 engines were pulled from the Defender right after the flight.
TIP: Hard to believe, but it's easiest to pull a friction fit engine from the engine mount tube while the engine is still warm, immediately after a flight!

For the picture, the three engines were rotated out, away from their center positions, to show the charring on the casings.
This end burning was twice what the first B6-6 engines showed. There must be a lot of central "flash" during the thrust stage of the burn.



Something else I found interesting:
The paint on the black fin trailing edges was charred.
The paint on the white fins is still like new!
(But, the white fins are a little farther away from the engines.)




The exposed decal lip, below the largest transition, is peeling back!
I'd mentioned how fast these clusters are off the pad.
While the other decals are fine, this roll decal has the upper edge exposed to the windstream right below the adapter.

Mars Snooper Build Part 25 Gluing Outside Fins

The outside fins were hard to align.
Even with a pencil line and "double glue" these fins liked to slip and slide all over the BT-5 pod.
In the picture it doesn't look centered, but it is.

These fins got four fillet layers like the rest of the model.





Here's how it looks up to this point.

I'll re-mask the low vane gluing lines with thin tape strips.
From the top shroud down it'll be painted black.

For better contrast the vanes will be painted white and glued on afterwards.
I decided on this paint scheme after looking at the old catalog pictures. With the lower end an overall black you don't even see the vanes.

Top 10 for 2011

I had 285 launches in the past year, 90 flights more than in 2010.
For me, that's 1,066ns or 67% of a J engine.
Of the 24 builds completed in 2011, these are my top picks.
Click on the BOLD NAME to go to the finished pictures or blog post.
Counting down from Number 10 -

10. Downscale Carded PATRIOT
I did four downscales this past year, the Patriot, Astro 1, Pigletsus and Mini Bertha. Built around a BT-20, the Citation Patriot is the favorite. Click on the FREE PDF PLANS at the top of the blog for a link to make your own.

9. Semroc BABY ORION
The finished model seemed much smaller than I thought it would be. Still a great build and a chance to do some small detailing. Eventually sent to Carl at Semroc for a late birthday gift.

8. CWF MIX FOR BODY TUBE SEAMS
This wasn't a build, but I may have found a workable mix that stays in the body tube seams when sanding it to surface.

7. Centuri FINLESS
After many stable flights with the Hot Rod Rockets Bell Bottom (A smaller conical stability rocket) I was surprised that the Finless wasn't stable with anything larger than an "A" engine! Recreating the roll patterns with Blackboard Contact Paper worked great.
Why is an unstable rocket on this list? Because it just looks cool!

6. CD SPOOL
This was one of those rare surprises. The spin on recovery is very fast! A perfect small field flyer.

5. 260 SPACE BOOSTER
Another one to scratch off my bucket list. After all these years, clear plastic fins still pop off on landing.

4. PIGASUS!
After a frustrating first try, the new Pigasus is a favorite especially with the wives and girlfriends dragged to a launch. I was happy it was stable!

3. Odd'l Rockets CYCLONE
An amazing, no moving parts helicopter recovery rocket. When flown with a 1/2A engine, I'm still surprised at the long flight duration of the monocopter recovery. This one puts the fun back into sport rocketry. Many thanks to Jonathan Mills, Ph.D for a great design.
The Cyclone was #1 on last year's Top 10 list after just a few test flights. It's on this year's list now that it's in production as a successful Odd'l Rockets kit.

2. Semroc DEFENDER
A rewarding build, but I was nervous to try my first three engine cluster. It was worth the wait. Very FAST off the pad, it reminds me of an old B14 engine in a minimum diameter rocket.

1. Estes SATURN V
This was a long build and one I was proud of. Over 70 blog posts from start to finish. (Too many according to some blog readers!) I've heard the blog helped others with their Saturn V build. It remains a "shelf queen" for now.

Thanks to everybody who reads the blog!
If you are not a "follower" yet, why not sign up?
If the interest grows, the blog will continue.
Let me know if I'm on the right track!

Mars Snooper Build Part 24 Pods

The pods were sprayed with primer off the model.
I'm holding onto the nose cone tip, my hand is inside a grocery bag.

The back half of the pod was sprayed. After it dried, the sharp side was sprayed.


After it dried, the primer was sanded.

The pod was set against the fin and marked for the trailing edge position. The trailing edge is glued about 1/2" from the bottom of the Bt-5 pod tube.

Using 220 grit on a block, this gluing line was sanded off, to about 1/16" on either side of the line. The line was re-drawn again for gluing.



From the rear, this is the pod glued on the fin.

For easier alignment, extend the lines beyond the tick marks.
You wouldn't be able to glue the pods on straight if your alignment line was totally covered up by the fin.