foose4string
12-08-2008, 11:01 AM
I'm in the process of rebuilding my SR71 and wondering if anyone has a copy of the plans they could share? More importantly, I'd love to have the wraps. I may be able carefully cut away and and trace the ones I have, but a scan sure would be helpful.
I built this one a good 15-20 years ago and made a few mistakes while building and finishing, Plus, it's had fins re-glued (at the root) after a crash or two. Wraps are crumpled at the top as a result, and were never applied to my liking to begin with, as they were pretty wrinkled on one side. One major thing that always bothered me, was that I applied the decals over flat black. I want to do it right this time.
The plastics are still in good shape and I have managed to salvage the fin stock which appears to be some stiff, good quality balsa. I do remember using Aerogloss sealer on the fins and they are nicely filled already. They main thing will be to reproduce the wraps. My plan was to use some plain 65# cardstock following the original outline of the wrap. Then, I've got some corrugated cardstock from which I'll cut pieces and apply to the flat cardstock to simulate the corrugation on the original wrap. I suppose I could try calling customer support at Estes and try to talk them out of some wraps, but I want to see how well this works before bugging them.
I built this one a good 15-20 years ago and made a few mistakes while building and finishing, Plus, it's had fins re-glued (at the root) after a crash or two. Wraps are crumpled at the top as a result, and were never applied to my liking to begin with, as they were pretty wrinkled on one side. One major thing that always bothered me, was that I applied the decals over flat black. I want to do it right this time.
The plastics are still in good shape and I have managed to salvage the fin stock which appears to be some stiff, good quality balsa. I do remember using Aerogloss sealer on the fins and they are nicely filled already. They main thing will be to reproduce the wraps. My plan was to use some plain 65# cardstock following the original outline of the wrap. Then, I've got some corrugated cardstock from which I'll cut pieces and apply to the flat cardstock to simulate the corrugation on the original wrap. I suppose I could try calling customer support at Estes and try to talk them out of some wraps, but I want to see how well this works before bugging them.