Model Rocket Building Blog
Quest X-15 Build, Part 2, Centering Ring LaminationsWhen I ordered the X-15 parts pack, I also ordered four of the Quest 35mm centering rings Part # 16002. These are cut from thin, rough cardboard. They are probably strong enough by themselves, but seem thinner than what I'm used to. Two rings were glued and laminated together. I set them ...[Read More]
Quest X-15 Parts Pack AvailableOn YORF, Scigs30 was doing a great build of the OOP Quest X-15 kit, HERE He mentioned that the parts were still available. Quest has most of the parts including the most important, the DECALS and the CANOPY NOSE CONE. I emailed Quest to ask about buying the X-15 decals. Apparently I wasn't the ...[Read More]
Quest X-15 Build, Part 1 PartsQuest Aerospace is offering an X-15 kit parts pack HERE X-15 Parts Pack includes the following parts: 2014-1010 X-15 Instructions 2014-1030 X-15 Decal 20222 X-15 Nose Cone 33030 X-15 Balsa Big Sheet 33051 X-15 Balsa Strakes To the right are all the parts ...[Read More]
Quest X-15 Build, Part 3, Kevlar in the Engine MountThis mount will get the replaceable Kevlar punches. To be sure the Kevlar tube is directly opposite the engine hook, a pencil "X" was drawn on my work area. The disk was centered and two pencil marks made at the top an bottom of both rings. Using the rotary punch the appropriate holes were made ...[Read More]
Quest X-15 Build, Part 4, Nose Cone WeightThe seam on the blow molded nose cone was pretty clean. There was a slight raised ridge near the tip. Sanding with 220 grit got rid of most of it. The pencil marks shown in the inset picture are the hollows to be filled. Medium CA glue drops were set into the low areas. 220 grit took them down, ...[Read More]
Quest X-15 Build, Part 5, Loose Nose Cone FixThe X-15 nose cone was very loose in the 35mm tube. In a smaller diameter tube I would just add a few wraps of masking tape around the nose cone shoulder. This larger tube will get a card stock shim in the top end of the body tube. This thin shim won't block the ejection of the parachute. A ...[Read More]
Quest X-15 Build, Part 6, Balsa Filling and Tube QualityAfter the balsa was filled with CWF off the model, The CWF was sanded smooth with 400 grit. TIP: After sanding down the CWF all the corner edges were very lightly run over with 400 grit. I'm not trying to round off the squared edges, just "kissing off" any roughness on the corners. I had ...[Read More]
Quest X-15 Build, Part 7, Engine Mount GluingThe surface of the Quest centering rings were pretty rough. I gave them a coat of medium CA keeping it away from the edges where the glue fillet will go after it's set in the rear of the body tube. Some 400 grit was wrapped around the end of another Q-tip and the hardened CA surface sanded ...[Read More]
Quest X-15 Build, Part 8, Fin Gluing and Root Edge AngleThe top and bottom rudders and two long strakes are glued on like a four finned models, spaced at 90 degrees. The top and bottom rudders are glued 1/8" from the rear edge of the tube. The long strakes take a little time, sight from the back and be sure they are straight. The root edges of ...[Read More]
Quest X-15 Build, Part 9, Fin and Wing GluingThe back of the wings are glued 2 1/2" from the rear of the tube. The primer area was sanded off for better gluing surface. Glue the wings under the strakes. It won't feel right, but the wings and tail fins both go under the strakes. The balsa fin guide helps to get the tail fins at the correct ...[Read More]
Quest X-15 Build, Part 10, Lug and FilletsI didn't bother trying to get a fillet between the bottom root edge of the strake and root edge of the rear fins. It's just too tight an area to apply glue or smooth it out. From the back, be sure any open areas get some fill at the root edge joints. The lug is glued to one side of the ...[Read More]
Quest X-15 Build, Part 11, Black PaintHere's the back end after wet sanding the first light coat of gloss black. The fillet areas were sanded smooth with 400 grit wrapped around a Q-tip. Sanded to surface, the black paint fills any remaining dips in the fillets. I don't know what happened here. Even with the nose cone painted ...[Read More]
Quest X-15 Build, Part 13, DecalsThe NASA decal wouldn't reach all the way across the top of the rudder. All the online pictures show the NASA decal set down from the top edge. Instead of centering the decal I pushed it towards the leading edge. There are many small decals to place on the model. Hold onto them with tweezers ...[Read More]
Quest X-15 Build, Part 12, DecalsThe instructions say to use the face card for the decal placement. I did some image searches and found THIS . I don't know if it is accurate or not, it's just another reference. The #66671 X-15 (kit decal number) is at the lower right. Maybe the nose cone tip should have been painted silver or ...[Read More]
Quest X-15 Build, Before Part 8, Fin Gluing - Warning!From a question on TRF: Originally Posted by Bill I bought this kit soon after it came out. There was discussion about a problem with the fin marking template or something. Anybody remember any details? Bill My response: I remember reading something about this. When I did the ...[Read More]
Quest X-15 FinishedQuest did a good job capturing the feel of the X-15. Even with the longer body tube its a good looking sport scale model. Adding .25 oz. of nose weight it should be stable even with a C6-5 engine. I've had this one on my build list for a while. For now Quest has X-15 parts packs ...[Read More]
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