Haven't had a ton of time lately to but wanted to build something new. A couple weeks back I picked up a Long Ranger at the HL closeout for $4.99. I figured I couldn't buy the parts for that much so why not.
Overall the parts look pretty good. One of my fins had a molding issue where the outer edge isn't straight but I'm not worrying about it for $5.
Pretty basic kit. BT50 body tube, plastic nose cone and multipiece plastic fin can. I will be replacing the rubber shock cord with Kevlar and using a normal launch lug in place of the piece they provided.
Began the build with the fin can.
Added a small amount of glue to the fin tabs then inserted them into the slots. I added a small bead on the inside as well since I can easily get to it.
With the two glue dry, I assembled the two halves of the fin can using a little model cement on the edges.
The fin can was taped together to allow the glue to cure.
Next I added the remaining fins. All I can say is WOW!!! that is an ugly color combination.
Time to assemble the nose cone. I have had incredibly bad luck with the attachment points on nose cones breaking off so I decided to glue a scrap piece of ply inside the nose cone base to give me a solid place to attach a screw eye when the plastic breaks. The inside of the nose cone an the outside of the cap were sanded and attached using model cement.
Next came the body tubes. I began by marking the halfway point of the coupler.
The coupler was then glued into one of the body tubes and allowed to dry.
Next came attaching the upper tube to the lower. I didn't want the glue to dry too quickly as I wanted time to get the tubes aligned and straight. I attached the upper tube using 5 mins epoxy then placed both tubes in a piece of angle to ensure they were straight and allowed them to cure.
While the tubes were curing, I decided to fix the ugly fin can using Krylon Foil Purple spray paint. This was applied to the nosecone and fin can.
Attached a 2.25 inch launch lug. The outer wrap of the tube was scrapped away before attaching. It was also at this point that I added the Kevlar shock cord but didn't get a pic of that.
The joint where the two tubes joined wasn't as smooth as I would have liked and the Yellow color was going away so it was time for primer and filler.
I'll skip over the primer pics and go straight to the finished product. I used Krylon Medium Sea Blue for the main tube. The stock stickers were applied and I feel it looks pretty good for the time invested.
Overall I think this is a solid quick build kit that would be nice for anyone just getting into rocketry. If it wasn't for the painting, I could have had this kit build in 30 mins. and could have been in the air in an hour. With the changes I made the build took me about 90 mins. of actual work time. I would recommend this kit or a beginner. Going to put it up on a C6-5 this weekend and see if I can lose it
Overall the parts look pretty good. One of my fins had a molding issue where the outer edge isn't straight but I'm not worrying about it for $5.
Pretty basic kit. BT50 body tube, plastic nose cone and multipiece plastic fin can. I will be replacing the rubber shock cord with Kevlar and using a normal launch lug in place of the piece they provided.
Began the build with the fin can.
Added a small amount of glue to the fin tabs then inserted them into the slots. I added a small bead on the inside as well since I can easily get to it.
With the two glue dry, I assembled the two halves of the fin can using a little model cement on the edges.
The fin can was taped together to allow the glue to cure.
Next I added the remaining fins. All I can say is WOW!!! that is an ugly color combination.
Time to assemble the nose cone. I have had incredibly bad luck with the attachment points on nose cones breaking off so I decided to glue a scrap piece of ply inside the nose cone base to give me a solid place to attach a screw eye when the plastic breaks. The inside of the nose cone an the outside of the cap were sanded and attached using model cement.
Next came the body tubes. I began by marking the halfway point of the coupler.
The coupler was then glued into one of the body tubes and allowed to dry.
Next came attaching the upper tube to the lower. I didn't want the glue to dry too quickly as I wanted time to get the tubes aligned and straight. I attached the upper tube using 5 mins epoxy then placed both tubes in a piece of angle to ensure they were straight and allowed them to cure.
While the tubes were curing, I decided to fix the ugly fin can using Krylon Foil Purple spray paint. This was applied to the nosecone and fin can.
Attached a 2.25 inch launch lug. The outer wrap of the tube was scrapped away before attaching. It was also at this point that I added the Kevlar shock cord but didn't get a pic of that.
The joint where the two tubes joined wasn't as smooth as I would have liked and the Yellow color was going away so it was time for primer and filler.
I'll skip over the primer pics and go straight to the finished product. I used Krylon Medium Sea Blue for the main tube. The stock stickers were applied and I feel it looks pretty good for the time invested.
Overall I think this is a solid quick build kit that would be nice for anyone just getting into rocketry. If it wasn't for the painting, I could have had this kit build in 30 mins. and could have been in the air in an hour. With the changes I made the build took me about 90 mins. of actual work time. I would recommend this kit or a beginner. Going to put it up on a C6-5 this weekend and see if I can lose it
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