Quest Aurora Build, Part 10, Booster Decor Bands

The booster body was an easy mask.
Mask off 1" from the top of the body tube.
Paint the upper area tan.

There are eight black bands going around the body. They are evenly spaced 1" apart. Plan ahead before applying any bands.
A line was drawn down the body for the thicker vertical band.
Pencil tick marks were made at 1" intervals down the vertical line.
A piece of paper was wrapped around the body for a straight reference line when wrapping the bands around the tube. At the top edge I did some pencil shading to better show the paper edge guide.

After the eight horizontals are in place, the long vertical strip will cover up the horizontal band seams.

There are plenty of "where do these go?" pieces.
The face card gives some locations, others were just made up.

In the end, the raised bands look good!

Different Quest Controller and Launcher on YouTube

For curiosity I searched "Model Rocket Building" to see where the blog came up.
I found a YouTube video where a Quest Astra III Starter Kit is opened up.



To see the video, CLICK HERE

The starter set is opened but the regular black Quest controller isn't there.
At :55 seconds in I saw this:

That is clearly the SKY pad and controller.
(This picture is from the Apogee website)

The Sky launcher is a close (Chinese made) copy of the old Estes Port-A-Pad.
The "Quest" controller (above pic) has the same white cable and yellow safety key.
I thought the guy on the video may have bought a starter set on Ebay where the seller had conveniently substituted another brand of launcher in place of the normal quest products. But, in the video you see instructions for the controller and the Quest logo is at the top of the page.

Quest already relabels and sells the imported Sky engines with their logo.
Maybe Quest ran low on their own branded controllers and launchers and temporarily switched out the Sky components?

Quest Aurora Build, Part 9, Cradle Fit and Parachute

In Step 20 a standoff was cut for the dowel connection.
The directions were followed, the standoff was cut to 1/8" tall X 1/2" long.

The inset picture shows the standoff is too short, it won't fit slide into the lug cradle.

The short standoff was removed and a new one cut, this time almost 1/4" tall. This will allow me to sand to the correct height.

After some sanding the fit is better and the cradle holds the glider well.





I've never been a fan of the shroud line "Gripper" reinforcements. They are too thick and don't easily fit in a small diameter body tube.

Here's an older Quest parachute pulled from another model.with the Gripper tabs.
You can see how they crease when packed.

I won't be using the kit supplied parachute. It's "crispy".

New 3 and 4FNC E2X Estes Kits Coming Soon

For any new fliers, 
4FNC mean 4 Fins and a Nose Cone
E2X in Estes "speak" means Easy 2 eXecute (or build)

The SHOW STOPPER is a BT-60 based model, just over 26" tall.
CLICK HERE
Why not post a picture of the model? We've all seen this design 4FNC before.


On the same page, under "Resources", the instructions have already been posted.
Enlarge the picture at the right and check out the tape reinforcement for the plastic launch lug strip piece.
I've never seen one used before in a kit.

The other coming soon kit is the MAMMOTH. CLICK HERE

Here's some specs:

Pro Series II E2X

Length 59.1", Diameter 2", Estimated weight 13.3 oz.

Plastic fins, Self stick decals, Screw on motor retainer, 24" nylon parachute

Recommended Engines: E16-6, E16-8, F15-6, F15-8

Projected maximum altitude - 1600 feet.

Well, it's always nice to see new kits. I just prefer something you build.

Port-A-Pads Through The Years

I was curious about the design changes over the years and did some hunting on Ninfingers CLICK HERE
Here's the first all plastic launcher from 1970,
The Estes PORTA-PAD.

We've all owned one of these.
The first one I had was yellow plastic but I've seen later runs in orange.
Notice the round cutouts in the girder styled legs.

Then in 1984 it got a lower center of gravity.
Now molded in black.
Newly re-designed? It looks like the legs were just flipped over!

In 1989 the PORTA-PAD II was listed.
The round cutouts are now square.
There are only four cut out areas where there was six before.
Probably a cost-saving move using less plastic.

Here's where it got weird. Let's back up a few years.
Centuri introduces it's POWER TOWER in the 1975 catalog.
It's just the original Porta-Pad molded in black.
The only real difference is a metallic sticker down one leg and the Centuri angled deflector. Why is it weird?
This was probably the first time we noticed the assimilation of Centuri into the Estes line. Both were owned by the parent company Damon. More similar product lines were to come.
And yes, Centuri previously bought and sold re-branded Estes engines for years.

Don't get me started on this one!
I never liked the Lighting Bolt legs. It looks like a toy for an eight-year-old.

This design was one of the reasons I made the Adeptor for camera tripod launches. I wanted to get off the ground and launch from something that looked more professional.

The new Estes Astron II Pad and Controller are a big improvement. And, they've gone back to molding it in the retro orange color.

Quest Aurora Build, Part 8, Glider Cradle and Rudder Gluing

The inside edges of the wing were sanded for a better match for the dihedral angle.

Like the instructions showed, the glider body was used to help set the angle. The tip was raised 1 3/8" from the table surface.

One of the 2" lugs was glued on where the fin was removed earlier.
Plastic cement wouldn't hold it on so I used some medium CA.

One cradle plate piece is glued on each side of the launch lug.

At the open top the spread space is 7/16"

The tube is glued down the center joint of the glider wings.

The inset shows a small rudder in position.

The bottom of the wing joint is sanded flat for gluing the root edge of the large rudder.

The New Estes ARF Fin Can

ARF = "Almost Ready to Fly"

Here's the slide - lock fin can on the upcoming Estes ARF models.

We've all seen the "slide the root edge tab in the slot" models before. MPC (now Quest kits and parts CLICK HERE) was the first to use this in the 1970s.
What's looks different here is the locking ring. In addition to retaining the engine it might also prevent the fins from sliding back out the slots.
I haven't seen the 24mm Booster-55 and Booster-60 units up close. CLICK HERE
These new fin cans look to be the 18mm engine equivalent.

Most all the "Coming Soon" BT-55 and BT-60 based ARF models use one of these cans with different shaped fins.