Today I got busy in the workshop and managed to restore the ESAM-58 model to flight-worthy condition. As you all recall, this bird suffered a rather nasty motor CATO on its last flight. The mishap completely destroyed the aft end of the rocket, as well as blowing out the motor mount.
I opted to not replace the rear tube section and smaller fins. Instead, I cut the damaged tube flush with the main fin trailing edges, making the ESAM into a slightly shorter version.
The motor mount was largely left intact from the CATO, so all I had to do there was build another forward centering ring to replace the damaged original. This ring was cut from 1/16" basswood.
The final step was to thoroughly clean all of the black powder residue from the interior of the main body tube, then epoxy the motor mount in place.
Voila! Good as new!
A good Christmas Eve project, indeed!
I hope to log many more flights with this bird, barring any further CATOs, of course.
This will likely be my last post for 2024, so I wish all of you and your families a very Merry Christmas!
