Estes Black Brant II Kit #1958 Background The Estes Black Brant II kit was available from 1986 - 1998. This model was the second design from the Canadian sounding rocket program. I always thought it was a clean, classic look with a very interesting roll pattern. BT-55 based and D engine powered. Recovery was an 18" parachute. Estes ...
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Estes Black Brant II Kit #1958 Build, Part 1 Parts Initially the parts seemed to be of good quality. I'll get into the concerns later on. The newer kit had a blue engine mount tube, the older kit had the stronger brown tube. Parts of interest from the left going clockwise: A red coupler, the tail cone, three toothpick antennas, the water-slide ...
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Estes Black Brant II Kit #1958 Build, Part 2, Engine Mount The tail cone ends up as two separate pieces. Double check the instructions to be sure you don't cut it apart in the wrong place. I used my razor saw to cut off the ends. Notice where I am pointing with my tweezers. Don't cut on this recess! I went ahead and cleaned up the seams before cutting ...
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Estes Black Brant II Kit #1958 Build, Part 3, Engine Mount Mentioned earlier - The instructions say to open up the small end of the tail cone until the yellow tube slides in. Mine did, but just to double check I tried to slide a D engine in. It didn't fit! Some 220 grit sandpaper was again wrapped around an engine casing and the hole made larger. The edge ...
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Estes Black Brant II Kit #1958 Build, Part 4, Engine Mount The instructions imply that you should glue the low end of the short BT-55 tail cone tube first. You do want to put the bead of glue on the tube so nothing squeezes out when the parts are slid together. I used the Beacon Fabri-Tac glue on the plastic to tube joints. GOTCHA: You should glue the top ...
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Estes Black Brant II Kit #1958 Build, Part 5, Fin Tapers Both the kits had die-cut balsa. The blades must of had been dull - the cuts didn't got all the way through on both sheets. This is why you had to stack and sand fins! Look at the die-crush on the trailing edges. One set of instructions mentions rounding the leading edges. The other instructions ...
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Estes Black Brant II Kit #1958 Build, Part 6, Fin Tapers & Fit Set the fin face flat on the sanding block to see if the side is flat. Look close and you can see the root and outside ends are slightly raised. A little more sanding was needed through the center section. After the tapers are finished, the ink is sanded off. These die-cut fins were pitted and ...
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Estes Black Brant II Kit #1958 Build, Part 7, Tail Cone Recess Fin Fit After the fins are glued on the instructions have you carve and glue small wood triangles into the tail cone recess ring. I didn't like the step: "When glue is dry cut away the excess balsa." I would be very hard to smooth the tight wood fill area. Here's how the fins fit against the recessed tail ...
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Estes Black Brant II Kit #1958 Build, Part 8, Tail Cone Recess Fin Fit Small triangular pieces were cut with a single edge razor blade. These were cut oversize so some would stick out on either side of the fin face. The fin was set against the body tube and tail cone and the recess area marked. The wedge piece was glued onto the root edge at the pencil mark. While ...
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Estes Black Brant II Kit #1958 Build, Part 9, Antennas It looks like the Black Brant II will be returning as a kit. It is listed in the new 2019 Estes catalog. The catalog picture doesn't show the antennas, they may not be in the new version of the kit. The antennas were disappointing. You are supplied with three wood toothpicks. These aren't ...
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Estes Black Brant II Kit #1958 Build, Part 10, Antennas Here's one of the antennas in place. The picture at the right shows the coupler inside the tube holding the upper bend of the antenna in place. The plan is to set the couplers in the holes then glue the coupler in place with wood glue. Before the glue sets up the antennas can be adjusted so they ...
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Estes Black Brant II Kit #1958 Build, Part 11, Fin Gluing TIP: Keep small parts in bags until they are ready for gluing on the model. Anything that can fall on the floor or roll off your work table. In this bag are four antennas (one extra) and the short 1/2" long launch lugs. Just to check it, I wrapped the fin marking guide around the BT-55 main body ...
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Estes Black Brant II Kit #1958 Build, Part 12, Paint Masking This is one of the few scale models that uses gloss paint. On the left, look close near the root edge of the fin. After filling and priming, there is still some balsa grain showing through. I rubbed some Carpenter's Wood Filler (CWF) into the fin. I don't use much (if CWF is reapplied) so there is ...
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Estes Black Brant II Kit #1958 Build, Part 13, Paint Masking Regular brown masking tape is used between the fins making sure to cover any open areas on the body tube. The rest of the body tube was covered with a square of plastic cut from a grocery bag. Before spraying with gloss black, all the mask lines were burnished with a Q-tip. A soft Q-tip won't ...
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Estes Black Brant II Kit #1958 Build, Part 14, Decal Placement The Estes instructions show the decal placement using three pictures of the finished model. Each picture is rotated 120 degrees to the left. I found the pictures confusing, almost as tough as the Mercury Redstone fin painting drawings. One problem - there are three fins on the rocket and four ...
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Estes Black Brant II Kit #1958 Build, Part 15, Decals Here's the first vertical bar placement, centered between two fins. If you were to turn the rocket to the left and the next two facing fins, the next vertical bar is placed just to the right of the fin root edge on the left. Check the roll pattern drawing in the previous post. I set the vertical ...
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Estes Black Brant II Kit #1958 Build, Part 16, Decal Fix In the last post I mentioned these decals were old and brittle. Trying to fit this lower vertical strip over the root edge didn't go well. I printed up some home decals with many extra vertical strips. These would give me plenty of practice with new, more flexible decals. I followed the same ...
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Estes Black Brant II Kit #1958 Build, Finished I've always liked the looks of this one. With Estes reissuing the kit, I hope there are water slide decals. The later version of the kit had stickers. I don't see antennas in the new 2019 catalog picture. Two feet tall, strong BT-55 air frame and D engine power - a good combination.
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New Estes Black Brant II, Changes Part 1, Fins & Tail Cone Here's the instructions from the older Black Brant II kit. On the tail cone there is a recessed ring. This leaves a gap at the root edge of the fin. You are directed to make a triangle shaped piece of balsa, insert the piece and glue. Trim off the excess and apply a glue fillet along the root ...
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New Estes Black Brant II, Changes Part 2, Antennas In the previous version of the kit, you surface or end glue toothpicks to the outside of the upper body tube. It's recommended that this antenna assembly be used for display, you were given another length of BT-55 without antennas for flight. These 1" long toothpick antennas could break off very ...
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New Estes Black Brant II, Changes Part 3, Decals From a previous Black Brant II build from last March - I drew the roll pattern out "flat" to show how the vertical bars would sit. This seemed to be easier to follow than the 1/4 turn pictures in the instructions. The black vertical bars go from four on the bottom, two in the middle and one at the ...
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New Estes Black Brant II, Changes Part 4, Decals
On this build I set the launch lug behind the name decals so you would see the C.A.R.D.E. names when the rocket is on the launcher. The problem was - on the other side you end up with a launch lug in the middle of the vertical bar! One decal was cut with an " I " shape to hopefully let the lug ...
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