Saturn Press - Astrobee 1500
Contributed by Chan Stevens  Brief: Construction: Construction begins with the fins, which are built up using 3 ribs and two outer skins. The end result is a highly accurate reflection of the real rocket's recessed panels. The skins are almost transparently thin and they immediately warped even when using a very light application of diluted Elmer's Fill 'n' Finish. This was easily resolved by spending the night buried under a stack of heavy books (including, ironically, Rockets of The World). See photo for a closer look at the fin construction. The strap-on boosters are pure genius. You start with a pre-slotted body tube and 4 rings. The rings are from the same tube, so therefore must be cut in order to fit around the booster tubes. The directions go to the detail to note that if you cut across a spiral, the side visible will be spiral-free, eliminating the need to worry about the finish. Now that's someone who understands the intricacies of scale craftsmanship! OK, so with the rings slipped over the booster tube, you still have gaps from where you had to cut the rings to fit. No problem--the booster brackets that are used to attach these to the main body tube are sized to exactly fill that gap. No seams, no spirals, and perfect fit. The only minor blemish in appearance comes from the roll-your-own shroud, which invariably will show a seam although the seam faces the small gap between the booster and main tube.
The nose cone assembly is hailed as the trickiest part of the construction. This is because there are four fairings, which are made by gently folding and curling cardstock and bonding itty bitty side braces for mounting. It's delicate work though being used to building Micromaxx sized rockets, I was up to the challenge. The fairings are bonded with the assistance of a preprinted locator shroud/template. As Robert noted, the motor mount is a bit unconventional. This is another handy technique designed to simplify the complexity of scale construction, in this case the paint scheme. By permanently affixing the forward centering ring and temporarily putting on the fins, you can get everything aligned then remove the fins for masking/painting.  Finishing: The booster tubes start out reddish brown at the top then gloss black for the bottom portion.
Once all the paint is dry, you can then attach the fins for real then the booster tubes and the aft centering ring. Since the ring is bonded last, you also have a chance to paint it separately and get a nice finish as opposed to the less than perfect finish you might typically expect on an aft ring prone to overspray and uneven finish. There are a couple of silver trim decals that add the finishing touch. Construction Rating: 5 out of 5 Flight: Recovery: Overall, I think the wraparound lug and C11 was a bad combo. It should go up on a D12-5 and ideally lose the lug entirely and stick with a piston. Flight Rating: 3 out of 5 Summary: Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 Flight Log
eBay Offers:
What You Can Do
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The main body tube has a number of slots for fit and alignment and even includes a couple marked lines
for lug placement. I skipped the lugs, as I intended to enter it in NAR competition and launch using either wrap-around
pop lugs or a piston to avoid losing points for non-scale lugs.
