While waiting on parts, I put together these Squirrel Works "Battle Of Britain" gliders. I lost one of my original war in the pacific gliders, and busted the other one. The balsa is pretty soft on the German glider, so it may not last more than one flight.

I think I'll do one or two coats of Sand 'n Seal, just enough so the decals will stick. Not going to spend too much time finishing these. The Pacific ones glided fantastic with very little trimming.

Next up, the Astron Skydart. First, an inventory of the parts. Nearly everything is there, it's missing one of the 5 NCW-1 weights, and the Elevator retainer clip. The instructions only show 4 of the weights being used, so I may not need the 5th. Anyone know what the retainer clip is made from?

The chute tape strips and hinge material have no stick, so those will require replacement, and the decals look dicey. I may just get some from Tango Papa, since I need Scamp decals too. Wish he had Beta decals - looks like I'll have to print those. I'll also replace the elastic thread, even though it has surprisingly good stretch to it.

Some of the die-crushed fins need repair work, but the balsa is all there.

Both my War in the Pacific gliders were sacrificed to the spirits of the hay field early last summer - the elevator from the Zero was found in the fall but that was it. I’m building a set of Holverson Zoomies as stand-ins until my next order from Squirrel Works. Your builds have been a bit of an inspiration so thanks for that!

The #3229 Sky Dart II retainer is made up from three pieces of laser cut balsa - probably not much help but it does look easily replicated. https://estesrockets.com/wp-content..._SKYDART_II.pdf

Astron SkyDart Elevator Holder
 

Or use a bent small paper clip for the elevator hold-down. Ive done this pretty much for every gflider of those sorts up till F power and then bent music wire for HPR sorts.

You'd just bend the clip up, tape down the 'other half', then bend the rest back down with a small bump in the rear section. Also ensure that the pointy end of the clip does NOT have any chance to impinge your elevator!!

Once you've done one of these it's likely a go-to solution overall. Certainly beats gluing small finicky balsa bits taht may/may not be precise in holding down the elevator for boost but also allowing the pod to freely eject.

AH-HA! I finally found them! I have a set of Scamp decals. PM your mailing address to me if you want them.

My brother drove me to the HW store yesterday for some Silver paint - the Jupiter-B is now finished. The finish isn't too hot on this one, it's seemed impractical to try for a smooth finish on those cardboard legs - besides, it's just a fun booster motor burner when I don't feel like walking. At least it's shiny!

The parts bags for the Midget, Beta, and Firefly are complete. I'll start on the Midget, then the FireFly. I'll hold off on the Beta until the Qualman fin alignment guides arrive, the placement of those is more critical. Normally I just mark the lines and eyeball for straightness.

No idea what color scheme I'll go with, but I'm thinking some sort of matching or complimentary scheme, so the 3 look sort of like a set.

The SkyDart starts with the wing assembly.

First 2 of 3 shorty 2 stagers are complete. On the FireFly, I shortened the toothpicks and rounded their edges, to hopefully reduce breakage on landing. Centuri advertised the FireFly as the world's smallest 2 stage rocket - it's about 1/4" shorter than the Midget, and the upper stage ST-8 is smaller than BT-50, so I guess that fits the bill.

Now for sealing, sanding, repeat. I've been using the Deluxe Products Sand 'n Seal, and even with 3 coats, and a coat of primer, sanding between each, the balsa isn't as smooth as I'd like. There's zero ventilation where I'm currently building, so can't use my stash of Aerogloss. Need to figure out if there's something I can do differently with this stuff.