lcorinth
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- Aug 5, 2014
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I recently completed my third Skill Level 1 build - Estes Mini Honest John.
https://imgur.com/a/Hn4Wt
First of all, I spent way too much time working on such a cheap little rocket like this one. But I'm about to start some nicer, bigger rockets, and I've still got some issues with finishing, so I considered this a kind of practice rocket, and tried to work out some of my problems before moving on to the bigger guys. I made a few mistakes, but then I managed to learn some new stuff by correcting those mistakes.
You'll see I tried to bevel a fin - and before you say it, I know, there's little point to beveling or airfoiling a rocket of this size. But it was included as an alternative fin profile in the directions, so I decided to try it.
It went pretty well - until the masking tape I was using ripped the edge off the fin. So I traced another of the fins on some spare balsa I had and made a replacement. I was pretty sure it would be trickier than it seemed, because I reasoned there was no way to know if I was holding my hobby knife truly perpendicular to the balsa, even with my ruler, but it turned out really well, and you really can't tell which fin is the fake.
From this, I learned a couple things: 1. When it comes time to bevel a fin on a larger, more powerful rocket, I can do it. 2. How to cut my own fins.
From there, I rounded the edges, and here's where I had another problem. If you look closely, the trailing edges aren't truly straight; they're kind of round. Perhaps this was just carelessness, or maybe it's because I wasn't using a sanding block. I was holding a bit of sandpaper down tight to a metal bottle opener I have, about the size of a credit card.
Anyway, the finish is what gave me real trouble. I used Elmer's Wood Filler to fill the spirals - probably a waste of time in this case, as they were pretty tight - but I wanted to practice that. When I sanded it down, however, I kept trying to remove the bits I could see that were still on the surface, and by the time I was done, I had scuffed up the body tube pretty badly.
Did any of you have this problem when you were first starting out?
Here's a few things I'm wondering
Moving on from this point, I had an issue with some major fuzzies on the rocket body, most of which I managed to sand out, but I continued to have some unwanted texture. There were paint flaws, yes, which I mostly sanded out. But also, the whole rocket felt kind of textury.
Anyway, I got the rocket finished, and apart from some minor discoloration from wet sanding, it looks pretty good. The decals kind of mask the flaws, but I still know they're there. By the time I was done with this rocket, I was really ready to be done and move on to something else. Still, I found this to be a valuable learning experience.
Any thoughts?
https://imgur.com/a/Hn4Wt
First of all, I spent way too much time working on such a cheap little rocket like this one. But I'm about to start some nicer, bigger rockets, and I've still got some issues with finishing, so I considered this a kind of practice rocket, and tried to work out some of my problems before moving on to the bigger guys. I made a few mistakes, but then I managed to learn some new stuff by correcting those mistakes.
You'll see I tried to bevel a fin - and before you say it, I know, there's little point to beveling or airfoiling a rocket of this size. But it was included as an alternative fin profile in the directions, so I decided to try it.
It went pretty well - until the masking tape I was using ripped the edge off the fin. So I traced another of the fins on some spare balsa I had and made a replacement. I was pretty sure it would be trickier than it seemed, because I reasoned there was no way to know if I was holding my hobby knife truly perpendicular to the balsa, even with my ruler, but it turned out really well, and you really can't tell which fin is the fake.
From this, I learned a couple things: 1. When it comes time to bevel a fin on a larger, more powerful rocket, I can do it. 2. How to cut my own fins.
From there, I rounded the edges, and here's where I had another problem. If you look closely, the trailing edges aren't truly straight; they're kind of round. Perhaps this was just carelessness, or maybe it's because I wasn't using a sanding block. I was holding a bit of sandpaper down tight to a metal bottle opener I have, about the size of a credit card.
Anyway, the finish is what gave me real trouble. I used Elmer's Wood Filler to fill the spirals - probably a waste of time in this case, as they were pretty tight - but I wanted to practice that. When I sanded it down, however, I kept trying to remove the bits I could see that were still on the surface, and by the time I was done, I had scuffed up the body tube pretty badly.
Did any of you have this problem when you were first starting out?
Here's a few things I'm wondering
- Should I use a filler that's easier to sand than Elmer's? I emailed John Coker of jcrocket.com to ask him for advice, after viewing his "Basic Painting" video on Youtube, and he uses something called HobbyLite filler. Anybody have experience with this? Is it easier to sand down without scuffing the tube?
- Should I sand with a higher grit sandpaper? I think I started with 320, then moved up to 400, and still got a fuzzy tube.
- What about the idea of doing a primer first, and then using the filler? My thinking here is that the primer would act as a buffer between the tube and the sandpaper.
- Do I just need to go slower and be more careful?
Moving on from this point, I had an issue with some major fuzzies on the rocket body, most of which I managed to sand out, but I continued to have some unwanted texture. There were paint flaws, yes, which I mostly sanded out. But also, the whole rocket felt kind of textury.
Anyway, I got the rocket finished, and apart from some minor discoloration from wet sanding, it looks pretty good. The decals kind of mask the flaws, but I still know they're there. By the time I was done with this rocket, I was really ready to be done and move on to something else. Still, I found this to be a valuable learning experience.
Any thoughts?