Estes EAC Firecat #0821, Part 12 - What, Follow The Instructions? GOTCHA!

A Blog Comment from Naoto Kimura:

Naoto KimuraApril 11, 2022 at 4:06 PM

"A potential "gotcha" with regards to the launch lug -- the launch lug needs to be offset from the side of the main body tube to make sure the launch rod clears the nosecone (something that the instructions does not state explicitly)." 

From the Estes instructions: Here's their drawing showing placement of the Launch Lug.

The lug is glued into the root edge of the standoff, closest to the BT-50 tube.

Out of habit and I usually follow the instructions - 

I glued the Launch Lug into the root edge joint.

(Maybe I should have had the Nose Cone in place when the Launch Lug was glued on!)

It probably won't clear diameter the bulbous Nose Cone.

Thanks Naoto! I usually catch these things - Not this time!

Estes EAC Firecat #0821, Build, Part 11, Final Decals & Loose Ends

You've got to cut up the Bandit decals to get the Firecat to look like the face card.

These are the remaining four vertical black rectangles, cut in half. 

Place these on the white side of the body, directly over the rectangles on the BT-48 roll wrap.

The remaining horizontal bars (seen in the first picture above) are cut in half and set behind the U.S. AIRFORCE decals. Because they are short, they won't reach all the way around.

Here's the view from the bottom.

My balsa nose cone was ordered from BMS, #BMS50HJ.

There was a hole in the bottom center, no drilled dowel was supplied or would fit in the small hole.

I was concerned the screw eye wouldn't "grab" well in the center.  

Simple solution - Set the screw eye to the side. Turn it so it won't hit the inside body tube wall.

FIX:

I didn't get good paint coverage on the trailing edge of the vertical fins.

I used a red Sharpie to fill in the red. NOTE: This doesn't always work! Try a small area first. It can fill well on narrow areas like the flat trailing edges of  a fin. It will not work on flat, larger areas.

I forget to paint the toothpick antenna.

It was taped to a dowel, hit with a gloss white coat.

Smooth sanded after drying and sprayed again.

Estes EAC Firecat #0821, Build, Part 10, Layered Decals

The intake/jet tube gets a black and white rolled decal.

At the bottom of the decal sheet are two rectangles, one is an extra.

Cut off the bottom third of the sheet, spray it gloss white. You are making a white, waterslide decal.

The inset picture shows that the box outline is still visible after spraying the white.

This shows my first decal draw, the same width used in the original Bandit kit, to fit a BT-55 tube. The lower intake tube is now a BT-48 diameter.

From the original wrap size Bandit decal sheet  - 

Cut the left side as the picture shows,

The right vertical rectangle cut is four from the end.  

My re-drawn decal sheet doesn't require any fancy cutting. All the decals are drawn to the correct size.

Cut the white decal just inside the black border line. Soak and transfer the wrap.

TIP: Place the "EXPIRIMENTAL" decal first. One goes on either side. Then place the white wrap.

I set the white wrap too far back which didn't leave enough space for the EXPIRIMENTAL decal.

Wait for the white decal to dry before adding the black overlay.

The black ink isn't totally opaque, you can see some of the white underneath. Oh well, it's a clone.

Set the U. S. AIR FORCE decals centered down the color mask. 

Be sure the nose cone/body tube joint is between two letters.

Let the decal totally dry before cutting through the decal at the joint.

Estes EAC Firecat #0821, Build, Part 9, Masking For The Red Paint

Here's the mask covering all the white areas.

I don't recall any other rocket design where the main mask runs and divides the body in half. The smaller wing tips also stay white.

White on the top, red on the bottom.

Use gloss paint for better transfer of the decals. The instructions say to use flat paints.

Here's the mask after the tape was pulled.

For the most part the lines were clean and sharp.

The nose cone mask is tricky. 

I thought it would be easier to match the tape lines after the body was painted.

Slide the nose cone in and extend the body lines down to the center tip. Look down from base to tip at an angle to be sure the tape line is straight. It'll take a few tries, it isn't easy!

On the left is the complete mask, covering the white.

On the right is the red area - half and half.

Here's where we are - 

Decals next!

Estes Park, Colorado?

Joe Fellmeth posted on the Estes Model Rocket Page:

I just found out their is an Estes Park in Colorado!!!! I can only imagine what a fantastic place to take the kids to. Flying rocket rides, gift shops with hundreds, nay thousands of model rockets, frozen rocket pops, Star Trek Land, Star Wars Land, Maxi Brute land and for the little kids Mini Brute and Gooneybird land. I bet there is a Der Red Max Beer Garden, It must be amazing!!!!!

My response:

I can imagine Vern and Gleda pulling up to the gate and ask for free admission. The Park Ranger explains Park price policy. Vern says: "Do you know who I am?"

My suggestions for rides:

The Parachute Drop, D13 Roller Toaster, Vern & Lee's Bumper Cars, Ejection Barges, Shock Cord Bungee Jump, CATO Haunted House, EAC Carnival Games, Launch Rod Drop Tower and the ever popular Scrambler.

Estes EAC Firecat #0821, Build, Part 8, Launch Lug & Decals

GOTCHA: Scroll ahead to Build Step 12 before gluing the Launch Lug in the wrong place! The Lug placement needs to be positioned so the launch rod can clear the outside diameter of the nose cone!

Did you ever forget to glue on a launch lug? Me neither! (Yeah, right.) I didn't notice the launch lug was missing until after the first white undercoats.

I had to carefully scrape off some paint before gluing on the 1.25" long launch lug.

TIP: I don't usually apply glue fillets on launch lugs that are tucked into tight corners like this. The glue is very hard to evenly apply and smooth the fillet.

I have drawn up a PDF of the parts list, decals and fin templates. On the right is the first version. The new drawing (see below) is available to Patreon supporters.

If you are a Patreon member, email me at: oddrockets@bellsouth.net and ask for the Firecat decal PDF.

EDIT: After painting the model and applying my decals, I made some changes in the decal sheet, shown on the right.

The original Firecat kit used the Estes Bandit decal sheet. The Firecat instructions say "The name Bandit . . . will not be used."

There's a problem.

To place the decals like the face card and instruction drawing requires things be cut up. Cutting up home print decals exposes the ink edges which can bleed when soaked.

That BT-48 wrap was meant to roll around the Bandit's BT-55 tube. Some test wraps gave me a width of about 10 of the interior vertical rectangles.

Other trim pieces were cut from that remaining wrap decal.

In my re-draw I separated those pieces for easier cutting and transfer.

At the bottom of the sheet are two rectangles, one is an extra.

Print the decal, cut off the bottom third of the sheet. The upper two thirds is clear coated as normal for home print decals. The bottom third is sprayed gloss white.

More on the decal application comes later in the build.

The fin templates and parts list are still included, but on a separate sheet of the PDF set.

Estes EAC Firecat #0821, Build, Part 7, Sub-Assemblies

The BT-48 tube had it's seams filled - the seams you'll see anyway. 

The front and rear of the end joint and spiral seams were filled.

The area in the center will be glued onto the balsa standoff covering most of the seam.

The raceway was painted with some CWF. While it was still wet - The Antenna was slipped into the drilled hole, turned to round out the hole then removed so the CWF could dry.

The instructions don't mention rounding any of the fin edges, but the drawings show them rounded.

After doing some dry fits I realized rounded leading edges would leave gaps at the front corners. (See inset picture) I decided to leave them square.

Here's the wings, raceway and intake/engine glued in place.

Notice the back "step" placement of the small wing tip. A very creative kitbash.