29mm Blue Bird Zero short kit Instructions

These instructions for experienced R/C rocket glider folks that that are L1 certified and want to build an upscale rocket glider for the 29mm H-13 Aerotech composite rocket motors. This model is designed to be ultra light weight for the size and only use the H-13 single use 29mm Aerotech motors in this model. This model with H motors is light enough to allow it to be flown under FAR101 rules without a rocketry waiver. UAS guidelines still may require approval for flight above 400′.

You will need a transmitter with flight modes or elevator/flap trim function and elevon mixing, receiver, 2 metal or carbon gear 10 gram type servos and two 18-24″ lightweight servo extensions.

This model is intended to use 9mm depron foam available from rcdepron.com only. In order to save you $$ on shipping, you can purchase the foam required directly from them by sending $35 to gregtanouslasering@yahoo.com for the foam to be shipped directly to you, or to contact him if you have further questions.

Cut vinyl decal sets that will fit this model shown are available HERE You’ll need to contact Stickershock and say you want the larger set but upscaled by 1.5x. Specs: 53″ length, 41″ wingspan, 32 oz rtf, for 29mm H-13 single use Aerotech motors.

CG location for rocket flight: 13.25″ forward of the trailing edge of the wing where it hits the body tube. This should be measured with a loaded rocket motor and battery installed as you would be ready to launch the model.

Please refer to the General Information Link above then read the instructions completely before starting assembly. The assembly photos are for general reference but may not include every step in the instructions.

29mm Bluebird Zero Rocket glider instructions:

Parts:

1 3″ coupler

1 PS-II 3″ nose cone

2 lightweight PS-II 3″ tubes marked for the wing and tail and with the rail button holes punched.

4 19.5″ long 2.5 mm solid carbon main spars

4 17″ long 2.5 mm solid carbon spars for the rear secondary wing spars

1 11″ long 2.5mm spar for the canard.

1 8″ by 2.5 mm solid carbon spar for the tail

2 rolls of 1″ wide 3m blenderm tape

Self adhesive Velcro(for battery and rx/bec attachment)

2 Rail buttons with t nuts/screws

3 oz Lead nose weight.

Adapter wire to adapt a small 1s 500mah lipo battery or similar to the receiver for power.

2 .055 control pushrods with z bends

2 adjustable control horns

4 basswood strips to glue to the motor tabs to prevent heat damage

29mm motor mount tube.

Notes before starting:

Reference to glue, CA, or CA+ means foam safe CA+, normal CA+ will melt the foam! Normally you need to use accelerator to get the CA to set on the foam since there is nothing for it to soak into and activate.

I bevel the edges of the foam surfaces before assembly which helps reduce drag and makes the model look nicer. I simply use a sharp Xacto knife and a metal straight edge to cut a 1/8″ to 3/16″ wide 45 degree bevel on the edges on the leading, trailing and tip edges of the wing, canard and tail.

The depron has a green printed ink on one side, if you use a gell based high alcohol hand cleaner apply and rub with your finger and let soak, about 50% will come off, you may try a couple of applications. I put this on the bottom so it isn’t very obvious.

Epoxy is only needed for the main wing joint and joining the spars. The rest of the model is designed to be assembled ONLY with Bob Smith foam safe medium thick CA+ with the black cap. Weight is critical and the model is designed for the thrust and flight loads. Weight in the rear end is bad and will require additional weight in the front of the model.

Assembly:

Cut out the wing halves, canard, tail using the templates supplied in the kit.
Cut out 3, 7/8″ wide by 7 3/4″ long motor centering strips
Bevel the leading, trailing and tip edges of the wing halves.
Cut out each elevon from the wing.
Flip each elevon over upside down and cut the front of each elevon at a 45 degree bevel.
Use 3m blenderm tape to tape each elevon on the top of the wing/elevon joint, then flip the elevon over on top of the wing and use two strips of blenderm to tape the bottom of the joint and wing, overlaping the tape strips in the middle and making sure it wraps around the bottom of the elevon and the bottom of the wing, see photos.
Tape the wing halves together using blenderm tape on the top of the joint.
Glue the two wing halves together using 5 minute epoxy, just enough to bond them, and lay the wing flat to cure, then tape over the joint with blenderm tape.
Join one of the 19.5″ spars with coupler to one of the 19.5″ spars without coupler using 5 minute epoxy or by wicking in thin CA into the aluminum coupler once the two halves are joined. Repeat for the second pair.
Join one of the 17″ spars with coupler to one of the 17″ spars without coupler using 5 minute epoxy or by wicking in thin CA into the coupler once the two halves are joined. Repeat for the second pair. You will now have 2 34″ long spars and 2 39″ long spars.
Mark the top and bottom of each wing for the spars. The long 39″ spar will go between the tips of the wings centered at the widest point between the wing tips. The 34″ spar will go 5″ to the rear and parallel to the main spar. Make shallow V grooves about 1/8″ wide using an exacto knife and straight edge on the top and bottom of each wing for the main and mid spars. Drag the end of the spars in the grooves several times so that the spars will inset flush with the foam. See photos.
Glue the spars in place using foam safe CA+ and then tape over with blenderm tape. If you want to hide the spars a bit, you can put a 1/4″ wide piece of white vinyl trim over the wing, canard and tail spars, then tape over with blenderm tape. The blenderm is more matte and will hide the shiny vinyl better.
Cut out the vertical stab using the template included and bevel the leading, trailing edges and tip.
V groove the stab for the vertical stab spar with an exacto and straight edge and drag the end of the spar several times so it will inset flush with the foam.
Glue the stab spar in place and tape over with blenderm tape.
Glue a basswood strip onto the root edge of the vertical stab tab, you’ll need to trim it to length for the tab.
Cut out the canard using the template included and bevel the leading, trailing edges and tips.
V groove the stab for the vertical stab spar with an exacto and straight edge and drag the end of the spar several times so it will inset flush with the foam.
Glue the stab spar in place and tape over with blenderm tape.
Install the two rail buttons into the pre-made holes in the rear tube.
Join the two tubes using the coupler keeping the arrow marks aligned on the two tubes, one wing line is marked with arrows, keep the arrows aligned to keep the marks straight.
Cut a slot for the vertical stab, starting 1.5″ from the rear end of the tube and long and wide enough to fit the stab tab. Test fit the vertical tail into the slot and make sure it fits.
Cut a slot for the wing and canards. The wing slot starts at 7 1/2″ from the rear of the tube and the length of the wing root. The rear of the canard slot starts 1 3/4″ forward of the front of the wing slot and the length to fit the canard forward of that. Test fit the wing and canard and make sure they fit.
Install the wing, make sure it is centered and glue in place. Repeat for the canard.
Glue the vertical stab in place making sure the tail is perpendicular to the wing and is straight. When gluing in the motor mount you can adjust the vertical stab position slightly
Glue the basswood strips onto each foam motor mount tab, 7 3/4″ by 7/8″ wide.
Mark your motor mount tube with four evenly marked spots and draw lines the length of the motor tube.
Glue the foam centering strips on the motor mount tube. The basswood will glue to the motor tube and protect against motor heat damage. You will glue two strips on either side of the motor tube and one on the bottom. Use your eye and make sure they are approx as shown in the picture.
There is no need for a retainer ring it will just add weight and there is no ejection charge that would require retention, just use a small bit of masking tape to keep the motor from falling out, the motors have a thrust ring built in.
Test fit the motor mount, If you need to sand the tabs glued on the motor tube so that it fits under the vertical fin tab, and into the body tube. Do so carefully till it will insert fully and is recessed about 3/4″ from the rear of the body tube. Glue the motor mount into the rear of the model. Make sure you glue the tube so that the motor block is forward if installed.
Mark and punch a hole for the adjustable control horn about 3/4″ from the inboard end of the surface and install the control horns so that they are sticking down toward the bottom of the wing. Apply some CA to the plastic reinforcing plates on the top and bottom of each horn to reinforce those areas.
I used a medical clamp to hold the threaded rod from turning while I turned the plastic horn connector onto the rod, I screwed it down till 1/2″ of the rod was sticking above the plastic piece, then clipped that part off and filed the end of the threaded rod smooth.

The basic construction is now complete.

Radio Installation

Note: Your radio needs to be configured for Delta mixing, this means that the servo arms will move the same direction during elevator stick movement and opposite for aileron stick movement. Connect your servos to the receiver one in the aileron connection and one on the elevator connection and apply power. Use a servo arm at least 9/16” long and with holes small enough that there won’t be slop with the pushrod wire when installed. I use the hole furthest out on the servo arm, to maximize movement. On some servos there are a long two-ended servo arm, you can trim off one end if needed to get sufficient length. Zero out any trim settings on the transmitter. The model once the motor has burned out is nose heavy and flying wings lose pitch authority when nose heavy so you want as much up elevator travel for trim/flare as possible.

Connect a servo to each pushrod. If the pushrod is too tight, you can use twist an exacto knife in the servo arm hole to make it larger, but be careful and do not make it too large. Once connected, tape each servo in place so that the control surfaces are centered. Moving the transmitter stick back(up elevator) should move both elevons up. Moving the transmitter stick to the right should move the right elevon up and the left elevon down. If you can’t get the servo reversing to give you the right polarity try swapping aileron/elevator inputs to the receiver or turning the servos over and swapping the servo arms to the other side of the output shaft. If that is correct, continue.
Mark the body tube where each servo will be inset and cut a pocket to recess the servo till it hits the mounting tabs.
Attach a 16″-18″ servo extension to each servo(long enough to reach the front of the body tube) and route the servo wire to the front of the model and reconnect to the receiver.
Keeping the radio powered up make sure the elevons remain centered and glue each servo against the wing and into the pocket in the body tube.
Make sure the control surfaces are centered, use trims if needed. Now measure the control surface movement. Full elevator movement should be 1” in each direction, aileron movement should be 3/4″ in either direction. Since the model will be nose heavy, extra elevon movement helps to give sufficient authority during glide.
If you have a flap/elevator mix you can program up elevator to a switch setting. The model needs approximately 1/2” of up elevon during glide. Alternatively if you have flight modes you can set up flight modes so that trim is unique to each mode, that way you can pre-set boost and glide trim for each mode using the xmitter trim tabs. If you can’t set the up elevator trim to a switch on your radio you’ll have to manually put in boost and glide trim which is hard to do while flying the model.
Use the included Velcro to attach the receiver inside the front of the body tube back far enough to clear the nose cone shoulder when inserted. This allows you to be able to remove and replace the receiver if needed for repairs or for removing the servo wires.
Attach the battery inside the nose cone shoulder as far forward as practical using the remaining velcro.
I did not paint the foam to save weight especially at this size. I did add some clear packing tape to the bottom of the front of the body tube to help keep it from getting dirty/wet on landing. I painted the body tube/nose cone with light blue Krylon short cuts rattle can paint.
If you use the decals from stickershock you can do the same thing after they are applied to set them.
Re-install the receiver and battery
Insert your heaviest loaded rocket motor into the motor mount
Support the model upside down at the balance point indicated for boost. Glue lead weight in the nose as needed to balance it. Do not try to fly the model with it balancing it behind this point. The adage is, a nose heavy model flies poorly, a tail heavy model flies once.
I have noted that the H-13’s tend to swell slightly and can become tight in some brands of 29mm tubing, i use an exacto knife to remove the label before flight and this helps prevent that, if it does get stuck, let it cool completely before trying to remove the case.

Flying: See the General Information link at the top for flying instructions. Be ready on the first few flights to keep the model straight till you have the trims set perfectly for boost and glide.