Building during winter?

Hi all,
I was just thinking ahead, and was wondering how can you build rockets during the wintertime? I can imagine that they can still be constructed inside, but as far as finishing is concerned, how can you do that during freezing winter months?

Thanks for the info, sorry to make you think of winter during a glorious summer,

Build, fill, and sand during the winter.

Prime and paint in early spring before the bugs come out.

Fly in the summer.

Fly in the fall.

G.D.

Freezing winter?

I build in the garage and it is way too hot in the summer to do anyrhing. If I have a project and it does not get done by April it launches the following year. We have done it but it is an ordeal.

Mark

Gregg D. beat me to it. The short answer: you don't. You do the finishing during the warm weather months. And Gregg is right; you can do all of the base prep work ahead of time while you are cooped up indoors, and just wait until the birds return and the flowers bloom to spray on the primer and paint.

Well, first off,I usauly do alot of flying in winter.So,there are times I would really like to Get_R_Done (paint).I have a sunporch that I run an electric heater in. I have gone out there,shut the heater off,spray in front of open door,let flash off and bring into house and put it in the bathroom with the fart fan on. After all said and done,the house smells,the porch has overspray all over everything and if im lucky,the paint comes out pretty good.

Scotty Dog said:

Well, first off,I usauly do alot of flying in winter.So,there are times I would really like to Get_R_Done (paint).I have a sunporch that I run an electric heater in. I have gone out there,shut the heater off,spray in front of open door,let flash off and bring into house and put it in the bathroom with the fart fan on. After all said and done,the house smells,the porch has overspray all over everything and if im lucky,the paint comes out pretty good.

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Well, I stand corrected. I guess it can be done!

I have applied primer in single-digit temps (+6°F) by having everything ready and the primer can all shaken up, stepping out onto the deck and giving the rocket several quick sprays and then bringing it back inside right away and setting it up in my workroom to dry. But this was just for a "tube prep" coat which was meant to be sanded almost completely off again, so I didn't care if it ran a little. Somehow I didn't get any runs in the two times that I did this, though. Spray paint runs like water in colder temps. I found that out when I tried to give a rocket a final, touch-up coat of paint in 40°F weather.

I have gotten away with painting when the ambient temperature was as low as 50°F without any problems. Glossy paints seem to be the most temperature-sensitive in my experience. Flat paints like fluorescent paint and flat camouflage paint seem to have a slightly lower end to their temp range, but they will eventually run as well if the air is cold enough. The last time that I used a fluorescent color, I was painting a just-completed rocket as I was getting ready to leave for a launch last year. At that dawn hour, the air temp was somewhere between 45° and 50°. I was in a rush and I decided that I wasn't going to care too much if I got a couple of runs, because I could fix the paint job afterward at my leisure. I was a bit surprised when I pulled the rocket out later that day to fly it, because I found no runs in the paint.

Makes no difference to me, garage is heated in winter & air conditioned in the summer.

rms said:

Makes no difference to me, garage is heated in winter & air conditioned in the summer.

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Garage? What's that?

rms said:

Makes no difference to me, garage is heated in winter & air conditioned in the summer.

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Jealous!

I remember reading an article on Vex guitar pedals, and when Zach Vex first started out on his own, he was spray painting in his apartment with a big cardboard box and a fan mounted to one side pointing to an open window. You'd probably get a coat in before the room dropped to outside temps, but I bet something like this could be done.