The other one I picked out to build for my son was the Estes Blenders. Well, an Estes Blender. There are two in the kit, but I’m saving one for me. I decided to build one at a time, partly to make sure I had enough time to build one, and partly for an opportunity to learn from any mistakes.
There’s a bunch of laser cut balsa parts.
The triangular one isn’t a part, it’s a right angle reference to use when gluing up. I didn’t use thinned wood filler on that. I did on the other pieces.
Next the motor tube gets glued into the (laser cut cardboard) top ring and the five struts get glued on.
Then the bottom piece. In general I did need to widen the slots in this kit with an emery board to get the balsa tabs to fit.
I put Titebond No-Run No-Drip fillets on the glued edges; a bit tricky, given the tight spacing.
Next the… fins? Panels? Whatever. I glued one, let it dry, glued the second, applied fillets on the first, let them dry, glued the third, applied fillets on the second… and so on.
Then I used (unthinned) wood filler to fill the slots. I would have done the same on the top ring if it were balsa, but I figured sanding would probably create fuzzies — which would really not be a problem once primed and re-sanded, but my son’s going to see it before it’s painted and the fuzzies would look bad.
The nose cone’s dry fit. It’ll get glued in after painting, which won’t happen until warm weather arrives. Or, since today’s high temperature in Syracuse was a record breaking 68°F (thanks, El Niño; thanks, global warming), I should say persistent warm, non-humid, non-windy weather. Still months away. But for now the unpainted Blender’s under the tree.
Rich's Rockets 