My First Public Build :-)

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Black Brants are always cool!

Quick question: Looks like the motor mount might be a tight fit. Have you tested the fit with a motor yet?
 
Third session of fin fillets completed
3 down and 1 to go :)

Need to get some launch lugs, shock chord material, screw eyes,
and some MicroScale decal film to treat the decal sheet.

Bobby

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Finally got 2 coats of paint on 2 of the 4 models today .
Kind of windy and 64 degrees but no problems with the paint .
1 model did get 2 small runs but a bout with sandpaper and a light coat of paint and all will be well.

The 2 payload sections and nosecones will be painted silver after a base coat of white .
The reason for the silver is the black paint was removed from the payload and nosecone sections of these 2 vehicles.
an example is attached below

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ADAD.JPG
 
white paint added now needs some sanding on 2 small runs and another coat of white paint
launch lugs will not be added on the 2 white models until the roll pasterns have been painted

Bobby

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Finally got my order of microscale will probably be placing decals on the solid black colored Black Brant soon,
but I half to add some liquid decal film to the decals first.

And I corrected the 2 runs I got in the white paint and gave the 4 payload sections another coat of white paint

Bobby

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Got to applying a layer of microsol decal film on a scrap section of decal to see if I may have any problems.
No problems thus far. The instructions say let the film dry for 15 minutes before using decal.
I am gonna wait till the next morning. Tomorrow after lunch I will be applying the deacal to a scrap section of black airframe .


If you zoom in on the decal you can see it's detail.. The mixing cups were from the dollar tree sold a disposable "shot" glasses
the brush came from Hobby Lobby , Masters Touch pony hair small mop-oval series 425 size 1/2 item number 100289 $5 on sale for 50% off
I used the 40% off coupon for a pack of Estes D12-5 motors :)

Bobby

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That's what I use for epoxy mixing cups. Dollar store packs of plastic shot glasses. They work great for many things and they're cheap.
 
That's what I use for epoxy mixing cups. Dollar store packs of plastic shot glasses. They work great for many things and they're cheap.

+1. For a little bigger mix, the takeout food containers from the same shops are great. You can even mix in the lids for small quantities.
 
Well I could not wait so I started a tad early :)
the scrap decal I used was just like the original one I was gonna use but the scrap decal bottom section was a tad to tall or side to side in the photo.
With no BT55 airframe on hand to use I settled for a left over section of 4 inch diameter tube that was painted black

the decal is supposed to be a complete wrap around for an Estes BT55 tube

All I can say is not bad not bad !!

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Any plans of trying some small composites in these? Seems like they would really move on an F21, and they're plenty strong to handle it...
 
One of my earlier models has an "E" engine mount where I may use a "E" or "D" motor.
Gonna try "D" first then later an "E"

Composite E and baby F motors are D sized... High end F motors are E sized... Just sayin'.

Now that I look, apparently AeroTech no longer makes the F21. :confused: However, you can still get the black smoky version of the motor, the F30:
https://www.thrustcurve.org/motorsearch.jsp?id=944
 
I will be sticking with "D" sized "E" and baby "F" for now
If I use a high end "E" or "F" it will be later on with a bigger diameter airframe as the airframe I am
using now is just an Estes BT-55
 
OK

Sorry for the long delay.

The weatherman here in North Carolina is calling for 64 degrees Sunday and 60 degrees on Monday
Sooooo I need to get the 2 Black Brants I have that are painted white masked off to give it it's black roll pattern and
checkerboard pattern on the fins . This way I can spray them outside. ( don't have a spray booth yet )

That will give me something to do while the 4 inches of snow falls that is supposed to hit Wednesday PM

Will keep everyone posted on my progress

Bobby

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I finally got one of the airframes lined up and almost ready for masking
I used open rocket to print out a fin alignment guide for 8 fins on a BT-55 airframe.
With the airframe being 16 inches long each one of the roll patterns are 4.75 inches long.
The roll pattern ends just forward of the center line of the fins. If you look at one of the
attached photos you can see that you take the forward section of the fin and divide it by 4.

The end of the roll pattern ends 1/4 of these section before you get to the center of the fin

Bobby

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new 1 launch lug alignment.jpg

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marking and measuring fin roll patterns :y:

cutting the masking tape Correctly to mask the fin roll patterns :shock:

But the fin checker board roll patterns look sweet when done correctly :grin:

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After 4+ hours all 4 fins are finally masked on the first white rocket. "whew"

Gonna take a cat nap and get up at 230 and watch Outlaw Star on Toonami cable channel then
finish the roll pattern on the airframe

Bobby

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