Wadding Around Parachute? TIP

Looking over the new Estes Vogel instructions:

I was curious about the large booster recovery.

A "hatch" releases the parachute at staging.

Notice there are a couple of pieces of recovery wadding protecting the top of the parachute from the flame of the sustainer motor.

 

In my single stage models, I've been using extra wadding wrapped around the bottom of a parachute for years. This is in addition to the wadding already in the tube.

Pictured at the right is red Quest wadding, crinkled up for easier use.

TIP: As extra insurance to prevent any hot spot melts -
Cut a piece of sheet wadding down to about 3 1/2" square. Set the low end of the packed chute in the center of the square.  Wrap the low end of the parachute with the wadding. Wrap the sides of the wadding up the chute.

It is important to cut the wadding square smaller. You want the wadding sheet to peel away from the parachute at ejection.

New Dog!

Welcome the newest member of the Michielssen family - Dakota the blue merle Sheltie!

Picked her up this afternoon with daughter Whitney's help.

One year old, very chill dog. First walk was easy, the dog already heels.

Two hours later she put her head in my lap!

Hopefully she'll make it out to a launch or two -

 

Dogs growing up - Abe, Beau, Cody, Dudley, Emily, Fern and Gertie.

My Mom named them in alphabetical order.

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Finished

This is a big one, just over 36" tall.

Lots of adapters and body tube diameters especially made for this kit. That might be why Estes probably wouldn't re-release it. 

Decals were tricky and subject to cracking, but in the end came out okay.

The horizontal wrap stripes tend to cover any breaks between the body tube sections and adapters.

The conduits (runways) reminded me of the old Mercury Redstone tower pieces. Instead of providing proper dowels, you cut out "rounded" strips from a single strip of wood.

These conduits were machined on a wood strip. Very rough requiring too much forming and filling.
 

The fins seem too small for stability, but the model is tall so it should be okay.

I'll launch it with a C6-5, the only recommended motor.

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 24, Touching Up The Black

The decals are old and subject to cracking, especially on the open ends where the section are slid together.

The end edges were sealed with clear acrylic applied with a Q-tip. 

The white areas were blackened in with a medium point Sharpie.

Done!

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 23, Finishing Up Decals & Fin Gluing

These red copy decals go underneath the black "tooth" ring.

Space them evenly around the body.

Where does this red copy decal go? I can't find it on the decal placement pictures in the instructions.

It's tiny! I left it off the model.

The tabs molded into the root edge of the fins fit very tightly in their slots on the end cap. I had to scrape the black paint overspray off the inside wall of the slot for a friction fit.

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 22, Mid Section Decals

The vertical ITALIA is set with the lower diagonal stripe set into the conduit glue fillet. The lower horizontal black bar is used for spacing when set against the adapter/tube joint.

The diagonals are tricky. They finish the length of the bars and are a little long for trimming after they dry.

The decal was worked into the conduit fillet recesses with a wet Q-tip.

The upper diagonal strips end up halfway between the conduits at the top and bottom.

Notice the overhangs. Trim after the decals dry.

The great thing about the horizontal decal wraps, they tend to cover the joint gaps between the tube and adapters.

The horizontal strips overlay the diagonal ends.

Trim the lower diagonal short before setting down the lower horizontal bar.

The clear overlay edges are trimmed using a razor blade using a sawing motion.

The tube edge is blacked with a Sharpie for a cleaner color separation 

when the upper section is slid in place.

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 21, Lower Decals

I checked the original kit decals against the CMR (Tango Papa) decals.

The vertical UNITED STATES decals were wider spaced!

On the Estes kit decals, the UNITED STATES decals were one continuous strip with clear overlay between the two words.

I cut the words apart for easier placement.

The vertical black bars were also cut apart. 

Three are centered between and over the raised conduits. The pieces of masking tape were for the 1/4" from the joint spacing.

Note how close the verticals are at the base if the lower launch lug. Some of the clear border was trimmed right up to the black ink.

Here's the lower STATES decal placed first. It is set directly over the fin slot.

The UNITED decal followed directly above.

Only had one decal break.

I re-wetted and repositioned the tear.