No kit in my stash is immune from being cut open and built. In this case it's the vintage Estes Space Station Aquarius #1902.

Despite it's age, the kit is premium! The plethora of tubes are completely round. The decal sheet still appears fresh. The only detriments are that the 3/32" balsa sheet is quite fossilized as is the rubber shock cord.

To begin, with a few, easy straight cuts I replaced the "die crushed" balsa parts with parts slit from my flattest sheet of 3/32" Midwest basswood.

I gave the 18mm engine mount the royal treatment: epoxy for the adhesive, a 100# Kevlar leader for the shock cord, and I replaced the fossilized rubber shock cord with an extra long, 1/8" wide elastic fabric shock cord.

TBC

Attached Thumbnails

         

Attached Files

estes space station aquarius decal scan 8-19.pdf (628.1 KB, 17 views)

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