Estes Monarch Model Rocket Build, Part 2

By Mike Swanson

I had a couple of hours free over the weekend to work on the Monarch, after finishing the motor mount and prepping the body tube and fins for assembly a couple days ago. 

After letting the Fill n' Finish on the fins dry overnight (see Estes Monarch Build, Part 1), I sanded them with 320 grit sandpaper until they were nice and smooth.  I then rubbed a thin film of wood glue on the root edge of one of the fins and let it dry for about 5 minutes.  This allows the glue to soak into the wood and gives a smoother, more even surface resulting in a stronger bond when attaching the fins.  There are many different tips/tricks people use to get nice alignment when gluing the fins to the rocket.  For typical 3 or 4 fin Estes rockets, I tend to use the "eyeball method" by sighting down the body tube and making sure the fin is perpendicular.  The guidelines I drew on the body tube in Part 1 really help to make sure the root edge is parallel to the tube.  I spread another thin bead a glue along the root edge and attached the first fin:

You can also use an Estes Tube Marking Guide to hold the fin in place while the glue dries:

I repeated this process for the other two fins, periodically checking the alignment before the glue completely dried.  As a final check, I printed out a template using an online tool from Payloadbay.com.  There are a bunch of useful tools for creating jigs, templates, and guides on the site.  I placed the rocket on the printout and sighted down the tube.  Looks pretty straight and aligned to me !

Next, it was time to glue on the launch lug.  The instructions say to glue the lug along the root of one of the fins.  I prefer the more typical (and probably more old school) method of gluing the lug between two of the fins as shown below.  A section of 1/2" aluminum angle works great to align the lug.  I just placed the angle along the tube and glued the lug along the edge of the angle on top of the centerline I drew in Part 1:

Then I ran a bead of glue along both sides of each fin root edge and the launch lug using my index finger to wipe off any excess and create a smooth fillet.  When I was done, it looked like this:

After all the fins and launch lug joints were dry, I installed the motor mount by wiping a fairly thick ring of glue about 1" inside the aft end of the body tube using a 6" cotton swab: 

Then I inserted the motor tube so that it was flush with the end of the rocket with engine hook facing aft and aligned with the launch lug centerline: 

The last step I did today was to glue in the shock cord mount.  First I cut out the paper mount from the instructions and smeared a healthy blob of glue on one side and laid the rubber cord on the panels marked "2" and "3":

Then I folded panel "1" into "2" and "2" into "3" and pinched it together for a few minutes until the glue started to set.  Then I used a 6" cotton swab to apply a patch of glue about 1.5" down the forward end of the body tube.  Note:  make sure the shock cord mount is at least far enough down the tube so that the shoulder of the nose cone will not interfere with it when it is placed on top:

Now the rocket is essentially complete except for some final preparation before I start painting !

Estes Monarch Model Rocket Build, Part 1

By Mike Swanson

It's about time we did a blog about a model rocket build !  I have chosen the Estes Monarch because it is a typical example of a beginner, skill level 1 rocket that is currently available:

 

In addition to the kit, you need a good quality wood glue (I use Titebond II), x-acto knife, sandpaper of various grits, and paint to give it a nice finish.  There are some optional item I'll discuss later that will make the build go a little easier and result in a nicer finish.

The first step is to assemble the motor mount using the 2.75" motor tube, 2 centering rings, motor hook, motor block, and retaining ring.

I started by making pencil marks 1" and 2.5" from one end of the tube.  I then cut a 1/8"slit at the 2.5" mark and installed the motor hook.  Next, I ran a bead of glue around the motor tube near the middle and slid the ring down until it was aligned with the 1" pencil mark.  After gluing on the retaining ring, I glued the motor block flush with end of the motor tube closest to the 1/8" slit.  The next step was to glue on the two centering rings.  The first at the 2.5" mark and the second at the 1" mark.  Make sure you align the rings so they are parallel to each other and perpendicular to the tube.  The final step was to add a glue fillet around the joints of the motor tube and centering rings to make it nice and strong.  It should look like this when it's finished: 

 

While the motor mount assembly was drying, I decided to work on the fins.  The fin's shape is laser cut at the factory and essentially fell out of the balsa sheet with light pressure.  You can use an x-acto knife to cut away any material holding the fins to the sheet if needed.  I sanded the leading edge round and all other edges flat with 180 and 220 grit sandpaper.  Before gluing the fins to the rocket, I like to coat them with thinned Elmer's Fill n' Finish wood filler to fill in the wood grain and any small dents: 

Out of the container, the filler has the consistency of creamy peanut butter.  I put some in a small cup and added water to make it more of a latex paint consistency.  I then brushed it on all the sides and edges (except the root edge since it will be glued to the rocket body tube later) with a small paintbrush.  If you let the fins dry at this point, they will most likely warp due to the added water in the filler soaking into the balsa wood.  To prevent this, I sandwiched the fins between two sheets of wax paper and place them on a flat surface with a flat board/weights on top and will let it dry overnight. 

The last thing I did today was mark the larger body tube with lines showing where to attach the fins and launch lug.  The instructions come with a paper alignment guide you can wrap around the tube to make the initial alignment marks, but I have found that these don't work as well as something like the Estes Fin Marking Guides: 

Once the initial marks were made, I used a piece of aluminum channel to draw a centerline and a line the thickness of the fin on either side about 5" long:

Using the two thickness lines in addition to the centerline makes it much easier to align the fins when they are glued to the tube.