Jon Preston's Page

2012-01-30

Quest-A bullet with fins

Build

Found this Estes in a bargin basket at my local hobby store. I thought it would keep me busy while I kept watch over the shenanagins associated with my son's 9th birthday. I have built a lot so the idea of my first new build document might seem sort of a lame, but it really was a fun hour. [More]

Quest-A bullet with fins - Giving the fins a little resiliency

Build Entry

So I'm an optimist. I painted a thin film on the fins with 5 min epoxy to give them a little strength. [More]

Quest-A bullet with fins - Fins to body tube

Build Entry

I marked out the lines for fin placement and set the fins in place without much hassle using CA. I then took a piece of 600 sandpaper and finished the leading, trailing and tips of the fins. I got them pretty thin like razor blades and took a paint brush dipped into CA and coated them till they... [More]

Quest-A bullet with fins - Body tube and Nosecone

Build Entry

When I looked at the tiny body tube and nosecone I realized Estes had created an A rocket motor with fins and a nosecone. OK Mr. Estes I get it. I paused at that point thinking I'm never going to find this once I launch it. Without any kind of motor retention it is obvious the ejection charge is... [More]

Quest-A bullet with fins - Cutting out the Fins

Build Entry

This may seem sort of off color but bear with me. I took the twin pieces of balsa and ran each one through a knife sharpener just before the colored edge of the balsa was invisible. I then stacked the two together and put the fin template on top and cut the fins with a very sharp pair of heavy... [More]

Jon Preston

• All Builds