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  #1  
Old 07-10-2020, 09:11 PM
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5x7 5x7 is offline
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Default 10 years in the making, Estes Crossfire ISX.

I was doing a lot of high power 10 years ago interspersed with low power stuff with my kids and a friend that doesn’t do high power. I loved the look of the Crossfire and thought it would make a good quick project. I was initially turned off by the flimsy bt50 tube and the stickers and it sat for a while. I eventually reinforced the tube with a full length coupler as far as the nosecone shoulder, tied Kevlar to the centering ring and got waterslides from Sandman. The decals were nice, but the black band on the fins is about twice as wide as the kit decals and I didn’t realize I should have cut it down for the facecard look, and after they were put on, I realized it and it sat again. During the last few months I determined to finish up some projects and this was top of the list. I like to clearcoat everything and have an old can of Krylon Crystal Clear, and have had great luck with it. In this case it attacked the decals (which were on for years) and they wrinkled and the white underneath appeared where the decal had cracked. After the clear fully dried, the wrinkling subsided to an overall rough appearance with some white spots here and there. It’s been sitting like that for the last two months. I had good luck with future on a model in the past, but it looks bad right after it’s applied and running all over the place. I hit the white spots on a black decals with a sharpie. I put future on the Crossfire which ran down and seemed to pick up the sharpie and also the red from the nozzle. I cleaned the brush a few times and kept brushing the white until the runs off the sharpie were gone. I picked up the red from the white with a paper towel. I left the drippy thing dry overnight and in the morning was rewarded with a fine finish, it even helped the decals but there is still some roughness. I ordered a 15” Topflight thin mill chute for it since there is not a lot of space in this one and it’s heavier with the airframe reinforced.
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Last edited by 5x7 : 07-11-2020 at 07:21 AM.
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  #2  
Old 07-11-2020, 07:50 AM
PaulK PaulK is offline
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Turned out pretty good all things considered!
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Old 07-11-2020, 09:07 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PaulK
Turned out pretty good all things considered!


Thanks, I appreciate it!

If anyone is wondering about the squarish fin edges, I think I papered the fins, so sanding the edges would raise the paper fuzz.

By the way, I have always thought the teardrops on the fin trailing edges look like little Millenium Falcons.
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Old 07-11-2020, 10:53 AM
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Looks good!

Great finish rescue (have done the Sharpie routine before btw ).

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Old 07-11-2020, 11:21 AM
snaquin snaquin is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 5x7
Thanks, I appreciate it!

If anyone is wondering about the squarish fin edges, I think I papered the fins, so sanding the edges would raise the paper fuzz.

By the way, I have always thought the teardrops on the fin trailing edges look like little Millenium Falcons.
Your Crossfire looks great. I think on some models sharp fin edges look better. I’ve done that too on some models where I papered the fins and left them square or just very lightly knocked off the edge.

Great idea with the Sharpie marker!
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Old 07-11-2020, 02:42 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by snaquin
Your Crossfire looks great. I think on some models sharp fin edges look better. I’ve done that too on some models where I papered the fins and left them square or just very lightly knocked off the edge.

Great idea with the Sharpie marker!


Thanks, even though the future picked up some of the marker ( there was a dark line trailing down for each spot before I brushed it out), the marker still covered the decal cracks. I think I got lucky with this one!
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  #7  
Old 07-12-2020, 12:43 PM
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Now that Estes has re-released the Black Brant III, folks that squirreled away a few Crossfires for the plastic parts, can actually build them as Crossfires.

You're right, the Crossfire is a good looking little rocket.
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