RAY GUNS FOR EVERYONE
The only thing better than one ray gun is three. So says the Odyssey. It is now time to assemble the pods and attach them to the rocket.
I started by roughing the glue surface of each nosecone shoulder, prior to gluing.
I placed a nice bead of thick CA inside the pod tube and inserted the nosecone. On the other end of the tube, I wicked in a small amount of thin CA to harden the tube. I then rolled up a piece of 220 grit paper and sanded the inside of the tube until the hardened edge was smooth.
At this point, I wanted to prepare the tubes for later painting: I gave them 3 coats of sandable primer, then sanded all the primer off. This fills in the tube spiral, and some of the tube/nosecone gap. I want there to be no seam between the tube and nosecone. After sanding the primer, a gap was still visible, so I applied a heavy dose of Squadron Green Putty around the nosecone base, to be later sanded down. Hopefully, this will fill that gap.
To glue the motor assembly into the rocket, I inserted the assembly and the plastic rear ring, then pulled the motor tube assembly back until it met the ring. I removed the ring and used a pencil to mark the location of the motor tube assembly.
Remove the motor tube assembly and add a large ring of Titebond glue completely around the rocket airframe (it’s OK to be liberal here) and quickly insert the motor tube assembly to the pencil line. The forward ring will grab the glue and push it forward. Sand the shoulder of the plastic ring and glue it into place with thick CA glue. I may leave the ring off until painting is complete.
We are getting close to paint time!
The only thing better than one ray gun is three. So says the Odyssey. It is now time to assemble the pods and attach them to the rocket.
I started by roughing the glue surface of each nosecone shoulder, prior to gluing.
I placed a nice bead of thick CA inside the pod tube and inserted the nosecone. On the other end of the tube, I wicked in a small amount of thin CA to harden the tube. I then rolled up a piece of 220 grit paper and sanded the inside of the tube until the hardened edge was smooth.
At this point, I wanted to prepare the tubes for later painting: I gave them 3 coats of sandable primer, then sanded all the primer off. This fills in the tube spiral, and some of the tube/nosecone gap. I want there to be no seam between the tube and nosecone. After sanding the primer, a gap was still visible, so I applied a heavy dose of Squadron Green Putty around the nosecone base, to be later sanded down. Hopefully, this will fill that gap.
To glue the motor assembly into the rocket, I inserted the assembly and the plastic rear ring, then pulled the motor tube assembly back until it met the ring. I removed the ring and used a pencil to mark the location of the motor tube assembly.
Remove the motor tube assembly and add a large ring of Titebond glue completely around the rocket airframe (it’s OK to be liberal here) and quickly insert the motor tube assembly to the pencil line. The forward ring will grab the glue and push it forward. Sand the shoulder of the plastic ring and glue it into place with thick CA glue. I may leave the ring off until painting is complete.
We are getting close to paint time!
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