Easy To Do Circular "Hatches" Detail

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TopRamen

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I'de like to share a Technique that I recently came up with and tried with good results.
I had been studying Sodmiesters TLP Martel AS 37 Thread, and really liked the way he did his Detail Work as usual.
One of his Details was the small circular Hatch/Panel that is on the Body of the Missile.
I wanted to emulate this Detail, and one day, while wandering through the Office Supplies Aisle at Walmart I saw these Self Adhesive Labels and had an Idea.

EZ Hatches 003.jpg

I started out by only using one, but it was not thick enough to look very good after Primer. I realized that by stacking them, I could make them any thickness I desired within reason.
One of the reasons that they are easy to work with is that they are bright Colors, which allows you to align them ontop of one another perfectly by using alternating Colors per Layer.
In this Pic' that I made as an Example, the one on the left is correct and the one on the right shows how it looks when they don't line up:

EZ Hatches 005.jpg

You can easily see how the Colors make it easy to stack them in a concentric manner.

Here is how they look in my case after a bit of Primer:

EZ Hatches 002.jpg


Another good thing about these, as opposed to gluing on Cardstock, is that if you absolutely have to, you can peel them off even after you have done a Coat of Primer. As I stated earlier, I tried to see how it looked with only one and it did'nt have the Depth I wanted, also, my first Coat of Primer in this instance showed many Flaws which needed attention.
The Adhesive is ample to permanently keep them there, and I'm sure that after Primer, Paint and Clear Coat they are not coming off on their own.

Anyway, that's my Experience and I hope that someone finds this Technique useful.:)
 
That's cool! You know, another great use for those is to make warnings/reminders to put on your rocket (eg. A reminder to arm the altimeter on a dual deploy rocket).

ImageUploadedByRocketry Forum1410871128.250807.jpg


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Those are exactly what I used on my steam punk rocket. They work great and come in a variety of shapes---tip-it's best to put them over a smooth surface for best adhesion. 100_2645.jpg100_2646.jpg
 
Sealed in paint? That may prevent them from flaking off.

I've found that labels like those can be a little hit or miss when they get old. I had a number of them that were never used in a package, and when I went to use them, they practically fell off of the backing as the adhesive had dried out over time.
 
Sealed in paint? That may prevent them from flaking off.

I've found that labels like those can be a little hit or miss when they get old. I had a number of them that were never used in a package, and when I went to use them, they practically fell off of the backing as the adhesive had dried out over time.



I guess that is why you would want to start with Brand new ones instead of old ones. I've found that the Adhesive, once applied to a surface other than the Backing Sheet, actually becomes stronger with time, as I've had a few different Items throughout the Years that I have gotten at various Tag/Garage Sales that had used these very Labels as Price Tags. Removing them generally involved scraping them off with a Finger Nail and then wetting the Residue to remove it completely.
I highly doubt that these will simply fall off or otherwise pop off or come undone, especially when you consider the various Coats of Primer, Paint and Clear.
If they ever do, I'll come back to this Thread to update you.
 
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