Rockets for the 4th...

For the past few years, I have tried to commemorate the 4th of July by building a rocket with a patriotic theme during the month. I usually start in late June with the intent of finishing by the 4th, but somehow things always come up - travel, weather, cosmic rays, whatever. This year it was business travel, and a lot of it; I have been away for nearly half the month, which doesn't leave much time for rocket building (or blog posts). However, I did finish the rocket earlier this week, keeping alive the tradition of getting the model built by the end of July. So I guess I will need to start a build in early June if I want to get it done by the 4th, or change my expectations to completing the rocket by July's end.

This year's choice was the Quest America, a simple four fin rocket that has been around for a few years (It was in the 2010 catalog). It was an easy build, going together quickly, and the two color paint job (blue fins, white body and nose cone) was not hard to do with Tamiya tape. One of my main gripes with Quest kits is that they feature "peel n cuss" stickers, which are a great source of annoyance - they look terrible and are difficult to handle. I much prefer water slide decals, so I replaced the white star fin stickers with Estes Comet decals that I ordered from Excelsior. I tried to replace the main body sticker with a waterslide decal I made on a color laser printer, but the decal was so long it kept tearing. This forced me to use the Quest sticker, which required some trimming (and cursing) to fit properly. I must confess the rocket doesn't look too bad; the white body tube seems to mitigate some of the shiny associated with peel n stick.

Here's the beauty shot:

Quest America (Click to enlarge).

And while we are on the subject of this year's patriotic model, here are a few from the past:

Estes Liberty (2011 - Click to enlarge).

Citation Patriot (2012 - Click to enlarge).

Estes Yankee (2013 - Click to enlarge).

Centuri Screaming Eagle (2014 - Click
 to enlarge).

2015 patriotic rocket done - back to other builds.