For a water based based product it works pretty good, much less hassle than FNF.

I remain curious why Carl/Semroc never released an Avenger kit.

__________________
Bob
S.A.M. # 0014

Although the first few years the Avenger had a balsa nose cone, just like the Cherokee-D, far more of these kits were produced with a plastic nose cone by Estes. The change-over may have been prior to the pink Skill Level 2 packaging...not sure, but I will say I have never seen a skill-level packaged version of this kit with a balsa cone, just like the Cherokee-D as well.
I sold one kit last year and kept one.
It was on Carl's list at Semroc the last I knew...I think it just never got far up enough in the queue to make production.

__________________
When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, TURMOIL, FIASCOS, and HAVOC !

The first snow of the season is piling up outside and the Bears suck so I'll work on the Avenger.

I've begun with the booster. The booster is finished and nearly bomb-proof with epoxy fillets on the 1/8" fins.

Now for some technique: (stop rolling your eyes, this "now for some technique" is pretty good.)

Using the booster's fins as the guide, I glue the sustainer's fins onto the sustainer one at a time and then use scrap pieces of dead-flat balsa as "splints" to guarantee the alignment with each booster fin. Since the sustainer's fins are 3/32" and the booster's are 1/8" inch, I splint only one side.

After all three of the sustainer's fins are mounted I fillet them with epoxy. The epoxy of the sustainer's fillets might run into the fillets of the booster--but that's OK. I'll separate them with a blade after it's hardened.

TBC

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__________________
Never trust an atom. They make up everything.

4 out of 3 people struggle with math.

Chemically, alcohol IS a solution.

NAR# 94042
SAM# 0078

.....and now at 1545 CST the snow is STILL coming down. There's no wind at all and the snow is very wet so it's loading up the trees in the front yard.

TBC

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__________________
Never trust an atom. They make up everything.

4 out of 3 people struggle with math.

Chemically, alcohol IS a solution.

NAR# 94042
SAM# 0078

Only early versions of the Avenger have different thickness balsa on the booster/sustainer as well.
My balsa sheets in my newer kits are the same thickness.
There is no-way-in-hell I'd ever use different thickness fins on a multi-stager unless it is for a scale build whether it is "clone correct" or not.
The one example of an Estes scale-build that uses two different thicknesses is the Nike Ajax, but that is not a true multi-stager, it just 'looks' scale. That one uses I think 3/32 on the "Nike" section and 1/16 on the "Ajax" section.

__________________
When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, TURMOIL, FIASCOS, and HAVOC !

It makes me wonder what the reason was (if any) for the different fin thicknesses.

__________________
Never trust an atom. They make up everything.

4 out of 3 people struggle with math.

Chemically, alcohol IS a solution.

NAR# 94042
SAM# 0078

Estes released a clone of the Centuri Long Tom, which is a pretty-much-imitation of the Avenger. I'm building one of those now, as it happens!

One thing I wish I hadn't done with my Avenger is to use basswood for the fins. It is better than balsa for many applications, but not in this case. The root edge doesn't take glue as readily as balsa, so when surface mounted the fins tend to snap off with less effort than balsa would. So, my once-pretty Avenger has two ugly looking fin repairs.

The booster fins could have been mounted TTW, which would make the unit extremely sturdy. Because the tabs would interfere with the staging coupler, this wouldn't be an option for the upper stage fins.

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NAR #27085 - Oregon Rocketry - SAM

Did you use epoxy? I have never had the problem you describe using 30 minute epoxy...

The Estes Long Tom is (was) a great kit. It's OOP now, but there's still a lot of kits left for sale. I built one earlier this year and the decal sheet includes the red and white fin decals to make it resemble the Centuri version, but there's only (4) of the booster fin decals instead of (8). Fortunately, the stripes are easy to replicate with adhesive film.

The Avenger is on hold briefly until I get home from Cleveland--but the way the snow is coming down now, I'm not sure when that will be!

TBC

__________________
Never trust an atom. They make up everything.

4 out of 3 people struggle with math.

Chemically, alcohol IS a solution.

NAR# 94042
SAM# 0078