Im getting back into rocketry, again! After flying some of my smaller rockets with my kids, I decided to get some new mid power kits since I crashed my Barracuda on an ejection charge that was 1 second too long. (I drill my delays now) And so when I saw Estes had both their Pro Series II Argent and Ventris on sale for $20 from their website, I just had to order them both.
For these builds, I decided that now that I am 16-ish years older than when I was last into rocketry (36 years old now), I wanted to put a nice finish on these two kits. Ive had some successes, some not so much, but do have some questions on technique.
So, here is my almost completed Ventris.
For finishing, I wanted to try to get a smooth finish on the fins, but have had limited success. I used this article https://www.apogeerockets.com/education/downloads/Newsletter298.pdf as a guide, but need some tips on the finer points.
Here is a picture of one of my fins.
I had used Elmers wood filler (photo), and thinned it down to a milky consistency. I then smeared it on the fins (before attaching to the rocket) with my finger, let it dry, and sanded with 320grit sandpaper. I repeated this process four times. Each time, I sanded back down to the wood grain (perhaps that is where I went wrong?) I then primed with grey primer, sanded, primed with white primer, sanded, primed with grey primer, and this time I tried wet sanding. (perhaps my second mistake?) When I wet sanded, some of the wood grain absorbed the moisture and came up, but after it dried I sanded it back down a little before applying two coats with red gloss. (This is all Rustoleum Painters Touch 2X)
My guess is that if I wet sand the glossy paint a bit and do a few more coats, I may be able to achieve a bit of a better finish.
The main thing I am going to try to fix is the seam in the first two body tube parts, which are supposed to be glued together. In hindsight, I should have glued first and then filled, sanded, and painted. But instead, I had to fix it after the fact.
Speaking of filling, I did fill the spiral grooves with the wood filler, but after sanding, the spirals still showed up through the primer and paint. I had read some other posts on the forum about using Bondo glazing and spot putty to fill spirals, followed by a razor blade to carve off the top (while it is still moist) I may try that on a future build.
One other question I had was on how to protect the interior from black powder buildup which can weaken the tube through moisture absorption over time. I recall reading a few places that coating the inside of the tube with thin CA is the answer, but I cant seem to find the correct phraseology to plug into google to find a how to for this technique. What is a good CA product to use for this, and what is a good way to apply it in order to get a nice coat all the way down?
Heres an example of something new that did work really well for me. Here is a close-up of one of the fins for my Argent. The Tamiya masking tape is a miracle product! It works many orders of magnitudes better than blue painters tape. I cant get over the razor sharp lines produced by Tamiya tape!
The funny thing is I want to load these $20 rockets with probably $300 worth of electronics! Jolly Logic Chute Release EggFinder TRS Mobius Camera But first I need to get some motors. I still have all my reload hardware, from 18mm to 38mm. Im thinking of the maiden flights being on an AT F22J. I may be passing through Colorado Springs in the next couple months, so I can pick up some from Apogee, but if I dont, I may have to have the maiden flight be G powered, as I dont want to pay Hazmat shipping. (cant they just cut the 29mm F propellant grains in half?)
Ill update as I get these closer to completion.
For these builds, I decided that now that I am 16-ish years older than when I was last into rocketry (36 years old now), I wanted to put a nice finish on these two kits. Ive had some successes, some not so much, but do have some questions on technique.
So, here is my almost completed Ventris.
For finishing, I wanted to try to get a smooth finish on the fins, but have had limited success. I used this article https://www.apogeerockets.com/education/downloads/Newsletter298.pdf as a guide, but need some tips on the finer points.
Here is a picture of one of my fins.
I had used Elmers wood filler (photo), and thinned it down to a milky consistency. I then smeared it on the fins (before attaching to the rocket) with my finger, let it dry, and sanded with 320grit sandpaper. I repeated this process four times. Each time, I sanded back down to the wood grain (perhaps that is where I went wrong?) I then primed with grey primer, sanded, primed with white primer, sanded, primed with grey primer, and this time I tried wet sanding. (perhaps my second mistake?) When I wet sanded, some of the wood grain absorbed the moisture and came up, but after it dried I sanded it back down a little before applying two coats with red gloss. (This is all Rustoleum Painters Touch 2X)
My guess is that if I wet sand the glossy paint a bit and do a few more coats, I may be able to achieve a bit of a better finish.
The main thing I am going to try to fix is the seam in the first two body tube parts, which are supposed to be glued together. In hindsight, I should have glued first and then filled, sanded, and painted. But instead, I had to fix it after the fact.
Speaking of filling, I did fill the spiral grooves with the wood filler, but after sanding, the spirals still showed up through the primer and paint. I had read some other posts on the forum about using Bondo glazing and spot putty to fill spirals, followed by a razor blade to carve off the top (while it is still moist) I may try that on a future build.
One other question I had was on how to protect the interior from black powder buildup which can weaken the tube through moisture absorption over time. I recall reading a few places that coating the inside of the tube with thin CA is the answer, but I cant seem to find the correct phraseology to plug into google to find a how to for this technique. What is a good CA product to use for this, and what is a good way to apply it in order to get a nice coat all the way down?
Heres an example of something new that did work really well for me. Here is a close-up of one of the fins for my Argent. The Tamiya masking tape is a miracle product! It works many orders of magnitudes better than blue painters tape. I cant get over the razor sharp lines produced by Tamiya tape!
The funny thing is I want to load these $20 rockets with probably $300 worth of electronics! Jolly Logic Chute Release EggFinder TRS Mobius Camera But first I need to get some motors. I still have all my reload hardware, from 18mm to 38mm. Im thinking of the maiden flights being on an AT F22J. I may be passing through Colorado Springs in the next couple months, so I can pick up some from Apogee, but if I dont, I may have to have the maiden flight be G powered, as I dont want to pay Hazmat shipping. (cant they just cut the 29mm F propellant grains in half?)
Ill update as I get these closer to completion.