Looking great so far.
John
Senior Member
Looking great so far.
John
Senior Moment
Truely amazing! The HD skunk works at its best!
Jeff Vegh
TRA# 03011
NAR# 92403
Lifetime Member
Thanks again guys, I started the initial finishing stages for the wings and stab. Photo's are1- bondo filler applied--2-sanded and spot putty sanded--3- First coat of primer. I should have them primed and sanded by the end of the evening. If so I'll get them mounted tonight. Going to work on the intake some more now. BTW The bondo really stiffened up the assemblies.
Lifetime Member
I got the wings and stab sanded to shape and epoxied on. After that was set I put on a good coat of putty at the wing and tail roots. It's going to have to sit at least all night so my work here is done for today. Never touched the inlet area today so I'll tackle that tomorrow. I'll also be sanding and filling, filling and sanding.I did manage to lay out several profiles for the front canards--sorry no pics--I'll do that in the a.m. The original seems to have square slab looking canards. Don't know how fond of those I am--we'll work on that. BTW I changed my mind on the molding. I'm now going to do a bottom half and split the top into 2 parts down the centerline.
Lifetime Member
Started to work on the belly intake. I had roughed one out earlier but was'nt happy with it. After a couple more tries I just locked down--could'nt get it right--so I took a break and checked out some threads. Low and behold there was Micromeister's Snark build with a nice belly view. Cheers, Cheers and more Cheers. It had the look I wanted--Thanks Micromeister--I'm back on track.---First I cut a piece of Bt down the middle and folded the front over for the intake . This was glued to the airframe and tapped to hold shape. Next I added some ribs to get the curved look I needed.
Lifetime Member
After the ribs dried in place I cut some foam as a filler and glued it in place. I sanded it to shape with some 60 grit and got the first coat of bondo on. I used a different bondo this time. It's bondo gold and sands much easier than the gray/pink
Lifetime Member
After some quick sanding to get the general shape I recoated and sanded again . I applied spot putty to some low ares and let it dry in the sun. A quick feathering and the first coat of primer filler is on and drying. Thanks again Micro. --I'd still be stuck
Lifetime Member
Got a touch more done . Went ahead and mounted the cockpit area. Made it out of cardstock and filled it with bondo and pushed it into place . As you see it I've applied spot putty to get the contours down I'll sand this tomorrow. Also pictured is the intake mold. I'll bake this tonight and final sand to shape as well
Never Fly Naked
Wow, Looking AWESOME.. I got a project going,, do you want to sand it for me??
Custom Vinyl decals,
STICKERSHOCK23.COM
Stickershock23@gmail.com
No matter how much you push the envelope.
it'll still be stationery.
Lifetime Member
OH GOD NO, but I will be hitting you up for the tail decals soonOriginally Posted by stickershock23
Never Fly Naked
Bummer,, and COOL all in one sentence..
Nice work!!
Custom Vinyl decals,
STICKERSHOCK23.COM
Stickershock23@gmail.com
No matter how much you push the envelope.
it'll still be stationery.
Local TLP detail nut
That`s got serious WOW factor my friend ,absolutely without a doubt serious WOW !
A little glass of wine and sanpaper seem to work magic together.
Keep up the great work !
Paul T
ROCKETRY DELINQUENT ,I put my soul in what I do.
I built a rocket, and on the seventh day ,I rested
Level 3
CAR 1033
Manitoba Rocketry Group
CTI a better way to fly !
Lifetime Member
Thanks Sod, and yes wine does go well with sandpaper. Mmmmm.So I got the cockpit roughed out. This was a big deal for me since it was another one of those areas I could'nt wrap my head around but I think I hit it finally. I'm not going to mount the canards on the mold. I just think they're too delicate. Now it's time to finish sand and paint the mold. This is gonna take a little time so stay tuned. Should be laying up the first parts in a week or so. Pics are of the cockpit area. If I need to make any minor changes ,now is the time, so chime in if you feel the urge. H
Local TLP detail nut
If I ever get to Dallas ,I`ll bring some wine and sanpaper and we`ll have a grand ole time !
Things are looking very good indeed ,I mean smooth man ! I`m thinking you may just have more patience than me ,and probably the skills to match....
You do make a fine rocket ,no doubt about that !
Take care
Paul T
ROCKETRY DELINQUENT ,I put my soul in what I do.
I built a rocket, and on the seventh day ,I rested
Level 3
CAR 1033
Manitoba Rocketry Group
CTI a better way to fly !
Lifetime Member
Thank You Sir, Your work ain't too shabby either. Yes ,if you get out this way we'll toss back a few. I really, really , really promise , after this one I'll get back to basics and leave the mods alone. maybe ,for a while,just sayin, There is that" Space Ghost " plane ,that came up on another thread. I need to get into a twelve step program for rocket folk.
Local TLP detail nut
NO,NO man ,don`t get back to basics ,you want to break the mould ,just like you are doing.....we need guys like you !Thank You Sir, Your work ain't too shabby either. Yes ,if you get out this way we'll toss back a few. I really, really , really promise , after this one I'll get back to basics and leave the mods alone. maybe ,for a while,just sayin, There is that" Space Ghost " plane ,that came up on another thread. I need to get into a twelve step program for rocket folk.
Paul T
ROCKETRY DELINQUENT ,I put my soul in what I do.
I built a rocket, and on the seventh day ,I rested
Level 3
CAR 1033
Manitoba Rocketry Group
CTI a better way to fly !
Lifetime Member
ENABLER !
Lifetime Member
I got the first coats of gloss white on the mold. After this drys I'll take care of any little odd spots and recoat several more times. I'm using Rusto's appliance paint. It has a nice high gloss and is rock hard. Downside--it takes forever to dry . I'll most likely let it sit for several days to be on the safe side. In the meantime I'll start working on the guts and the canards. Remember , I'll be using the mold as a static display when this is over.
Oblivious to time
Very cool.
The process is continuous...
Banned
Yep, very cool!
Senior Member
I'll be watching this one. This is a build like I have not witnessed before. Looking very good so far.
Lifetime Member
Well I'm getting ready to lay up the glass. I've taped off the top half and cut my pieces of glass to fit. Put on several coats of mold release. Imixed up a test batch of resin since it has been on the shelf a while---glad I did that---It was a little thicker than I like and after mixing in the hardener it stiffened up way too fast and then never hardened--never had that happen before. after about three hours it's still a gel----strange . Here's the pics of where I'm at. I'm off to the store to pic up some new resin
Lifetime Member
Ok, that was the ticket. Got the top half on and glassed. I almost forgot how messy this stuff can be. The part looks good with only a few bad spots ,but those were expected. nothing a little sanding won't take care of. I'll let it sit outside until it tacks off and then I'll bring it inside under some heat for the evening . Hopefully I'll pull the first part in the A.M. I'll get some pics later --gonna watch a race.
Lifetime Member
RUT-ROW, Hmm, seems I missed a spot or two with the release compound. No good can come of this
I guess my best bet is to let it set for a day or so until I can dig into it. I'll probably use laquer thinner to loosen the paint. This means I'll be refinishing the mold a lot more than planned after all is done and said. I'm really trying to save it for a display.On the good side , the part looks good. If I can just get it off the freakin mold
This is my fault , I used less hardener than normal so I could have a bit more working time. I guess that gave the resin enough time to melt/bond the underlying paint. I knew I had a stroke when I thought this one up. Fortunately, all is not lost--just a little time. Normally I would put it in a freezer for a day and try to pop it off.That's right, no big freezer available.WARNING--Kids , don't do what Hornet does....
Lifetime Member
Things don't look so good . I got the part off and had a few areas that were weaker than I like so I'll trash that one. As for the mold--not so good---I'm going to have to refinish the top half . Pulled a lot of the top white paint off--no big deal--but took out part of the tail filletSo I'll get back to it and begin the repair work. I'll post pics tomorrow since the light is fading fast now. Might take a week --maybe less to get it back to where it needs to be. I'll sit back tonight over a glass--or two --of wine ,and rethink this. There's a solution to every problem and I hate to lose.Seems the rocket gods and the gremlins are laughing at me. I'll fix their little red wagons!!
Lifetime Member
Well, I finally got off my duff and started the repiar to the mold. Really was'nt that bad but I chose to take a break away from it for a few days. That and I took a small promotion which mixed up my routine a tick. I'll knock some pics out tomorrow of the damaged mold---after that --nothing of real intrest until I start laying glass again--maybe a week
Lifetime Member
So here's some pics of the damaged mold. Really looks worse than it is. In sequence.. 1--damaged mold..2--dry sanded.. 3--first coat of primer.. Once I got into it I was pleasantly surprised. I was able to dry sand the mold with 220 and the rough edges feathered right out without any roll-up. That whole process took about 30 minutes. It's a nice sunny day today so I'll be able to get several coats on and let it dry for a couple days . After that I'll wetsand it down and hit it with paint. Before I did anything I washed the whole thing down with a couple coats of mineral spirits to take off any remaining release agent so I would'nt sand it into the paint. While sanding I put a bit too much preasure on the tail and got a hairline crack at the base. I used some ca on it and it seems to have solved that problem. In reviewing the problem,I did a couple things wrong. I was to sparring on my release agent--I did not mix my resin hot enough-trying to get more working time and It was quite cool outside when I started the process. Live and learn, thing is ,I thought about all those things before I did them
Lifetime Member
Looks like we are back on track. I waited to respray the mold when outside temps went up. I did that tonight. I'm going to let this set outside in the 80-90 deg temps we're having for a week or so to make sure it cures 100%. I think this is a case of slow down to go faster. Frankly, I think I just rushed the paint before---no more fubars. I'll post pics as they become of value. In the mean time I'll be starting a couple new projects in a week or so---had to pay Uncle Sam with my hobby money---wonder how that's working out for the economy?
Local TLP detail nut
Good to see you`re back on track.I need to do likewise what with about 10 projects needing paint
Paul T
ROCKETRY DELINQUENT ,I put my soul in what I do.
I built a rocket, and on the seventh day ,I rested
Level 3
CAR 1033
Manitoba Rocketry Group
CTI a better way to fly !
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