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  #1  
Old 08-26-2012, 01:08 PM
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Default Estes' LUCKY SEVEN

I've been wanting to find Estes' LUCKY SEVEN from their Ansari X-Prize series for cheap, and found an online vendor that had them for a paltry $6 and change shipped! Its all-plastic, model like construction appealed to me. And its a sharp, fetching little bird!

The only thing in this kit that isn't plastic is the cardboard engine mount tube, metal engine clip, clay nose weight and the strings on the pre-assembled, 12" parachute.

Here's the parts, which I shot after I'd already spray-painted the silver-plastic engine bells with Valspar Gold Leaf.
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Old 08-26-2012, 01:13 PM
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I was selling them at NARAM for $2 each and nobody even looked at them!
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Old 08-26-2012, 01:16 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AcroRay
I've been wanting to find Estes' LUCKY SEVEN from their Ansari X-Prize series for cheap, and found an online vendor that had them for a paltry $6 and change shipped! Its all-plastic, model like construction appealed to me. And its a sharp, fetching little bird!

The only thing in this kit that isn't plastic is the cardboard engine mount tube, metal engine clip, clay nose weight and the strings on the pre-assembled, 12" parachute.

Here's the parts, which I shot after I'd already spray-painted the silver-plastic engine bells with Valspar Gold Leaf.

Would you mind sharing the supplier? I need one.
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Old 08-26-2012, 01:16 PM
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I'd say the real challenge in this kit is getting a glue to stick consistently to all the parts. Reviews from other builders offered yea's & nay's for everything from plastic cement, super glue to Tenax. I tried the Zap-a-Gap CA+, which worked OK for some of the engine bells and seemed to work OK for the butt end of the main body, but didn't work for the nose cone. My advise is to use Testors' tube styrene cememt - either from a glue pen or one of the Model Masters bottles with the pipette-tube applicator. You need something with a little thickness to it, but which will chemically bond the plastic. And you don't want to mess up the seam on the 2-part nose cone if you don't want to end up repainting it.

Anyhow, the fins slot into the body, the engine mount bits sit in place, and the whole thing gets finished by capping it with the butt end panel of the body. The engine bells glue on to the end panel. I put mine on first, just to make sure they were secure. I had to re-glue one with model cement. The others worked fine with CA+. Go figure.

One thing I did - which I do on all my rockets - was to use a sharpie and color in the engine mount tube black. I think that looks better to the eye than raw brown paper stock.
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  #5  
Old 08-26-2012, 01:19 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sandman
I was selling them at NARAM for $2 each and nobody even looked at them!


Aww! That's too bad! They'd at least make nice stocking-stuffers. I dunno how well it actually flies, since I just finished mine yesterday. But for $2 it would at least look pretty on display. Yeesh. I'd have bought at least 3 from you.
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  #6  
Old 08-26-2012, 01:20 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chadrog
Would you mind sharing the supplier? I need one.


http://www.nwtrainsntreasure.com
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  #7  
Old 08-26-2012, 01:25 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AcroRay

Guess you got the last one, availability now at zero.
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  #8  
Old 08-26-2012, 01:29 PM
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Anyhows...

On thing I diverted from the instruction from was assembly of the nose cone. No pictures here, but I assembled the two halves first to ensure a good bond. I used CA+ & let it set overnight. The next day, I gave it a little squeeze and felt some of the bond give, so I used my glue pen to line the inside seam with Testors model cement. After a couple hours the bond seemed secure, so I rolled the clay nose weight into worms and packed it down in the NC tip. Then I tied the shock cord up to the inner NC cap, lined the cap with model cement and pressed it into place. A later check seemed nice & secure, so I finished assembly as indicated in the instructions. Final result pictured here.

In addition to the gold leaf paint on the engine bells, I inked the panel lines in the nose cone with a grey Gundam detail pen. The grey was just a bit darker than the plastic, enough to give the lines some depth and sharpness. It's not as apparent in the photograph, but looks good to the eye.

Lucky Seven is a nice looking little bird on display, and I expect it should fly as well as a heavy plastic A10-3T powered chunk of plastic should. It's at least worth $6... and would certainly be worth $2 just to sit on a shelf and look pretty!
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  #9  
Old 08-26-2012, 01:31 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chadrog
Guess you got the last one, availability now at zero.


Sorry. Looks like you'll have to hit up Sandman for a couple.
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  #10  
Old 08-26-2012, 01:42 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AcroRay
Sorry. Looks like you'll have to hit up Sandman for a couple.


Not a couple...I only have 1 left.

But go through the Estes, SEMROC and Fliskit list.

I still have 20 Alphas left at $4 each, Wizards at $2 each, D region Tomahawk for $23 and a whole lot more.

I have 5 Fliskit Starlords at $27.00 each. That's a $42 rocket for $27!

And lots lots more!
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