Hi everyone,

I just finished building an Estes Lil Spite Rocket Kit and am looking to send it up as soon as I have good weather and time. This is the first F class engine launch for me after starting with smaller stuff and working my way upwards.

Im a bit confused about some of the instructions for the "launch prep". They instruct you to wrap 6-8 layers of masking tape covering the bottom 1/4 inch of the engine. I did this and cut away the excess just as shown in the instructions (I have 1 inch wide masking tape so cut the 3/4 inch hanging part off).

The issue is that after seating the engine up in the rocket, I can only screw the retainer cap maybe 1/4-1/3rd of the threading.…