Odd'l Rockets F-18 Hornet Coming Soon

Here's the Odd'l Rockets Fighter Force Jets -

The F-16, F-104 Starfighter and pictured in the bottom center - 

The upcoming F-18 HORNET, now in development.

Each model is very different, capturing the spirit of the original jet designs.

While not a true scale model, modifications have been made to insure stable flight.

The F-18 Hornet has gone through many flight tests.

Instructions are being drawn up, parts will be ordered soon.

Release date? Who knows! Hopefully in the next few months.

Estes Airborne Surveillance Missile Build, #0867, Part 6, Dowel Trim

Before cutting the dowel, give it a shot of filler/primer and smooth sanding. You won't be able to sand the inside edges of the dowel after it is glued on the model. 

The low end of the dowel pieces sits on the top of the 5/20 ring.

On the left is the dowel end cut straight. I sanded the end at an angle for a better fit, shown on the right.

To keep track of the dowel end angles, 

Mark a pencil line down the outside of the dowel.

The upper end of the dowel is cut just a little long. When glued in place it should extend over the top of the ring.

After the glue dries, 

Carefully shave the top even with the upper face of the ring.

Be sure the knife blade is sharp and held flat so you don't cut into the cardstock ring.

Estes Airborne Surveillance Missile Build, #0867, Part 5, Engine Mount

Usually the instructions have you glue on the rings and blocks to one side of the pencil marks. This kit has you set the rings on either sides of the marks.

The smaller middle ring is very close to the dowel notched ring. 

Set a line of glue around the tube and slide the notched ring into the glue. Smooth out the fillet using a Q-tip. You'd never be able to get a fingertip in there.

Here's the finished engine mount - 

Be sure the small notches in the dowel notch ring are directly over the fin position lines already drawn on the tube.

TIP: This is not my idea, but it's a good one - Fliskits used to sell an accessory called the "Block and Tackle". 

The 1/4" wraps of  masking tape at the low end of the spacer tube work as a depth "stop" preventing the engine block from ending up too high up inside the tube.

Place a line of glue high up in the tube. Slip in the engine block. Slide the spacer tube in the tube pushing the engine block up. Keep sliding in the engine block until the spacer tube stops when it hits the tape ring at the bottom of the BT-5 tube. Remove the spacer tube. 

On the right side, the tape wrapped spacer tube is almost butted up against the bottom of the BT-5 tube.

Keep the taped spacer tube for future use. Make up and use BT-20 and BT-50 "Block & Tackle" tools as needed. Most rockets have the engine extend 1/4" out the back of the engine mount tube.

Semroc Instructions -

 

Insane Rocketry has posted many of the Semroc Instruction PDFs on their website:

CLICK HERE

Estes Airborne Surveillance Missile Build, #0867, Part 4, Tube Filling & Marking Guides

The tube seams were filled with CWF and sanded to surface.

The tube on the left is the lower BT-5, it is flipped over. 

Just the lower end is exposed and needs a shot of filler/primer.

The picture on the right shows the filler/primer after sanding. The upper white side of the BT-5 tube will have the centering rings glued on.

Twelve fins! You wouldn't want to misplace any of them, especially the small ones.

Keep them in a zip-lock bag until you need to glue them on the body tube.

There are two sets of instructions.

TIP: Don't cut up the instructions (that are in English) to get a tube marking guide. Cut up the extra set of instructions and your set of English instructions will stay complete.

So You Wanna' Be A Collector?

On YORF,

Scott H. posted a link to an updated list showing production dates for all the Estes kits. 

Thanks go to Don Altschwager for all the updates.

To see the Estes list: CLICK HERE

Check out which kits are recently discontinued by the "Last Avail" 2020 listing.

Estes Airborne Surveillance Missile Build, #0867, Part 3, Balsa Filling

The sides of the dowel end support ring (Part D) are laser cut - blackened and rough.

Sand some of the ash off with 400 grit.

Round off and seal the edges with a bead of glue. Make the glue bead as round and even as you can with a fingertip. 

Let dry and lightly sand with 400 grit.

The upper fins (Part J) are tiny!

Here I'm giving them a coat of CWF. These are hard to hold on to, lots of filler on my fingers.

After sanding the CWF to surface, the fins are taped down to a scrap cardboard for spraying. Spray one side and let dry.

Flip over the fins and spray the other side.

12 fins on a little rocket - yikes!

This is the type of balsa that ended up with small areas that didn't get  a thorough fill with the CWF. A few grain lines showed after the filler/primer 

Before sanding the gray filler/primer, some CWF was rubbed into the open grain.