geof
1st April 2009, 11:43 PM
Here are two recent projects I've completed. I thought I would show off the finishing jobs since they are fairly unique and I think they turned out well.
One of these (guess which) is actually my daughter's project: "Zesty Zebra". She browsed the web for a zebra pattern. Then I took it into Adobe Photoshop and tiled it to get a seamless pattern (about 32 tiles!). Then we printed out the pattern on regular paper. After installing the motor mount, we wrapped the tube with the zebra print. Then we made the fins and painted them. Next, I used a hobby knife to scratch away a line on the tube and then we glued the fins on with wood glue. Finally, we put on the launch lugs. Walmart clear went over the top of everything, including the paper.
The other one is a F,G,H powered rocket made from a Winkflash photo tube (see my scratch build thread on this one). After building the rocket and gluing on the launch lugs, the seamless lug standoffs were made with epoxy putty. After filling and sanding all remaining blemishes, the painting began. First, I painted the bottom 40% red. Then I painted the top 40% white. Then I did orange. Then I did yellow. The painting was done with ordinary Krylon spray cans, by hand, exactly the way you would figure it. The only trick was spray distance. If it is too close, you get color transitions that are too abrupt. If it is too far away, you get stray paint speckles over too wide an area, with results that are difficult to control and relatively poor coverage. I got pretty lucky with how this turned out. Walmart clear went over the top.
Hope you like them!
Geof
One of these (guess which) is actually my daughter's project: "Zesty Zebra". She browsed the web for a zebra pattern. Then I took it into Adobe Photoshop and tiled it to get a seamless pattern (about 32 tiles!). Then we printed out the pattern on regular paper. After installing the motor mount, we wrapped the tube with the zebra print. Then we made the fins and painted them. Next, I used a hobby knife to scratch away a line on the tube and then we glued the fins on with wood glue. Finally, we put on the launch lugs. Walmart clear went over the top of everything, including the paper.
The other one is a F,G,H powered rocket made from a Winkflash photo tube (see my scratch build thread on this one). After building the rocket and gluing on the launch lugs, the seamless lug standoffs were made with epoxy putty. After filling and sanding all remaining blemishes, the painting began. First, I painted the bottom 40% red. Then I painted the top 40% white. Then I did orange. Then I did yellow. The painting was done with ordinary Krylon spray cans, by hand, exactly the way you would figure it. The only trick was spray distance. If it is too close, you get color transitions that are too abrupt. If it is too far away, you get stray paint speckles over too wide an area, with results that are difficult to control and relatively poor coverage. I got pretty lucky with how this turned out. Walmart clear went over the top.
Hope you like them!
Geof