Tinker Toys® Stands and Helpers

Featured Tip: All Previous  Next

By Charlaine Cadence Nordin

We all know how hard or cumbersome it can be trying to control a rocket while building, painting, storing, and displaying. Being disabled I found this even harder, but I found a way to solve it and came up with some tools in the process.

What you need:

• The large wooden Tinker Toys®
• Wood glue
• Razer saw and miterbox
• Tape (masking or better 1" wide)
• All size of used engines the amount needed for each depends on your fleet size.

First we need to sort out the parts by size and type.

Now we may begin.

Gather up the round or square links (the pegs must fit snug in these.)

Now decide whether you want to make basic stands or trophy-like stands. The only difference is that the trophy-like stands have the ball-like parts on them as well.

DISPLAY STANDS:

• Take the casing for the rocket size you want and turn it ejection charge up.
• Place a peg into the casing and then add a base and make sure the peg is not too long and at the height off the stand that you want the rocket to be.
• Once this is decided, take the tape and wrap it tightly around the tip of the peg until the casing fits snuggly on it without moving or rocking. Gently pull out the peg and mix up some epoxy.
• Place epoxy on inner walls of casing and slide peg tape end back in.
• Place peg into stand base and let dry.
• Once dry remove peg from stand and glue.
• Mask off engine casing and paint stand.

There: a Simple Rocket Display Stand!

SANDING RODS:

What you need:

• 4 of the longest rods
• Multiple grits of sandpaper
• Self-adhesive type or thumb tacks ( if self adhesive paper not available)

Now we may begin.

• Take the sand paper and wrap it around one end of the rod. Using thumbtacks secure to rod on one side.
• Do same for other ends with different grit.
• Take another rod and care fully cut it streaght dwn halfway ( follow the slit already in the wood.)
• Follow above steps for flat sander rods.

PAINT WANDS:

What you need:

• Two of the longest pegs
• One free fitting round connector (rod slides through center with out issue)
• Tape
• Engine casing Suggest an Estes AT-10 first.

Now we may begin.

• Clean out the AT-10 casing by sanding down inside until it fits snugly on peg.
• Epoxy it to peg.
• Sand down inner diameter of an Quest A6-4 casing until it fits just slightly loose over the smaller engine. Do sand with larger engines.
• So now the AT-10 fits inside the A6-4 which fits inside of the D/E casings. Use masking tape to give snug friction fit when using.

Take a rocket and place on wand. decide how far you want your hands from the paint by sliding the free connector up and down wand until you like were it s. place tape under connector until it cannot move down any more. Tape about connector as well but allow connector to spin slowly.

Now when you paint you can hold the rocket in your hand with out using newspaper or messing up the pain job.

ROCKET CRADLE:

By now you should be able to take the Tinker Toys® and make a cradle to suit your needs. It works well and has yet to let me down.

Tinker Toys® is a registered to Hasbro

GUEST's OPINION:
"" (X.X.)

1. General
   Featured Tip: Adjustable Rocket Cradles - I was building my Estes Saturn 5 and the instructions suggested building a crude cradle to hold the body tube while you work. I decided that it would be nice to have a cradle that would adjust to other rockets... more
2. General
   Featured Tip: El Cheapo Rocket Stand - As I have built more and more rockets I have started to have a problem with how to store them. The ones like the Big Bertha have fins that they stand on, but many rockets do not have those big swept fins... more