Estes Solar Warrior (#3225) Build, Part 1, Parts This was another clearance sale kit. A great value for a BT-60 based model at 27" tall. It is designed to fly with C11 and D12 engines. Two feet tall, BT-60 models are favorite size for me. Look at all that balsa! Each fin is four pieces, built up into a "T" shape. The decal sheet is big, all ...
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Estes Solar Warrior (#3225) Build, Part 2, Prepping Balsa Here's all the balsa removed from the laser cut sheets. There are four "T" shaped fins and on the upper right, four smaller forward fins. When fins are laser cut fins I don't "gang sand" them. No reason to, being laser cut they should all be exactly the same size. On the left is before sanding the ...
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Estes Solar Warrior (#3225) Build, Part 3, Engine Mount TIP TIP: Don't just glue the centering ring onto the engine mount. Use the black retainer ring to perfectly align the centering rings on the engine mount tube. Set the ring on the pencil mark then slide the black retainer ring down to the centering ring. Press the ring against the black retainer. The ...
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Estes Solar Warrior (#3225) Build, Part 4, Separating The Nose Cone - TIP This step is not covered in the instructions, except for a small illustration on the first page "Parts" drawing. TIP: Don't separate the nose cone end first. You'll have more control, and more to hold on to, if you cut from the back and move forward. Cut off the rear ring first. TIP: Notice the ...
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Estes Solar Warrior (#3225) Build, Part 5, Fin Gluing I'm starting something new today. If I find a mistake or real concern in kit instructions, I'll start the paragraph with a " GOTCHA " . Hopefully this will prevent a possible build error for someone assembling a kit along with the blog. This picture was taken before the fins were removed from the ...
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Estes Solar Warrior (#3225) Build, Part 6, Fin Grain Filling Thinned Carpenter's Wood Filler will warp the fins when applied to only one side. Brush on one side of all the fins. By the time all one side of the parts have a coat of CWF the first piece should be dried enough to handle and paint the other side. When CWF is brushed on the other side it should ...
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Estes Solar Warrior (#3225) Build, Part 7, Observations I almost hate to tug on the parachute shroud lines. If they break easily they will have to be replaced. These broke with a light pull. I'll replace them with all cotton embroidery thread. The reinforcement rings turned out to be paper. Paper reinforcement rings are worthless and don't strengthen ...
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Estes Solar Warrior (#3225) Build, Part 8, Fin Assembly The first larger fin plate it glued to the tab on the outside edge of the main fin. I used the flat side of the sanding block to press the fin plate slot over the tab. As the glue dries double check the fin plate to see if it is at a 90 degree angle to the main fin. The second smaller fin plate is ...
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Estes Solar Warrior (#3225) Build, Part 9, Fin Gluing A strip a little wider than the 3/32" thick fins is sanded through the remaining primer exposing the bare tube. This picture shows the small upper fins ready to glue onto their baseline. TIP: On a four fin model you can sight over the end of the body tube to line up the opposite fins. A fin jig ...
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Estes Solar Warrior (#3225) Build, Part 10, Fin Alignmment A wrap of paper was used to make sure the base of the upper fins were in line around the tube. The aluminum angle was used to be sure the upper and lower fins were in line. Just don't set the edge of the angle into any glue along the root edges. The single 3/16" launch lug is centered between two ...
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Estes Solar Warrior (#3225) Build, Part 11, Engine Mount Set the engine mount assembly on the side of the model at the depth it will end up. Beneath the mount is a glue glue applying dowel. The top end of the dowel is set where the glue ring will go. The dowel tip is set just below the upper centering ring of the engine mount. The rear of the dowel is ...
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Estes Solar Warrior (#3225) Build, Part 12, First White Paint This rarely happens to me, but I did get two small bugs landing in the paint! Now a big deal, these will be sanded off before any more paint is sprayed. I've started to sand down any rough spots and bugs. Most of the time is spent taking down some of the fillet ridges and any glue blobs. Enlarge ...
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Estes Solar Warrior (#3225) Build, Part 13, White Touch Up Getting paint in all the nooks and corners was tough on this one. I missed a few spots around the fit tip covers. (see third picture) For fin edges like this I can touch up without spraying the entire model again. A small snack sized Baggie was pressed into a small plastic cup. Some paint was ...
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Estes Solar Warrior (#3225) Build, Part 14, Decals This is a simple mask, simply cover the lower body below the smaller fins. The instructions suggest Dark Blue, I decided to use the same Purple I used on the Wizard build. The second build will use Metallic Red. Here's where the wrap decal separates the two colors. There is a raised paint ridge ...
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Estes Solar Warrior (#3225) Build, Paint Fix, TIPI put together two Estes Solar Warrior kits at the same time. On one, the upper section was sprayed purple. On the other, metallic red. The purple went on fine. The metallic red was another story. Just to one side of the upper fins was a raised area. The paint was lifting and wrinkled. I didn't get ...
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Estes Solar Warrior (#3225) Build, Finished This should be a favorite with D12-5 engines. Big with big decals. I'm a little surprised they weren't more popular and ended up part of the closeout sale. The second build was painted Metallic Red on the upper body. With this half-half decor most any other color could have worked. Orange, yellow, ...
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Estes Solar Warrior (#3225) Builds, Comparison I had a few blog followers ask to show the two Solar Warrior builds side-by-side. I like the looks of the metallic red Solar Warrior a bit more. The top of the other rocket on the right is actually purple. My camera photographed it as blue. Look above the launch lug on the red model. I usually ...
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