Quest Raptor Build Part 1, Parts
I'm building a few of the discontinued Quest kits while they are still available from vendors. The Shrox kits and this great Raptor design are no longer being produced. The parts were standard Quest fare. The water slide decal sheet didn't have a protective backing sheet and some of the decal ...
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Quest Raptor Build Part 2, Shroud and Engine Mount
The instructions called the shroud a boat tail, but it's more like a nozzle. The provided single shroud was on a much thinner stock, maybe 65 lb. I prefer a thicker stock. The shroud (Part P) was scanned and three copies ran off on 110 lb. card stock.
The instructions have you install the ...
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Quest Raptor Build Part 3, Shroud and Engine Mount While you could make the mount as shown in the instructions, this is an easier way to assemble it. Allowances are made for the engine hook movement. It would be hard to slide the nozzle (shroud) and centering ring over the tape wrap.
1. Form the shroud but don't glue the smaller centering ...
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Quest Raptor Build Part 4, Nose Cone Prep
The main nose cone seam was easily sanded smooth. The two smaller nose cone seams required some filling. Enlarge the picture. The nose cone at the upper left is how it came from the factory. The nose cone right below it has had the raised seam sanded smooth. There is still a small recess seam ...
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Quest Raptor Build Part 5, Seam Filling
On the black tank, I'm filling the joint between the nose cones and body tube with CWF. The tip of an old knife blade is dipped in thinned CWF and dragged down the seam. This keeps the CWF in a smaller line, the blade tip pushes the filler into the seam.
The interior of the shorter ...
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Quest Raptor Build Part 6, Balsa Filling
I'll be filling the balsa grain before gluing the two piece fins together. There isn't a good way to fill this much balsa after the fins are glued to the body. The 3/32" stock really warped after brushing on CWF to one side. Most of this went away when the filler was applied to other side.
...
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Quest Raptor Build Part 7, Fin Primer and Gluing
The fin pieces will get a primer coat off the model. The gluing edges were taped off to leave naked balsa for a better gluing area.
Here's how the pieces were taped flat for grey primer spraying. All the balsa pieces were lightly stuck down on some masking tape, sticky side up. The primer ...
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Quest Raptor Build Part 8, Pad Tab Filling
Check to be sure the pads are square as the glue is drying.
The pad joints were filled with thinned CWF. I used a razor blade to "glide" the excess CWF off the pad. Don't press the blade down hard, leave a thin coat above the pad face. Sand off the excess with 400 grit on a block.
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Quest Raptor Build Part 10, Black Nozzle Prep
The black parts got primer and were sanded smooth. You don't really need a white undercoat when the assembly pieces are black. A white undercoat helps brighten any lighter or "transparent" color. With black it doesn't make much difference. On the left is the black underbelly "tank". Look close ...
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Quest Raptor Build Part 9, Black Parts Prep
Here's the under belly "tank" after the seam was filled and the primer sanded. I've taped off a gluing strip down the length of the tube. This tank will be sprayed black before gluing onto the body. Any Raptor build review recommends building and painting in sub-assemblies.
The marking ...
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Quest Raptor Build Part 11, Fin Gluing
The black under body "tank" was sprayed black. There was no way to hold on to this piece so it was shot the forward half first, the back half held by my left hand. After that side dried, it was flipped over and the bare side was painted. At the right edge of the picture you can see the gloss ...
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Quest Raptor Build Part 12, Fin Gluing
Here's the position of the tank against the main airframe tube. The nose cone tip is even with the rear of the body tube. A pencil line has been drawn. Before spraying tape will be applied where the tank will glue to the body.
The fins have been glued in place. At the top of the body tube ...
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Quest Raptor Build Part 13, Fillets and Masking
The fins on this model sweep forward. It's tough to get glue into the leading edge joint on the smaller fins. I applied a small drop to the stick of a Q-Tip. The drop was set into the joint.
Any excess was smoothed out and picked up with the cotton end of the swab. There is no way you'd ...
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Quest Raptor Build Part 14, Black Mask Normally you would paint the body the lighter color then mask and follow with the darker second color. I'll be painting the main body silver, or aluminum which I prefer. TIP: Laying masking tape over metallic paint is never a sure thing. The masking tape can leave marks on a silver surface. ...
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Quest Raptor Build Part 15, Aluminum Mask This is the tail section masked and ready for the aluminum paint. The instructions say to use silver paint. Silver is certainly shinier but quickly shows fingerprints. The aluminum covers easily and drys fast. With the tape removed the tail section is ready for the red trim on the outside of the ...
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Quest Raptor Build Part 16, Red Trim You could mask again and paint the red pads. But to be honest, I've done enough masking on this one! I'll use Monokote trim to cover the pads. As long as the surface is smooth the Monokote will be fine. It's very opaque and covered the black paint well. A red square was set on the outside pad face ...
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Quest Raptor Build Part 18, Assembly This shows the tube masks used for a better glue bond. The tape strips are used for alignment, an extension outside of the tube masks. Keep the masking alignment strips towards the outside and away from the gluing area. Here's how the underside tank was glued and aligned. Main picture is the ...
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Quest Raptor Build Part 17, Assembly
This model was painted before gluing on the fin unit and tank assemblies. You don't have a pencil line to glue onto and it's hard to see the masked glue area of exposed tubing. Strips of masking tape were cut and laid down outside of the "naked" tube lines. More strips were set inside the ...
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Quest Raptor Build Part 19 Decals Be very careful when cutting out the decals! There is some white type that is almost invisible against the white backing paper. Maybe that's why some kit decals are printed on a blue backing sheet. Most decals went on easily, there were a few I didn't know where to place. Unless I'm building a ...
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Quest Raptor Build Part 20 Nose Cone Canopy Decal All the decals had a clear overcoat except for the canopy decal. When put in the water, this decal would separate into eight separate pieces! I thought the decal was too large anyway so I cut out a new one from my roll of Contact Paper Blackboard material. My canopy was a little smaller with ...
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Quest Raptor Build Part 21 Loose Ends
The shock cord was tied to the nose cone shoulder lug with a Duncan Loop knot. See the knot instructions HERE This is my favorite knot for tying a shock cord to a screw eye or lug. Both of the line ends face down making less chance for the end to get caught between the shoulder and body tube. ...
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Quest Raptor Build Finished
What a sharp design! It's a bigger than you might think, almost as big as the Quest Aerospace One. Thanks to Scott (Rokitflite on YORF) for the great design. I agree with JeffyJeep on TRF, you are better off painting this one beforehand in sub-assemblies then glue it all together. It would be a ...
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The Big Fix - Quest Raptor Decal Replacement
Here's how the Raptor looked right after the build and before the "no ejection" flight. I had to replace 4" of crunched body tube and the name decal. I checked some free font websites but couldn't find anything close.
The red scratches to the left of the "R" were easy to draw up. The font ...
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