Interceptor 29mm

I have finished. I skinned it with the Acur8 Phantom skins. John Pursley recommends you skin the fuselage first and then glue on the wings. He warns that the fuselage skins are very hard to put on if you put the wings on first.

First rule of model building; throw out the instructions. Then fail and go back and look at them.

In truth I was very concerned about strength. I plan on using an I 205 on about the eighth flight so strength is important. I used generous epoxy fillets on the wings internally. I tried out my 3D printed fillets. So the external fillets add strength too. I switched the Balsa wings out for Basswood. Now I have to remember to weigh it and sim it to figure out what delay to use.

I find I can't upload photos from my iPhone to the forum right now.

I'll just say now that I am done this is the coolest model rocket I have ever built. I bet John Pursley was holding his breath because he knew what I was going through. He is a great vendor. He offered to help me through. I ended up figuring out how to finish on my own though.

John, the skins are awesome!

TomSmith58 said:

I have finished. I skinned it with the Acur8 Phantom skins. John Pursley recommends you skin the fuselage first and then glue on the wings. He warns that the fuselage skins are very hard to put on if you put the wings on first. ....

Click to expand...

Pretty cool project! Kind of amazing that someone would plan on pumping 12-16 more impulse through something than it was designed for...but whatever starts your engine!

Four years ago when I originally created the first Interceptor skins the first sets were actually designed to "retrofit" already-build Interceptors to "refresh" the appearance of the model after it had been flown and/or sitting around for years. Then it dawned on me that the skins themselves could be wing/rudder/fin positioning guides during construction and, after retrofitting both a 1250 and a 1350 Interceptor I decided to go the "Skin as you build" route and it ended up fantastically simple and quick. Once I got to "bashed" designs like the Vindicator, Ragnarok and "cloning" Interceptors using the Cosmic Interceptor stuck to the concept and didn't look back. A number of folks have retrofitted the skins to already built Interceptors and have figured out how to slice-and-dice the skins to get them to fit and have ended up with nice looking models.

Anyway, thanks, Tom, for making the skins a part of an Interceptor project that goes a few steps "beyond."

The Interceptor E skin kits come in a fair variety of designs. My most recent design is the "NASA" theme, based on the later white and two-tone blue scheme of the NASA F-104. If you go to eBay and search for "Accur8" or "Estes Interceptor" you will find my listings and a scrolling eBay store within each listing that you can scope out about 25 different skins (not just for the Interceptor).

Here are my current "Interceptor" type skin offerings (forgive the blatant plug for my own stuff!) I'll be discontinuing some of them (low demand...and some are just hard to print without a high number or rejects). The higher price skins are priced that way because they have a larger number of skin sheets (for the Cosmo) or are very difficult to print with a high reject rate (primarily the Black and Indigo schemes).

Having said that, if you want these (or any of my other skins) contact me direct and I will offer special pricing to TRF folks. If you buy more than one, I will do even better pricing.

Heck...and I'll throw in one more "Special" deal. I will customize your skin with a pilot rank/name on the left sill of the canopy (such as Capt. Jack "Light Step" Sparrow) and substitute the "stock" body/tail/serial number, where applicable, with one of your choice (up to 8 digits).

All skin kits in this group are $49.95
NEW! NASA Chameleon Interceptor E Skin Kit for Estes #1350 kit
Chameleon Interceptor E Skin Kit for Estes #1350 kit
“Marines” Gray Chameleon Interceptor E Skin Kit for Estes #1350 kit
“Thunderbirds” Interceptor E Skin Kit for Estes #1350 kit
NEW! NASA Vindicator E (Uses Estes Cosmic Interceptor)
Vindicator E Desert Sands Chameleon Skin (Uses Estes Cosmic Interceptor)
ARMY Vindicator E with “Stormin’ Norman” Camo Skin (Uses Estes Cosmic Interceptor

All skin kits in this group are $59.95
“Twilight” Interceptor E Skin Kit for Estes #1350 kit
“Midnight” Interceptor E Skin Kit for Estes #1350 kit
Phantom Cosmic Interceptor Skin Kit (for Estes Cosmic Interceptor #1351)
NEW! NASA Cosmic Interceptor Skin Kit (for Estes Cosmic Interceptor #1351)
NEW! INDIGO Cosmic Interceptor Skin Kit (for Estes Cosmic Interceptor #1351)
Twilight Vindicator E (Uses Estes Cosmic Interceptor)
“Indigo” Ragnarok Interceptor E (Uses Estes Cosmic Interceptor)
“Twilight” Ragnarok Interceptor E (Uses Estes Cosmic Interceptor)

I also have skins in pretty much the same styles as above for the 1250 (standard engine) Interceptor for $29.95

Again, contact me direct if you would like one of the kits above and I will make a "deal" for you. If you order two kits, you can get the first at regular price and the second of equal or lesser value for half price. AND, don't forget the customization offer!

I offer one-on-one help and advice and will respond to all who have comments or questions or just need assistance in applying their skin kits.

John Pursley
Accur8 Spacemodels
[email protected]

Folks
I can't upload pictures from my iPhone or my laptop. I tried compressing them by a factor of 10 an they still won't upload. I have 187 pictures in my forum picture manager. Is that a problem? I tried deleting them and I can't see a way. Have I exceeded some limit?
Thanks
Tom

Sometimes the site, for some odd reason, has troubles with uploads.
Try again later, or tomorrow. Should be working again by tomorrow.

Ok photos can be uploaded today. Because I put my wings on first I had to slice and dice the skins. There are three skins for the fuselage. I had to cut the aft one into six pieces.

The pieces didn't want to stick down. I failed to get a good. Glossy finish. I need to study painting more.

Any clues as to how to avoid orange peel?

I tried glued to hold the skins down and they don't work. One even messed the skins up a bit.

I settled on double sided carpet tape. That worked great. I cut it i to small strips and used it on the edges that wouldn't stick down.

Here is the rest of the pictures.

And now the final product







This is the coolest rocket I have ever built.

The skin doesn't fit around the cockpit area very well.
Or is there more to put on for that area?
It is way cool.

I had similar difficulties with trying to get the skins to adhere to the fins on my MR. In the end I could not get them to stick at all and will end up painting the fins.

Looks great. What color are the wing pods, they're really bright.

Can't wait for the flight video.

Thanks for the commentary about the skins, as I was a little concerned too. My Interceptors are on the back burner till I get new wings made, then I will skin them with John's Air Force T-bird and Navy Blue Angel Skins (I'm an Air Force Brat who joined and retired from the Navy... go figure!). It pays homage to the airshow I saw while going through aircrew candidate school in Pensacola FL in 1990 when I witnessed THE bada** dual between the T-Birds and the Angels. Best solo vs. solo action ever seen!

Thanks again!

fm

I'm an AF Veteran, but I think the Navy F-18 presents better, and you just can't beat any airshow on the beach in P'cola!

neil_w said:

Looks great. What color are the wing pods, they're really bright.

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The wing pods are Testors Master Modeler Racing Orange. I also have a Racing Red painted Semroc Redeye. They are florescent colors. Very eye-popping in the desert.

TangoJuliet said:

I had similar difficulties with trying to get the skins to adhere to the fins on my MR. In the end I could not get them to stick at all and will end up painting the fins.

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Try cutting strips of double sided tape. I found clear double sided tape at Home Depot. It is a film on a white backing. That held down the edges that didn't want to hold down. Likewise I have a few strips coming to a point at where the strake on the verticals terminates. I cut a small piece of clear packing tape there. I also put some over the nose. You are supposed to cut out a tiny pair of thruster openings and put that over the top of the very point of the nose. It didn't want to sit down because the radius of the nose is so small there. I put clear packing tape over that too.

Woody's Workshop said:

The skin doesn't fit around the cockpit area very well.
Or is there more to put on for that area?
It is way cool.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you are saying. The skins fit over the conical portion of the nose just fine. They are to be trimmed around the cockpit and you need to be mindful of that. I wanted my grey paint to match the skins but it is much darker. John commented that this works because aircraft aren't all one color anyway. I decided that's the way to look at it.

It pays to look at the colors on the skins and decide ahead of time. Next time I might paint the cockpit area satin black. Also the tip of the nose skin is red. I might paint the very tip of the nose red to match, or chose to contrast with black.

With these skins, white would also work as a background color. If I had painted my entire rocket white it would match the white in the skins.

Decide ahead of time how you want to match or contrast with the skins. Not much of your rocket shows through but some does.

I also noticed that the skins aren't long enough to cover the entire fuselage. I might chose to trim the fuselage to match the skins next time. You can see a band of darker grey around the front of the fuselage behind the nosecone. That looks like me when I raise my arms up with a t-shirt on and you can see my white hairy belly. (like the visual?)

So on the off chance that I may someday put an I205 in this beast I thought I might need vent holes to deter drag separation.

Why not use the naturally occurring holes from the skins.



There's even a handy red illustration arrow pointing the way.

I can't stress enough that you need to have a GLOSS surface on the model for the fins to adhere properly. It's the same as applying a "skin" to a car (like those rolling billboards or NASCAR racers). Plus, you need to burnish the whole surface of the skin as you apply it. None of this is hard...just not "normal" for rocket builders. I recently started printing on the backside of all skins the need for having a glossy surface and rather extensive how-to. Plus, the instructions themselves give pretty thorough instructions on surface prep before skinning. I frequently see folks talking about this not working or that not being "right"...but the very folks making those observations or comments almost NEVER contact me before, during, or after encountering a problem (Tom's a great exception...total communication between us) that is usually solvable with just one email exchange.

I have switched to a more aggressive adhesive (it still needs a gloss surface) but it's not very easily repositinable. However, if you follow the instructions, misalignments are usually in the 1/32" range for first timers and less once you get a skin or two under your belt (AND follow the instructions).

PLUS, if you stick them down and then remove them, the adhesive is greatly reduced in strength.

After being contacted by Tom about his adhesion issues I suggested 3M 45 spray adhesive (I've never had to "re-glue" the skins so it was new territory for me, too). 3M 45 is one of the mildest of the 3M spray adhesives and I've used it a LOT for other things and decided to test it out. I works very well. The nice thing about 3M 45 is that is sprays very uniformly without stinging or forming heavy spots if you spray it as if you were applying a very light coat of spray paint. The easiest way to apply it without buggering up the printed surface is to use very low tack tape, like blue painters tape. I use the 2" stuff. Lay out as many rows of the painters tape, sticky side up, on your work surfaces as required to be a little bit bigger than the skin section you are applying the 3M 45 to. (I suggest applying the painters tape to a smooth clean surface and remove it (repeat several times) to make it just tacky enough to "hold" the skin down for spraying). Apply the skin section (printed surface against the "sticky" surface of the tape). Then spray a very light coat of 3M 45. Peel the skin off the blue tape and apply to your model. You might want to use waxed paper to cover the sprayed surface of the skin while you handle and position it and then peel it off as you did the original backing to apply the skin. Beware, even though you might use waxed paper, the 3M 45 will stick by a fair amount to it also. Like I urge everyone. Try out things on some scrap skin (you will have plenty of scrap when you cut out the skin sections) before committing to the "good" skin.

So, if you are having any issues with the skins (VERY few people have contacted me with "really" insurmountable problems) and there's no situation that is too "stupid" to contact me about (other than NOT reading the instructions or, worse, following someone else's instructions who have never applied these skins!). I promise to give EVERYONE personal one-on-one attention and help with their issues.

John Pursley
Accur8 Sopacemodels
[email protected]

johnpursley said:

I can't stress enough that you need to have a GLOSS surface on the model for the fins to adhere properly.

Click to expand...

I meant to say for the SKINS to adhere properly...

John Pursley

Woody's Workshop said:

The skin doesn't fit around the cockpit area very well.
Or is there more to put on for that area?
It is way cool.

Click to expand...

If you correctly position and align the cockpit skin, it will fit and conform exactly. I must admit that every now and then I "don't quite get it right" myself when applying the skin.

I have made some revisions to all the skin kits that use the Interceptor nosecone. First, I have redimensioned the skin, especially in the area above and behind the canopy (on the top centerline of the "hump") so that there is a bit more overlap as the skin comes together along the top seam. Positioning of the nose cone skin in the fore/aft direction is CRITICAL. The red "linear charge" warning line MUST EXACTLY fall over the one and only groove that runs all the way around the nosecone. A tad too far forward, and it's almost imposible to get things to line up along the top seam. A tad too far back and you end up with a gap (and poor alignment) along the top seam. BUT, to address the mismatch/gap issues some may encounter, I now provide a long trapezoidal strip bearing a "star tracker" port and other doo-dads (an Interceptor-exclusive set of devices) that applies over the seam.

I also include some "camouflage strips" that you can wrap around the body or nosecones where there are mismatches that will allow you to cover/hide them while looking like it was an intentional part of the design.

As to the wing and body skins (particularly the body) I have made the skins a bit longer in circumference so you get a couple of millimeters of skin overlap. The skins stick very well to themselves and I have discovered that folks can get much better looking overlapping seams than "butt" seams.

I have included strips that are like "cuff" strips that you can apply to the leading edges of the wings and fins to cover and hide any seams in those areas. And, for Interceptor wings, I formerly covered the entire wing with a single-piece wrap. Now, I have changed the design to one piece for the top and one piece for the bottom. It's easier to get proper alignment and minimize handling of the exposed adhesive side of the skin.

John Pursley
Accur8 Spacemodels
[email protected]

johnpursley said:

I can't stress enough that you need to have a GLOSS surface on the model for the fins to adhere properly. I meant to say for the SKINS to adhere properly...

Click to expand...

When ya think about it, the surface of a flat finish is basically microscopic sandpaper, that's how it breaks up the light which causes reflections. So adhering the skins, or decals too, to a flat finish is basically like sticking tape to sandpaper.

TangoJuliet said:

I had similar difficulties with trying to get the skins to adhere to the fins on my MR. In the end I could not get them to stick at all and will end up painting the fins.

Click to expand...

I wish you had contacted me with your problem on the fins (it's still not too late...get in touch with me at my email address below). I will send you a set of high-tack fin skins. I wish I had known you had a problem. I'd rather send you a replacement set of skins for your fins than to have you not be happy.

As a sidenote, the one and only negative comment via eBay that I have received came about because someone did not contact me before leaving the bad comment/rating. After discovering he had a problem, I printed a whole new set of skins (gratis) that were customized to address the problems he said he was having. I will do what ever is reasonable to resolve your problem. Want your money back? You've got it! Want to resolve a problem? I'll bet we can. I just need to know about it!

John Pursley
Accur8 Spacemodels
[email protected]

Thanks John, but I wouldn't bother you to print me new fin skins when it was my improper application that made the first ones fail. I failed to properly prepare the fin surfaces.

If it's not too windy I'm flying in Vegas tomorrow. It was too windy in the way up.

Successful flight! I got so excited I forgot to turn on my AltimeterThree so I don't know how high it flew. RocSim says 2200 ft. I use an Aerotech G-79 Mohave Green.

I'll post videos as soon as my friend sends them to me.