Y.A.B.B. - my biggest build yet

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Today, I shot YABB with coat of white primer; this will be the base coat for the actual color paint coming next. It looks glossy in the pic because I just laid it down and it was still wet...

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Finally starting to get a little color on YABB:

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More to come, as there are a couple more steps to the paint scheme here.
 
After the green was applied, I sprayed white lacquer over the nose section still in white primer. It looks about the same, save for the gloss. After that dried, I masked the rocket to paint the fins and the roll pattern on the nose.

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The roll pattern will be a black band, with 6 attached black vertical stripes that extend upward, but stop 6" from the top. The upper portion will be left white; there is a decal I plan to put there later. To place the vertical masks, I marked out a segment of masking tape after dividing the circumference by 6, and subtracting the width of the tape from the result.

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The black stripes will be slightly wider than the white stripes, but it is close enough. That was easier than layering up a second tape strip to even out the widths. I also masked the nose cone for a quadrant pattern. The result (with the marking band removed):

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Keep in mind the roll pattern will be between the two blue tape bands. The section that is between the upper band and nose cone is masked with white & yellow paper. Otherwise, what you see as blue will be white, what you see as white will be black. The fins are also going to be black.
 
Black roll pattern is painted. However, I had a minor paint adhesion issue with the green Testor's One-Shot lacquer; some of it lifted in the fin can area when I removed the masks. I recall having the same issue last time I used it as well. Maybe I didn't give it enough cure time. Anyway, no pictures at this point - I don't want y'all to know where I fixed it so you won't pick it out easily... :cool:
 
OK, paint and decal work (complete with nose art) is done. Flames are vinyl from Mark Hayes. Brightwork is done with aluminum foil tape. Its not perfect, but it came out pretty well. Still needs a final clearcoat:

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Something about that classic Big Bertha shape that makes “nose art” look so right! Nicely done - some video when it goes up sure would be great...
 
Thanks for saying so. A few outdoor in the sunlight photos:

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I dragged it with me today to NSL with hopes of a first flight. Here's YABB with the entire Bertha clan (including Cousin Ranger):

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Unfortunately, the moron in change of packing my rockets forgot the motor retainer cap. So, I'll try again tomorrow - after making I don't forget anything this time. However, all was not lost. I did get to chat about YABB briefly with NSL's featured guests:

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Bertha took a bit of a minor zipper at URRF last year, I'm just getting around to repairing now. WP_20200323_16_42_17_Pro.jpg

I have two choices - Either lop off about 5" from the end and call it good, or cut off a bit more and graft on a new segment. Either way, I loose the nose art :(
If I do the later, I'd need to take about 10" in order to get a coupler clear of the nose cone shoulder. If I do that, I might was well clip off and replace the entire roll pattern section. Then I'd be repaint and redo the decal, and it'd be at a natural paint break line.
 
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