Estes created the Citation line of model rockets in 1971 and released a seperate Citation Catalog that same year. The Citation line was marketed as a "Deluxe" line of model rockets that included 5 kits (Bomarc, Patriot, Quasar, Red Max and Starship Vega) and the "Star Port Launch System" which was simply a chrome version of the original Porta Pad. Although the kits hung around for awhile, the "Citation" moniker was dropped by 1974. The Patriot (which is not to be confused with the anti-ballistic missile rocket of the same name) was discontinued in 1985.
For me personally, this was another kit that was among that first group of rockets I had back in the mid-1970s. I flew it many times and it was always a reliable flyer. Since it was bigger than most of my other rockets I had during that period, it always lifted off a bit slower which I really liked. From a design standpoint, it is a simple 3FNC (3 fins and a nose cone) rocket but it's the decals that really makes this kit stand out on any rocket shelf. They were 4 colors (black, red, blue and gold) and came on 2 sheets.
My clone project included parts from Semroc as well as some original Estes parts from one of my "Designer's Specials" and a nose cone that was swiped from an extra "Mean Machine" kit I had laying around. The decals came from Excelsior and instructions were downloaded from JimZ. Since it was a fairly straight forward build there is not much to blog about the construction but here's the highlights...
One thing worth mentioning I suppose is that the Patriot's engine mount assembly does not use your run-of-the-mill BT-20J engine tube. The tube it uses, which had a part number of BT-20B, was 8.65" long. This was done to decrease the volume of the big BT-60 tube that would need to pressurize for ejection. In the picture above, you can see that for my clone, I added a coupler tub and extra centering ring to give it a little more structural strength.
Also, although it may be hard to see in the above pic, I laminated a small piece of styrene inside the forward centering ring to strengthen it where the Kevlar shock cord passes through.
Engine mount installed, fins attached and ready for primer and paint...
Painted (well, mostly...). I still need to paint one fin black and then it's decal time!
Applying the decals took some time and patience. After-market decals, that are typically printed on stock decal paper, are VERY thin. This is both good and bad... Good because you hardly notice any decal edge once you apply the decal, but also bad because the thinner the decal, the harder it is to apply without wrinkling or tearing. You'll notice in the above picture, I use a large soft brush to work wrinkles and bubbles out of my decals. This works well for me and I'm able to apply even very large wrap arounds with little if any wrinkling or tearing. One other thing to be aware of when applying "printed" decals is that they scratch very easily. I've had to touch up a few spots where my finger nail dragged across a decal after it was applied so watch out for that.
One last thing on the decals I wanted to mention was the color of the top wrap-around. When the Patriot was first introduced as part of the Citation "Deluxe" line of rockets, the decal in those catalog images (refer to the image at the beginning of this entry) was a metallic gold. Later, however, this color was changed (most likely for cost reasons) to the brownish bronze color you see in the above catalog shot. The kit I owned in 1977 had the later brownish bronze color but after much debate, I ended up going with the original metallic version (which Excelsior sells by the way) for my clone project.
...and finally the finished model!
