Too many builds dilema

I have way too many rockets build and Estes keeps coming out with new ones adding to my build list. I see all the catalog finishes on this forum all the time and the rockets look great. I strive for catalog finishes but this takes time and I am falling way behind. I don't care what technique is used it is still time consuming. My goal is to buil all my rockets and not die with bins of unfinished rockets, anyone else feel the same? I'm thinking about building a couple rockets at a time let the glue dry, then hit with a coat or two of white primer followed by top coats and decals. This would mean no filling of the balsa so yes there will be grain showing. Do others build this way and still have nice looking rockets? If so post your pictures, I would like to see. Her is a picture of Vern Estes Big Bertha with wood grain a spirals showing but the rocket still looks goog IMO.

There is never a point in time where there is too many rockets! I'm a lot older than you and totally plan on leaving some behind. I just can't imagine a 'last' rocket. Enjoy your building no matter what level of finish you get on them and above all, enjoy launching them! Your Bertha looks excellent! At 50 feet and 300 mph anything with an exhaust looks good in my book! Straight smoke and good chutes!

fyrwrxz said:

There is never a point in time where there is too many rockets!

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I agree fully.

Do what makes you happy. If you are more interested in getting rockets to the "whoosh pop" phase than do that. Once a rocket is on the pad you generally can't see grain or spirals anyway.

I'm sure I'll leave a few kits behind, but I also hope to pick up the building pace once I retire. So there will be a race between me, the Grim Reaper, and space to keep them all. Space will probably be the bigger issue.....

I don't get my rockets "perfect", but I do try to do a reasonable job. I will fill spirals and try to hide the grain. I have gone back to try to improve appearances, but I also have said "Eh - good enough". Depends on my mood, time, cost (and how many tries before I get frustrated).

Plus most rockets end up with scars of some sort. Not quite willing to get that "showroom" look and then "drive it through a gravel pit"

les said:

I agree fully.

Do what makes you happy. If you are more interested in getting rockets to the "whoosh pop" phase than do that. Once a rocket is on the pad you generally can't see grain or spirals anyway.

I'm sure I'll leave a few kits behind, but I also hope to pick up the building pace once I retire. So there will be a race between me, the Grim Reaper, and space to keep them all. Space will probably be the bigger issue.....

I don't get my rockets "perfect", but I do try to do a reasonable job. I will fill spirals and try to hide the grain. I have gone back to try to improve appearances, but I also have said "Eh - good enough". Depends on my mood, time, cost (and how many tries before I get frustrated).

Plus most rockets end up with scars of some sort. Not quite willing to get that "showroom" look and then "drive it through a gravel pit"

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That's the other thing, after a day of flying they do come back a bit nicked up.

I currently have four in primer, three partially built, and four awaiting decals. I enjoy the building most of all, and hope there's never a time when I don't have something in the que. As for perfect finishes, I don't build Hangar Queens, I build rockets to fly, rockets that may be retrieved by an overly enthusiastic 6 year old, or end up in that rocket-eating tree.

I use sanding sealer before primer on all builds.
When doing more than one build, I lay the fin stock sheets out and brush on the sanding sealer, on all of them [3 for 3 builds etc] 2coats each side.
Before I remove the fins from sheet, so much simpler. You have one item to seal on both sides, rather than 3-4 individual fins.
I do both sides and stand them on edge, leaning on a box., etc like books in a library shelf. Edge of sheet touches, not fins.

Then I got to thinking........ Why not do many sets of fin sheets at once? So I would remove 6 or 7 from kits in que. seal all the fin sets at once. It's really fast. When dry, put them back in kits to build in the future! Keep out the ones I was working on.
When building multiple projects at once....I ask my self..."how would Henry Ford do it" [production line}

I use Sherman Williams Pro-line sealer.
A unique product, it can do 3 finishes depending on how much you stir it.
Don't and you get a gloss finish with no filler.
Stir till milky you get a matte finish
Stir the heck out of it and you get full bore sanding sealer that fills like no bodies business, flat finish.
Obviously the filler settles to bottom to allow for this.

Used this on all types of wood needing natural or clear finishes back in my commercial painting days.
1qt will last most rocket guys forever.

SCIGS30 said:

I have way too many rockets build and Estes keeps coming out with new ones adding to my build list. I see all the catalog finishes on this forum all the time and the rockets look great. I strive for catalog finishes but this takes time and I am falling way behind. I don't care what technique is used it is still time consuming. My goal is to buil all my rockets and not die with bins of unfinished rockets, anyone else feel the same? I'm thinking about building a couple rockets at a time let the glue dry, then hit with a coat or two of white primer followed by top coats and decals. This would mean no filling of the balsa so yes there will be grain showing. Do others build this way and still have nice looking rockets? If so post your pictures, I would like to see. Her is a picture of Vern Estes Big Bertha with wood grain a spirals showing but the rocket still looks goog IMO.

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SCIGS30:
I agree with you completely though I generally try very hard NOT to copy the facecard colors, I do almost alway do catalog finishes on my models regardless of size. Your absolutely correct: Finishing...any finishing takes much longer then building.
With a current standard and MPR fleet of over 350 and Micro fleet now over 200 I still have unbuilt more the 150 rocket kits and about the same Plastic models all to be converted for flight....and more coming all the time I do not expect I'll ever catch up....even after retiring..Which has helped a lot.

As for just building them quick: I've tried a couple times to cut the time and shortcut filling bodyseams and balsa/basswood grain but in the end I just can't do it... I end up spending more time going back to fill stuff then if I'd started out doing it to fill them in the first place.

I've always maintained for 15feet away and at 100-300 mph no one is going to see or care about a little wood or body seam sprials. Everything looks great on the pad
Also that Big Bertha Looks just fine.
Keep the builds going just like you want to. whichever way they are done they are all just fine.

The only real bad thing is NOT having a rocket to build. Yah, some go overboard to never be in that position but, hey, it is what it is

What makes this hobby challenging is these forums. Every time I open someone's build, I say I must build that kit. There are so many rockets and only one life. What cruelty.

My main problem is that kit (or scratch built parts) buy rate is larger than my build rate. Probably not an uncommon problem. I've had projects where once I got around to them, did not seem as cool as they were when I first bought them, thus get pushed deeper into the pile.

Heh. I know exactly what you're talking about. I don't expect I'll ever get all of my kits built, let alone the scratchers I have designed—but I'll try.

Building is not the big problem for me. I fill and sand and what not; it's the painting that slows everything down. Sometimes I go for a an old scheme, sometimes I'll just cook one up, sometimes I go with the face card scheme. Multiple maskings mean long delays in finishing a rocket and sometimes I just get bogged down and stalled—my current condition.

I've got a Texas Fire Fly in primer (and has been for well over a year), a Semroc Explorer that's two masks away from done, an Aero-Dart that's one color away, A V-2 awaiting it's black markings, a Lune R-1 needing one more masking and a second color, a Starfire in white gloss with no scheme decided upon and I'm sure there's one I'm forgetting. I'm not starting anything else until I get these rockets finished.

I figure a rocket may have only one launch in it. So, it's going out in style, fully dressed as were, for what could be it's only flight. And, as mentioned above, when you do get them back they become nicked, scratched, gouged, Estes smiles, etc., so I'm trying to tone the paint jobs down a bit just to get these buggers finished. I'm not shooting for perfection (not that I ever reached it) anymore. It's just going to have to look good as long as you're not holding it. Flying them is the thing—otherwise I wouldn't build them, but I enjoy that too.

Vern's 'Bertha that you have pictured has a ton of character, not to mention that it is the Big Bertha.

foamy said:

I'm not starting anything else until I get these rockets finished.

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I said the same thing when I recently dedicated one upstairs room to rockets - building, storage (finished and kits) and parts.
I vowed not to buy any new kits until all the old kits are finished.

Then Estes reintroduces the Mercury Redstone. Ebay has two Centuri Draconian Marauders for a great buy it now price.
But on the plus side, I have repaired my V-2 and am finished up two stalled builds.

I have 4 (maybe 5) plastic totes of unbuilt kits. Currently working on:
Estes Saturn V, Asteroid Hunter, Ventris, Jetliner, Astron Elliptic II, LOC Caliber ISP.

I don't need any more kits...

Except for the box that just showed up this AM with a bunch of Odd'l Rocket kits...

And we'll have to see what Rocketry Warehouse has for Hump Day Happy Hour on Wednesday.

And I have an unused $50 tower hobbies gift cert.



Chris

Here is a Estes Nova I built a little while ago for someone else to launch, so I did not put much into the finish. I just shot primer and paint and as you can see the grain is showing, still not a bad rocket and the build went fast.

I've converted to the "if it looks good on the pad" line of thinking. I will usually put a coat or two of filler on balsa, seams on tubes are iffy. Why?

My L1 cert rocket was a 2x upscale of a FlisKits Corona. Knocked myself out, filled all the seams, etc. Test flight was OK. Cert flight was a CATO - motor was firing out both ends. Charred the middle 1/2 of the rocket. So I rebuilt it. It wound up showing serious stability issues on anything bigger than a G motor, did a wild-weasel on an H, and kinked the heck out of the middle of the rocket. Managed to save tail end and front 30". Trying to decide if I want to rebuild a 3rd time, or convert this one into a Diamond Ring Xtreme clone while I work on a new version with a bigger ring-tail and hopefully no stability issues.

Two weekends ago my King Kraken went up on its second flight. The top launch lug tore off, and one of the tube fins cracked - not sure whether it was on boost or landing. And one of my kids did something that resulted in one of the canards breaking off the nose, reducing the sinister squidlyness.

All repairable, but they'll never look quite as good as the first go round.

That's why I say "look good on the pad" is fine. I enjoy building them, and I enjoy flying them. However, there is a very real risk that I may never see a rocket again, or that it will be damaged or destroyed. That doesn't mean that I don't care, it just means I've tailored my effort to be in line with the risk I perceive. Others will find their own balance point, and that's fine too.

For me, it's about allocating a precious resource - time. Time I spend trying to get one rocket perfect could be used building a second rocket. Or fixing something out of my growing repair pile. Or flying something else. Or designing something else. Do whatever makes you happy. That's what it's all about, for me.

The only thing I get when I compare my work to others' is (usually) depressed.

@SCIGS30:

I'm with the "do what you feel like doing" camp. You have set a very high bar and have documented your techniques and results many times. Your builds, and your finishes, are beautiful. So, I see it as sort of a sad thing if that quality of finish will become less frequently displayed here. But the time is yours, and the end product is yours, and as noted they will fly just fine with a more basic finish process. If you enjoy the build more than sanding, sealing, sanding, sealing... etc... then focus on the build. Life is too short to feel forced by a hobby to spend lots of time on a part of it that you don't feel is as value-add for your enjoyment as other parts.

You've taught me a lot, and I'm grateful.

That all said, I do some builds with very basic finishes and others with painstaking OCD-level finishes. Depends on my mood at the time and my goals for the project. I try to have fun with it, and not feel like the hobby controls me. (...though, some might see me stooped over my unbuilt kits/parts hoard, muttering "my precious, my precioussss" and disagree with that last statement).

Marc

I only recently got back into it after 15 years. I'm overly ambitious. I keep buying and building despite not having the money. I have a scratch build in the works, as it gets a little further along it will get its own thread so I can share. Most of my rockets are "rough finished" because at the speed and altitude they reach they look fine and quicker build means they get to be fun sooner. I'm sure once I have the time (life is pretty busy right now for me) I will put better finishes on them but for now I just assemble, spray with primer, spray with paint, and launch. Most of my small, but ever growing, fleet will probably end up destroyed by either my children or their own rough lifestyle. Also, I have little time and money to dedicate to getting them perfect, I just want them flyable for now.

Thanks for all the comments and I think I come up with a good compromise. I had a vintage Estes Rigel 3 that was ready for sealing and painting. I decided to only brush on 2 coats of Balsa sealer instead of 4. The problem with just spraying primer on unsealed balsa surface I would have to wait for the primer to dry then sand and prime again. Once again taking too much time for what I am looking for. I don't mind some grain showing but I want a smooth painted rocket. So I brushed on 1 coat of Aerogloss sealer, let dry 30 min and sanded. Repeated only once, sanded and shot with regular grey primer not sandable thick primer. I just want the primer to make for a one color surface. I am using old formula Krylon so I don't have to wait 72 hours or longer to recoat the paint. Since I did not use sandable primer, I don't have to wait to sand. I did sand some small areas to remove dust bunnies that made a landing during the painting but that was it. Then I shot with white top coat and tomorrow finish with the decals. I am happy with the way she looks even with small blemishes up close. The Estes Lynx was built yesterday and painted today and will be done tomorrow. I used 2 coats of balsa sealer, one coat of primer and black top coat.

I use krylon gesso coat. It goes on pretty smooth.

Not bad, from start to finish the Lynx is done in 3 days and ready for flight. The Rigel 3 finished in 2 days.

blackjack2564 said:

I use Sherman Williams Pro-line sealer.
A unique product, it can do 3 finishes depending on how much you stir it.
Don't and you get a gloss finish with no filler.
Stir till milky you get a matte finish
Stir the heck out of it and you get full bore sanding sealer that fills like no bodies business, flat finish.
Obviously the filler settles to bottom to allow for this.

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Jim,

Can you please post a picture of your can and the UPC code from the back?

I’m trying to figure out what the current product in the SW lineup would be for your recommendation. I suspect they’ve just changed the name, but the UPC code remains the same.

Thanks.

Cheers,
Jon

I called it the “Curse of Semroc”.

Let’s say that there were 27 different Semroc kits I wanted, that I owned only 13 of them and had time to complete only 7.
Semroc announces 6 new rocket kits each month and I want 4 of them but can only afford 2 and can only find time to complete 1.

Thusly by the year 20@# Semroc will have 12,546 kits I want of which I can only afford 3, 100 and can find the time to build only 400.

Then of course; there are all the other manufactures.

You can see where this is going.

If you find you are getting overwhelmed with rockets, I will PM you my address and I will help you build and fly them.

Really!


TA

when building rockets consumes flying them then there's an issue and when it feels like a job its time to re-evaluate and sell them off

Unless model building is your hobby and flying them is an added bonus.

I'm wishy washy about my builds. How detailed I get depends on how much I like the rocket.

My argent got the showroom treatment. My sparrow got the "close enough" treatment first time and the "we can do better" on the rebuild. It ate asphalt on recovery its first flight. Salvaged the fins and cone. Replaced the BT, launch lug, engine block and shock cord.

Built a mean machine clone Friday. It's getting the showroom effect. Built a launchables black diamond today. It's getting the good enough effect.

Let the rocket speak to you. It'll tell you how to finish it.