Estes Outlander (Kit EST 2110) - Build Thread With Modifications

[lakeroadster]

Gear Housings Fabrication

Revised the design to have 3 legs instead of 4.​

Looks more spindly, which is a good thing. It was just too bulky appearing before. Now you can see the gap in the body tube and the tanks stand out better.​

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Cut, routed and sanded the Gear Housings and Gear Housing Spacers... and glued them together. They're clamped... due for early release in 24 hours.​

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[lakeroadster]

She's Got Legs

Cut, sanded and routed the Leg Subassemblies. Now it's time to glue all the pieces parts together.​

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[lakeroadster]

Gear Housing Redux

I needed a bit more clearance to slide the Legs between the Gear Housings. So I cut through the spacers that I previously glued between the Gear Housings using my Scroll Saw (blade thickness of .032"). Then I cut some new spacers from 1/16" thick Basswood (0.0625") which gives me a gap of 0.0305". That'll be less once I paint both parts.​

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[lakeroadster]

Gluing The Leg Sub-Assemblies

I flipped the Leg Sub-assemblies over and applied fillets between the Struts and Dowels. Once those dried sufficiently to stay in place I layed the Legs on their sides and glued the Leg to Strut joints.​

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[Art Upton]

How many parts besides the nose can are you still using ?

 

[lakeroadster]

How many parts besides the nose can are you still using ?

That's pretty much it.... ​

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I really wanted to do an accurate simulation of the stock Estes model... so I'm good with getting the kit.​

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Plus, I've got an idea for the original kit....​

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[lakeroadster]

Speaking of that original Estes Outlander Rocket... what if I turned a pine nose cone and then built it as one of the following?

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[lakeroadster]

Or how about a boosted backward finned Outlander...

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[lakeroadster]

Back to the build...

I drilled the Gear Housings and Leg Sub-Assy's to accept 3/16" dia. Pan Head Screws.​

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[lakeroadster]

Gluing the Gear Housings to the Body

Now that the Gear Housings are drilled they can be glued to the Body. I prepped the C-60 by poking a copious amount of holes through it at the Gear Housing locations. Then glued the first Gear Housing.​

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Followed by the 3rd Gear Housing

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And then the 2nd Gear Housing

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[lakeroadster]

And It's Up, Standing On It's Own...

Test fit just to make sure the alignment is correct.​

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[Art Upton]

And It's Up, Standing On It's Own...

Test fit just to make sure the alignment is correct.​

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View attachment 652562​

Looks like the base of one of those "Falling Skys" aliens

 

[lakeroadster]

Recovery Dowel

Installed the Recovery Dowel after coating it with a liberal amount of wood glue. Then started putting the 1st round of glue fillets on the Gear Housings.​

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[lakeroadster]

Looks like the base of one of those "Falling Skys" aliens

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[lakeroadster]

BT-60 Install

Installed the sliced and diced BT-60. Now, time for glue fillets.​

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[lakeroadster]

Updated the CAD model and drawing package to reflect the 3 legged design and other as built features as Rev 01. See post #21.

Working on Gear Housing to Body glue fillets.

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[lakeroadster]

Turned the Spherical Tank on the lathe today.

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[jqavins]

Spherical Tank

A few years back I stashed a couple of shampoo bottles in the barn, because they had hemispherical ends on them. I thought I might use them on a rocket someday. Well, today is that day!​

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I started by chucking the threaded portion in the wood lathe and parted the end off of each. Then I used a hole saw to cut a 1-11/16" hole in each one.​

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The two halves need to be glued together... so I'm doing a little R&D with some Duco Cement to see what works best.​

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Updates: Glue R&D​

06-08-2024: Duco Cement​

I tried (1) test with no prep: Failure​

I tried (1) test with the surface sanded: Failure​

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06-09-2024: Bob Smith Super Thin Insta-Cure CA​

(1) test with no prep: Failure​

(1) test with the surfaces sanded: Failure​

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06-10-2024: Testors Model Cement​

(1) test with no prep: Failure​

(1) test with the surfaces sanded: Failure​

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06-13-2024: J-B Weld​

(1) test with no prep: Failure​

(1) test with the surfaces sanded: Failure​

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Update 06-13-2024: Well, looks like this one is destined for the trash heap. It's impervious to all glues that I have. Time to search for a​

sphere made from a material I can work with.​

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View attachment 649473 View attachment 649474View attachment 649475 View attachment 649476View attachment 649477 View attachment 649478View attachment 649479 View attachment 649655
View attachment 649860 View attachment 650222​

FYI, for future reference, for what it's worth, that bottle is, I think, most likely polypropylene. Henkel (the Loctite people) make an "activator" for using CA on that. There are also less expensive kits of CA glue and an activator for hard plastics that you apply with what amounts to a magic marker. I've had mixed success with the latter, and I have not tried the former.

 

[lakeroadster]

FYI, for future reference, for what it's worth, that bottle is, I think, most likely polypropylene. Henkel (the Loctite people) make an "activator" for using CA on that. There are also less expensive kits of CA glue and an activator for hard plastics that you apply with what amounts to a magic marker. I've had mixed success with the latter, and I have not tried the former.
View attachment 653041

Thanks Joe!​

 

[lakeroadster]

Trimming the Nose Cone and installing the Launch Lug

Pretty much done with glue fillets on the Gear Housing to Body.​

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I opened up the hole in the Nose Cone for the 3/8" dia. Launch Lug, test fitted it and then glued on the BT-3.​

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[neil_w]

I’m never quite sure if it’s a good idea to have super long lugs like that. The potential downside would be binding on the rod if it were not straight. I don’t know if that’s a valid concern or not.

 

[lakeroadster]

I’m never quite sure if it’s a good idea to have super long lugs like that. The potential downside would be binding on the rod if it were not straight. I don’t know if that’s a valid concern or not.

One long lug is much better than 2 separate lugs... it holds the launch rod to prevent rod whip.​

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It's never been an issue for me because I use a 5/16" wooden dowel as an alignment guide... and my 5/16" launch rod is zinc plated, which is pretty darn slippery.​

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Plus.. on this rocket the launch lug doubles as a holder for the ladder... so the astronauts can climb down from the "Biosphere".... ​

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[lakeroadster]

Just had to do another mockup...

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[lakeroadster]

Gluing the Biosphere

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