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MPC Taurus - 1 Build Part 1 Parts
I bought this one off EBAY for about $10.00. In the mid 1970s I built and flew many of the MPC Miniroc series - except for the ASP and this one. This kit was billed as a "customizer kit". It included some extra chromed plastic parts. All the parts: That's a 12" parachute - too large for a BT-5 ...
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MPC Taurus - 1 Build Part 2 Parts Prep
Here's extra "parts" many never noticed in the MPC Minirocs kits.   Molded into the sides of the blister packaging are small nozzles and canopies. The inset picture shows the vacu-formed corrugation on the bottom of the package. Back to the parts prep: The base of the nose cone shoulder ...
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MPC Taurus - 1 Build Part 3 Fin Prep
Newer kits tell you to stack the fins and sand them together. With laser cut fins and there shouldn't be any difference in the fin sizes. Sure you should sand off the burnt edges but there is no reason to group sand laser cut fins. This kit has the old style die-cut fins. Die cutting is done on ...
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MPC Taurus - 1 Build Part 4 Engine Mount and Kevlar
The Taurus l used a cardstock Stine Shock Lock. This makes for a tight fit in the 10mm body tube. I'm concerned the parachute and shock cord might get caught up on it during ejection. This model will get a Kevlar upgrade. After the engine block was glued flush with the engine compartment ...
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MPC Taurus - 1 Build Part 5 12" Parachute?
The enclosed 12" parachute is too big for a model this size. 8" diameter would be better, by mistake I cut this one down even smaller! I simply cut straight lines between the the intersecting points of the first inside ring. My parachute ended up about 6 1/2 " diameter. A little small but still ...
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MPC Taurus - 1 Build Part 6 The Tubes!
I had forgotten how great the MPC tubing was! The tubes have a thin white outer layer. When you first see the tubes you probably think they are poorly made. They aren't smooth as other kit tubes. But - there are no seams to fill! The white layer actually overlaps itself slightly - very ...
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MPC Taurus - 1 Build Part 7 Fin Gluing
These fins are small! I haven't built a BT-5 based model for a while. The trailing edges are flush with the end of the body tube. You've got nothing to line up the back on, the fin covers the pencil line. Extend the fin lines over the back end around the base edge of the tube. I'm not ...
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MPC Taurus - 1 Build Part 8 Undercoat Paint Mask
The "booster tubes" will be painted separately and glued on afterwards. A thin line of masking tape was set down just short of the top of the booster tube length. The model was set down a 1/2" dowel for a painting wand. The entire model got a coat of white. The face card shows the body in ...
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MPC Taurus - 1 Build Part 9 Paint and Decals
I would have liked to paint the rocket like the face card, silver with black fins. Masking any metallic paint can discolor the metal finish, so the fins won't get a shot of black. The booster tubes will be black. The nose cone is gloss red. This is my favorite part of the build, when all the ...
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MPC Taurus - 1 Build Part 10 Decals
I didn't want to do another mask for the white under color of the roll pattern. A piece of white (sprayed) decal paper was cut into a rectangle, long enough to do a full wrap around the tube. TIP: Notice I set the white wrap "decal" about 1/8" down from the top of the body tube. This exposes a ...
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MPC Taurus Finished
  This is a pretty slick looking BT-5 sized model. A black fin would have looked better but I didn't want to risk masking over the aluminum., or any other metallic paint. I wish the decals would have transferred off the backing sheet, but the final results were good.
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