Model Rocket Building Blog 
Model Rocket Building Posts
Rocketry Product: Estes - Black Brant III {Kit} (1293) [?-?, 2018-]
Estes Black Brant III, Part 1 Parts Research (2014-09-12)
I've always liked the looks of the Canadian Black Brant series. This one was an Estes kit #1293, now OOP. The Estes Crossfire ISX uses the same nose cone and tail cone nozzle as the Black Brant III ... [Read More]
Estes Black Brant III, Part 2, Fin Drawing (2014-09-13)I found the instructions and fins at Old Rocket Plans HERE Buzz McDermott submitted the plans and placed a ruler reference below the fins. TIP: If you ever submit plans to a website, place a ruler ... [Read More]
Estes Black Brant III, Part 3, Decal Draw (2014-09-14)The colors and type fonts of the Estes kit decals at www.oldrocketplans.com didn't match up to the Alway drawings in ROTW. The Black Brant III drawing was scanned and dropped into an new ... [Read More]
Estes Black Brant III, Part 4, Engine Mount and Nozzle (2014-09-15)TIP: You'll find it easier to cut the engine hook notch if the nozzle is left attached to the nose cone. There is just more to hold onto. Remove the back end off the nozzle. Now you can score the ... [Read More]
Estes Black Brant III, Part 5, Fin Shaping Prep (2014-09-16)Sanding accurate scale fin tapers can takes extra time and some preparation. Some of these techniques were shown in an article I wrote for the Apogee Peak Of Flight newsletter HERE In addition to ... [Read More]
Estes Black Brant III, Part 6, Fin Taper Sanding (2014-09-17)Use your thumb as a "stop" against the high point lines. (For clarity I left the pencil shading off the surface of this fin.) Sand a few stokes and take a look at the black ink left on the ... [Read More]
Estes Black Brant III, Part 7, Tube Fill, Fin Primer (2014-09-18)This replacement BMS BT-50 had the tightest seams I'd seen in a while. Normally I'll run a mechanical pencil down the seam rut so it's easier to see when applying CWF. The pencil kept slipping ... [Read More]
Estes Black Brant III, Part 8, Reinforcement Coupler (2014-09-19)Lately, BT-50s in every build have buckled after recovery. Even with a soft landing the BT-50 crimps down the inside spiral above the engine mount. I made an interior coupler from Crossfire BT-50 ... [Read More]
Estes Black Brant III, Part 9, Engine Mount and Launch Lug (2014-09-20)The fit of the mount was loose in the BT-50. With a glue stick, one wrap of copy paper was glued around both green rings. Glue was applied inside the tube using the dowel pencil line from ... [Read More]
Estes Black Brant III, Part 10, Nose Cone Lug Tip (2014-09-21)The Estes Black Brant III instructions don't mention clearing the plastic from the nose cone attachment lug. This tie point is square and the sides aren't that thick. Normally ... [Read More]
Estes Black Brant III, Part 11, Fin Gluing (2014-09-22)Good thing I checked back to the Black Brant III instructions at: www.oldrocketplans.com The "rear edge of the fins are even with the rear edge of the nozzle section." I'll leave off the nozzle ... [Read More]
Estes Black Brant III, Part 12, NRC Logo (2014-09-23)After searching through a hundred fonts, I couldn't find anything close to the NRC logo shown in Alway's ROTW book. I'll have to draw something close. Here's how it looks side-by-side in Corel ... [Read More]
Estes Black Brant III, Part 13, Mask and Paint (2014-09-24)EDIT: Boy did I screw this one up! I read the Peter Alway ROTW drawings wrong. I painted two white and one red fin. The Black Brant III has a long white stripe between two of the three fin ... [Read More]
Estes Black Brant III, Part 14, White Background Decal Problems (2014-09-25)Thins don't always go as planned! Mistakes sometimes lead to solutions and better techniques. That's better! Two red fins and one white fin. I did another mask down the root edge fillet. ... [Read More]
Estes Black Brant III, Part 15, Decal Fix? Part 1 (2014-09-26)The model sat for a month until I put in another order of decal sheets. This time my ordered included "white" decals. These are meant for decals that need a white undercoat or border. I thought ... [Read More]
Estes Black Brant III, Part 16, Decal Fix? Part 2 (2014-09-27)The rivets and panel decal were re-drawn from a scan of Estes kit decal sheet. It doesn't match up to the Alway data but this was supposed to be and Estes clone so compromises were made. The ... [Read More]
Estes Black Brant III, Paart 17, Decal Re-do Again, Fixed (2014-09-28)I didn't like how the white decal strips came out. They were translucent and looked like a light pink color, except where another layer of white was set over it. I realized all the white areas ... [Read More]
Estes Black Brant III, Final Finished (2014-09-29)Fixed! This is much better. The double layered white decals weren't that hard to do, it just took extra time. The double layer of white isn't thick or too high off the surface. The ... [Read More]
New EBAY Items (2014-09-04)I've put up some rocketry items for bidding on EBAY. First is the Estes Black Brant III made from the nose and tail cone from the Crossfire kit. CLICK HERE Fins are cut from basswood and scale ... [Read More]
Estes Kit Fin Stock Thicknesses (2014-10-08)In a recent post I made a judgement about the thickness of the Estes Black Brant III kit fin thickness. I was building a semi-scale model using the Estes instructions and information from Rocket ... [Read More]
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