Model Rocket Building Blog
Estes Honest John, #7240 Build, Part 1, PartsThis is an exciting new release from Estes, the 1/14th scale Honest John. The main body is a BT-60 and it takes 24mm engines. Many were curious about the paint pattern. The only place I've seen it before was in the old Centuri catalogs. Here's all the parts. Lots of 1/16" thick balsa here! ...[Read More]
Estes Honest John, #7240 Build, Part 2, Tail ConeThe ends have to be cut off the tail cone. The instructions show a hobby knife being used. You can use a knife but I have better results with a fine tooth hobby saw. The inside flash has to be removed for the centering rings to fit in the tail cone. Remove the edge by shaving it off with a knife. ...[Read More]
Estes Honest John, #7240 Build, Part 3, Tail ConeThe instructions are vague about how to cut the fin slots, just a knife and some arrows. Instead of trying to cut around the corners with a knife tip, I rolled the blade back and forth underneath the rounded end. Please note: I'm not carving away the entire raised rib. I'm just working around the ...[Read More]
Estes Honest John, #7240 Build, Part 4, Fin AssemblyI'm not sanding the fin root edge here, I set the fin on my flat sanding block so you can see the curvature on the root edge. The sanding block was just a handy flat surface to show the slight curve on the root edge. Normally I sand off the blackened laser cut edges. Don't sand all the fin edges ...[Read More]
Estes Honest John, #7240 Build, Part 5, Fin GluingHere's how I set the glue down on the outside laminate pieces. I wanted good coverage but not so much that the laminations would get slippery. While the glue was still wet, the fin pieces were set against the tail cone. I was trying to see if I could coax a curvature into the root edge. While the ...[Read More]
Estes Honest John, #7240 Build, Part 6, Fin ShapingThe Great Planes Easy Touch sanding block is indispensable for fin shaping. If you don't have one - get one! That, and some 220 grit self adhesive sandpaper. I've explained this technique before. When sanding the light beige balsa it's hard to judge the thickness of the leading and ...[Read More]
Estes Honest John, #7240 Build, Part 7, Fin ShapingIf you've never sanded wedge shaped scale fins before, don't start with the kit fins! Cut some extra fins out of 3/16" thick balsa and practice on those! Trust me, you won't get the technique right on your first attempt. The leading and trailing edges shouldn't be shaped to a knife edge. This makes ...[Read More]
Estes Honest John, #7240 Build, Part 8, Fin ShapingLook at the final picture in the last blog post. You can see the center line at the root edge isn't very defined. I could have sanded the fin thinner but I decided to build up the center line to make a sharper taper. Some CWF filler was brushed on the center near the root edge. Don't get any ...[Read More]
Estes Honest John, #7240 Build, Part 9, Fin Primer and Launch LugsThe fin tabs were masked off and the fins sprayed will filler primer. After that dried I noticed a laminate edge was lifting. No big deal, some glue was slid underneath on the knife blade then sanded smooth. The primer was sanded down. The fin on the right got some "fine tune" shaping. You can see ...[Read More]
Estes Honest John, #7240 Build, Part 10, Lug Gluing and Band WrapThe lugs were glued in place before the body tube was shot with primer/filler. The laser cut band had small circles cut into it. You have to remove the circles by cutting through the hold down ticks. The problem is getting a clean cut of the small hold down tabs. No matter how I tried I was ...[Read More]
Estes Honest John, #7240 Build, Part 11, Band Wrap Center?The instructions don't say whether to center the band or set it on the top or bottom of the 5" mark. The band wrap position at 5" from the bottom looks too high to me. A quick search online and I found the G. Harry Stine drawings: CLICK HERE and scroll down. The kit face card and the Stine plans ...[Read More]
Estes Honest John, #7240 Build, Part 12, Gluing The Band WrapA wrap of copy paper was taped around the body tube for a base line. The top of the paper strip is 4 3/8" from the bottom of the tube. Setting the punched band on the top of the paper strip will center the wrap. The bottom edge of the wrap will end up 4 3/8" from the bottom of the body tube, not ...[Read More]
Estes Honest John, #7240 Build, Part 13, Ends and EdgesI did a tug test on the pre-made parachute shroud lines. They easily broke! Another kit needing shroud line replacement. A painting dowel was stuck into the engine mount and some paper towel strips stuffed into the back to keep the paint out of the engine mount. The body tube was slip over the fin ...[Read More]
Estes Honest John, #7240 Build, Part 14, Nose Cone Paint - Oops!The paint instructions are vague. I masked around the circumference of the notched rings. BIG MISTAKE! I assumed this was the right height for the black decal squares. Don't assume - I should have double checked against the black decals. The upper square block is just about 5/8" tall. Check out ...[Read More]
Estes Honest John, #7240 Build, Part 15, Fin Can PaintHere's the fin mask for the red. Each fin side took two separate pieces of Scotch tape because of the wedge taper. Even the bottom of the body below the fin was masked, the trailing edge is a little above the bottom. I'm building two HoJos, on one - Uh, oh! The plastic tail cone was too slick and ...[Read More]
Estes Honest John, #7240 Build, Part 16, DecalsI was curious about the gap between upper fin root and the tail cone. I saw this cover picture on the November/December issue of Sport rocketry. This is Jon Stenberg's Argo D4 Javelin model. Enlarge the picture and you can see the the fin root gaps. So maybe I got it right this time. With the HoJo ...[Read More]
Estes Honest John, #7240 Build, Part 17, Decals and TrimHere's how the nose cone decals were cut apart. Note the top piece on the right has a very slight curve to it to fit around the nose cone taper. The bottom was set down first. A damp Q-tip was used to set the decal into the rut. Just roll over the edge to coax the decal into the recess. I had ...[Read More]
Estes Honest John, #7240 Build, FinishedAs kits go, this was a good one. Impressive size but still manageable on a display shelf. I made two, the better on is up for bids on Ebay. The other Honest John will be part of my active fleet. The center band has rounder holes, worth the extra time it took to punch it out. ...[Read More]
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