Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, BackgroundI wanted to build this one since seeing the Estes plan in the early 1970s. The Starship Excalibur was a very elaborate design for the late 1960s. The only other sci-fi spaceship model to compare it to would have been the Mars Snooper. The Starship Excalibur has just about as many nose cones are the ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 2, Engine Mount Tube Prep TIP Here's how the engine mount tube comes in the Semroc kit. You can see it's a wedge "stab" cut made with the tip of a #11 blade. You could punch the engine hook in but you'd probably teat the left side of the narrow punched slot. Turn your #11 blade so the dull top is facing out, to the left. Press ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 3, Engine Mount Assembly I dry fit the centering rings to find the center point. This is where I place the tape wrap. The rings were a little loose and would move when smoothing out the glue fillets. You can lightly tack them in place with thin CA. After you are sure of their positions and straightness follow up with glue ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 4, Shuttle Bay The Shuttle Bay is a rounded balsa housing that holds and conceals the launch lug. In the old Estes plan you shaped the shuttle bay out of a single piece of wood. You then reamed out the center to fit the launch lug. The Semroc instructions have you make the housing from three strips of wood then ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 5, Crew Module There's a long 1/4" thick balsa piece called the crew module. 100 grit sandpaper is wrapped around the BT-55 body tube and the rough tube contour is sanded into the bottom. Switch to 220 grit for final shaping. This thick piece laser cut. The fin slot is clean but the ends need some rounding. The ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 6, Reactor Bays The Reactor Bays are split half BT-5 tube. Fill the seams now before cutting and splitting the tube in two. The tube is stronger now and will be easier to sand before cutting. Look to the right side of the tube. There is a small laser cut notch. This is the cut line marking. Set the tube into an ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 7, Splitting Reactor Bay Nose Cones The BT-5 half tubes are capped by a split balsa nose cone. Don't just drive a knife through the cone like you would split a log. Chances are on something small the split won't end up being even. Start by drawing a line around the nose cone bisecting it in half. I extended my break off blade knife ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 8, Fitting the Reactor Bay Nose Cones The nose cone halves are sanded to the BT-55 tube much like the crew module was. It's not necessary to sand them completely to the BT-55 contour just yet. Glue the nose cone halves into the top of the BT-5 halves. Notice I didn't apply glue to the outside of the BT-5 lip. All the glue is towards ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 9, Fins and Rounding I couldn't use the balsa fin sheets in either kit! I pressed a fingernail into the sheet to show how spongy it was. All the fins and trim pieces were cut from new, harder 1/8" thick hand selected balsa. The laser cut pieces from the kit were used for templates. At the back end of the fin a small ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 10, Fin Assembly The picture shows a dry fit of the vane on the leading edge of the fin. I wanted rounded leading and trailing edges on the fins. Sometimes it can be difficult to get a smooth round leading edge in the "V" where the vane and the leading edge of the fin meet. I went ahead and rounded the leading ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 11, Fin Rounding and Antenna Here's how the rounded leading edges are joined at the "V". Angle your sanding block at 45 degrees. Sand into the "V". The block will butt up to and stop at the vane. Start the fin rounding with the block and finish up with finer sandpaper. Try to get a smooth rounded transition between the two ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 12, Fin Pods The fin pods are glued together. There are a lot of nose cones in this kit, almost like opening up the old Estes Mars Snooper. The assemblies were hit with CWF and sanded smooth. The body tubes got a little roughed up during the sanding. I applied a coat of medium CA glue with a Q-tip. This ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 13, Reactor Bay End Caps The reactor bay nose cones required two applications of CWF and smooth sanding. The inset picture shows the end after the final shot of primer/filler and sanding. In the back end of the half round BT-5 tubes are the end caps. These are glued in flush with the tube end. While the glue dries you'll ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 14, Details I didn't realize there was a fourth fin vane when the fins were re-cut. This extra vane is glued over the longer, rear launch lug. The designer went out of his way to hide the launch lugs. This extra vane had to be filled, sanded then primer filled and sanded. After the tube had seams filled and ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 15, Fin Pod Gluing I would hate to see these pods break off on a hard landing. I've used "glue rivets" before, where you punch small holes in root edges with a needle. TIP: Use a sharpened dowel to make rivet holes in a balsa root edge. The holes will be slightly larger and not as deep as made with a needle. You'll ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 16, Rear Shroud Prep So, you think I printed up enough extra shrouds? The single kit shroud was scanned, copied and printed on some 110 lb. card stock. Why so many? I always make up three or four and use the one that fits the best. The slightest difference in the glue tab positioning can make a better fit over a ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 17, Rear Shroud Fit and Gluing It takes very little glue to join a shroud tab. Smear the glue evenly over the glue tab so none can be squeezed out when the tab is pressed in place. I set the shroud over a wide dowel and burnish the tab are with a sharpie barrel. It's only necessary to burnish towards the overlap line. If you go ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 18, New Decal Name Font On YORF, Jeffy Jeep mentioned he didn't care for the Starship Excalibur name font used on the Semroc decal sheet. I had to agree! You have to realize this model was designed back in 1968! An amazing design for that time. In 1968, font choices were few. New fonts were expensive and print shops used ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 19, Gluing On The Reactor Bays I tried to lay the glue bead towards the inside edge of the BT-5 reactor bay tubes so when they were pressed onto the main tube there would be an inside fillet. The initial curvature fitting looked better before. The edges will require some filling with CWF and Titebond M&&TG. After ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 20, Crew Module Gluing The underside of the crew module is wide. After drawing the placement lines most all the primer/filler was scraped off with a knife. The back end of the crew module is glued 1/4" from the rear of the main airframe. Mentioned earlier, the fit against the body tube seemed tighter right after ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 21, Launch Lug Gluing These two inline launch lugs are different. They are covered or surrounded with built-up wood and dowels. The front "antenna" housing was built earlier. It is glued 1 3/8" from the top of the main air frame tube. The long rear lug is centered between the split BT-5s and even with the tube end. The ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 22, Fin Gluing The fin root edges were sanded down removing most all of the grey primer filler. The first fit required some of the inside tab to be sanded off until the fin sat flat on the crew module and BT-5 tubing slots. Here's one of the fins after fitting. Be sure to check the centering of the forward fin ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 23, Cleaning Up The Lugs There was a rough edge on one side of the launch lug opening. While the first white undercoats were not totally dry, a sharpened dowel was turned in the end, re-rounding the lug. The front lug antenna housing needed some cleaning up. The sides weren't totally square. The side of my knife was set ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 24, Dry Sand & Nose Weight Some 400 grit was wrapped around a Q-tip for cushioned sanding in all the fillets. There is a LOT of fillets and joints to be sanded. A washer weight goes underneath the screw eye. I would think with all the fin area this one would be stable without the nose weight. Be sure you have centered your ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 25, White Coats, More Sanding You know how frustrating it is. You think your surfaces are smooth and your fillets well rounded. The grey primer coats show things and you end up with more sanding. Now the white coats come. I thought I'd be finished with this one by now! The more details, the more finishing problems. There ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 26, Ah Crap! Right now I'm spraying gloss white and sanding between coats. I went to carefully remove the painting wand (a dowel and an engine casing) I didn't want to put any stress on the tail shroud. I slipped and the engine hook notch tore! I had already made the notch longer than the shroud pattern ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 27, Ah Crap! - Fix Small bits of white glue were pushed into and under the edges of the slot. The excess on the outside was wiped off. The card stock fibers were pressed down and into the glue with a small tweezers. The sides of the slot were also formed and squared up using the sides of the tweezers before the glue ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 28, White Paint After all the adventures with spray paint I decided to try something new. My can of Rusto 2X gloss white was about 1/3 full and the nozzle probably not clear. Rather than risk it, I grabbed a new can. TIP: Before spraying directly on the model I made some passes on some scrap cardboard. Good thing ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 29, Decals Here's the new name decal, printed at home. Choice #4 seemed to be the favorite. It certainly looks better than the original Dom Casual font. TIP: Never soak a large kit decal first. I cut off the catalog number corner to check on soak times and how it slides off the backing paper. If this test ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Build, Part 30, Decals TIP: Never use water slide decals unless the model paint is totally dry. If the paint is even slightly tacky you won't be able to slide the decal into the final position. On the left: Wet the surface by rubbing some water at the decal location. Inset picture: After the decal is positioned, use a ...
[Read More]
Semroc (Estes) Starship Excalibur Finished Scratch another build of my bucket list! This was a difficult build, it probably took more time than I would have wanted. It was a bit like the Estes QCC Explorer, the fin intakes took extra work to get smooth. A great design and a classic.
[Read More]
|
