Model Rocket Building Blog
Centuri Draconian Marauder #5336 Build, Part 1, PartsThis one turned out to be one of the weirdest builds yet! The way the model was engineered was interesting but required some extra primer and sealing steps. If you were to just punch out the pieces, glue it together and paint it, you would end up with a model with many rough edges. I picked up ...[Read More]
Centuri Draconian Marauder #5336 Build, Part 2, Engine MountThese offset rings are actually outside the model off the rear of the extended engine mount tube. The two large engine rings were a little off. You can easily see the engine hook notches weren't cut the same. The rings were stacked to check alignment. At the the bottom you can see the lower ...[Read More]
Centuri Draconian Marauder #5336 Build, Part 3, Engine MountYou can't just sand the raised areas off and end up with a smooth surface. Brush over the raised areas with medium CA applied with a Q-tip. Sand with 220 on a block to surface. Apply more CA and sand smooth with 400 grit. I wouldn't normally bother with the raised edges but these surfaces will be ...[Read More]
Centuri Draconian Marauder #5336 Build, Part 4, WingsThe wings were cut free from the thick card stock with a sharp knife. The root edges of the wings weren't cut straight. A few passes with 220 on a block closed up the gaps. This is the rudder piece. Under a light you can see the raised areas along the outside cuts. On the finished model ...[Read More]
Centuri Draconian Marauder #5336 Build, Part 5, Before and AfterThis is the front and back of the landing gear pieces. The right picture is the smoother top side cut, the left is the CA'd and sanded back side. The front landing gear piece has some inside rounded curves. They were rough when removed from the card stock. CA was applied and the round ...[Read More]
Centuri Draconian Marauder #5336 Build, Part 6, Engine Mount AssemblyThe wide centering ring is tight over the engine hook. The hook was held inside and traced for width with a pencil. TIP: Don't mark and cut the relief slot over an inside spiral wrap seam. Score and peel off a few inside layers. The inset picture shows the new fit over the engine hook. The ...[Read More]
Centuri Draconian Marauder #5336 Build, Part 7, Wing and Rudder PrepThe wings and rudder got a shot of primer / filler. With all the edge preparation some edge fill was needed. Both wing sides were glued together and weights set on top. I found it interesting that I had to glue the wing halves together with one die cut top up, the other one down. I wish ...[Read More]
Centuri Draconian Marauder #5336 Build, Part 8, Missile Launchers Part AThe missile launcher heat sinks needed many cuts to free them from the card stock. The instructions show the first two heat sinks simply glued to the sides of a dowel. The heat sinks would end up low and not centered on the dowel. All the remaining pieces would end up even more off center. ...[Read More]
Centuri Draconian Marauder #5336 Build, Part 9, Missile Launchers Part BThe missile launcher nose cones are embossed with fold lines. I used my engineers ruler/scale to form the folds all the way to the tip. I found out later it might look better not to make the fold all the way to the small end. It fits the dowel better if it were simply rounded. Long ...[Read More]
Centuri Draconian Marauder #5336 Build, Part 10, CanopiesThe two canopies are made from thinner, embossed card stock. There are small glue tabs on the inside. The shape is strange and needs some attention. Glue as lightly applied to the tabs and held down with long tweezers. Before the glue sets up, I did my best to shape and close the open ...[Read More]
Centuri Draconian Marauder #5336 Build, Part 11, Wing and Rudder GluingThe wings and rudder are glued on. The "landing gear" are glued in place. The inset picture shows how many of the edges are starting to open up! The landing gear is glued in the wing slots. The upper tab supports and gives a glue base for the next wing layer. Here's a dry fit of the ...[Read More]
Centuri Draconian Marauder #5336 Build, Part 12, Shock Cord MountThe shock cord mount is a small piece of card stock, a variation of tying the shock cord to a body tube segment. It is glued 1 1/2" from the top edge of the tube. The supplied card stock seemed too small. I cut a larger rectangle from heavier card stock and did my best to bend it into a ...[Read More]
Centuri Draconian Marauder #5336 Build, Part 13, Ends and EdgesMany of the edges of the thick card stock were rough and starting to de-laminate. The edges on the thickest card stock were the worst. No amount of paint will cover up the rough edges. I had to go back and add a bead of white glue to all the edges. Light sanding with 400 grit followed. The ...[Read More]
Centuri Draconian Marauder #5336 Build, Part 14, Inside Surface SprayLooking at the earlier dry fit of the wing layers - There is no way you'd get a good paint cover between the wings! JeffyJeep did a great build of this kit on TRF. He used a brown marker to get a light color coat between the layers. The instructions say to paint it an overall brown. Brown ...[Read More]
Centuri Draconian Marauder #5336 Build, Part 15, Inside Surface SprayJeffyJeep built one of these on TRF. He used a brown marker to get color coverage on all the inside surfaces. A good idea, you'd never get spray paint evenly between the three wing layers. I decided to spray the layers separately, scrape off the paint and glue it together. After a dry fit ...[Read More]
Centuri Draconian Marauder #5336 Build, Part 16, Metallic PaintThe middle layer was glued onto the raised supports from the larger wing base. This second layer had to get color but I didn't want any more paint than what was necessary. The lower wing was masked off. The middle wing got the first light coat of metallic brown. After some light sanding ...[Read More]
Centuri Draconian Marauder #5336 Build, Part 17, Top Wing & CabinThe third top layer of the wing is glued in place. It took some final trimming to get the cabin sides to fit around the rudder and body tube.To get the Even after careful trimming the fit wasn't great. Careful scraping was done with a knife tip to get down to the body tube and bare card ...[Read More]
Centuri Draconian Marauder #5336 Build, Part 18, Cabin Sides and CanopyIt took some coaxing to get the cabin sides to line up and stay glued down. Some fillets of Titebond M&TG will hopefully fill any gaps. The canopy sides were lightly sanded to try to get the unit edges flat. This helps for a better glue edge and fit against the cabin surface. The ...[Read More]
Centuri Draconian Marauder #5336 Build, Part 19, Paint & DecalsThe rest of the body was shot with the Rusto Metallic Brown. The first picture was taken indoors, the inset picture was taken outside. I did this to show the reflective quality of the paint. This model was spray painted in stages. There is so many nooks and crannies that would be impossible to ...[Read More]
Centuri Draconian Marauder #5336 Build, Part 20, DecalsThe old decals with the MicroScale clear coat transferred easily. TIP: Instead of using a wet brush or paper towel to work out bubbles, use a damp Q-tip to set the decal into place. Work the air bubbles out by rolling from the center to the edges. After the decals had set up for a day ...[Read More]
Centuri Draconian Marauder #5336 Build, Part 21, Missile LaunchersThe missile launchers were fitted to the wings. Some sanding was required to get the wing edges to contact the round body of the launchers. The inset picture shows the glue lines. The missile launchers were painted off the model. I did some careful scraping down to the body tube for the ...[Read More]
Centuri Draconian Marauder #5336 Build, FinishedIt's finally done! I'm not a big fan of this kit. All the thicker pieces of die-cut card stock had pressure bulges on the underside. It took CA glue and sanding to get every edge smooth and flat. I don't think the average builder would have felt good about the finished model. ...[Read More]
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