1st try at an Easter egg paint job

Attached is a pic of my Big Dipper Daddy. It didn't come out as nice as I had hoped for. I'll outline what I did for the record. Lee, maybe you can give advice based on my methodology. I know I deviated from some of your advice, but went with what I had available.

I primed the rocket with white sandable primer and let it fully dry. I used tape around the NC and inserted a spent E engine, which was taped to the MMT. I plugged one hole in the rear CR, the engine's nozzle, and inserted bolts into the rail button holes (no buttons). The rocket was quite airtight.

I used Krylon purple, blue and red since that's what I had on hand. I started with a layer of purple that went about 3/4 of the way down the rocket. I sprayed and dipped almost immediately afterward. On later coats, I enlisted my wife as a sprayer, while I dipped. I wish I had shoved it all the way under since the abrupt line didn't look good and was hard to disguise with other layers. I noticed that large sheets of the paint were pulled up with the rocket. Thin areas of these sheets adhered, but the thicker parts were too dry. Another lesson - don't worry about these sheets until the coat is set. If you remove the unattached portion too early, too much comes off. Maybe this is just due to the Krylon paint???

The first few coats were left maybe 10 minutes before proceeding. On later coats I tried the dips closer together. I couldn't tell much difference.

There were a fair amount of small bubbles in each coat. When I saw larger bubbles, I carefully patted them with a paper towel. I am afraid I will end up with a zillion tiny white chips. Time will tell.

The rocket was watertight and is was not easy to shove it all the way under, tip-to-tail, when only holding the end of the motor casing. Taping in a proper sized dowel would have worked better. I also tried dipping sideways, but the coverage between the fins was poor due to the sheeting I mentioned earlier.

Well, here it is:

Dick,

I think it looks great! And Big Dipper Daddy -- great name! One thing you didn't mention was how much paint you sprayed onto the water. Since you said large sheets were pulled up, maybe it was too much paint. I have typically just sprayed for 2-3 seconds, and then dipped. Any longer, and the paint seems to be dry, and go on thickly or in lumps. I agree about dipping part way -- tough to get a good transition. I've got a bunch of 2.6" tubing, and I'm thinking of doing an upscale Mean Machine. Since dipping a 10 foot rocket poses some problems, I'm thinking of building it and painting it a body tube at a time, and then assembling the sections. Should be fun. (Either that or I'll sneak into a neighborhood pool and dip it in the deep end.)

Also of great importance: After one dip, mop the water with newspaper or paper towel to pick up the paint, and then spray the next "dip".

No matter, though, it looks great in the pics, and the next one will turn out completely different ... so paint another rocket white and have at it!

BTW -- I've always used a gloss white paint as undercoat, but I doubt that using a white primer would make much difference. In fact, I was going to try a dip over a rocket primed with Kilz white primer next.

OK, everyone else, let's get some Easter Egg rockets going, and post your results!

Lee, thanks for the feedback. I have some 'morning after' thoughts and notes.

I don't know, maybe the gloss paint would work better, if I do another I'll splurge for a can.

One obvious thing was that the temp. was in the high 90's and the tub had sat in the Sun, even though it was in the shade when I did my spraying. Prolly a bad choice. I don't think we sprayed for more than 3 secs. at a time though.

Some bad news: there are some chips spontaneously appearing, especially at the fin/tube joint. I guess as the paint fully dried there was come contraction(?). The good news: Touching up those spots by hand with a matching color doesn't really detract from the look.

Depite my attempts to seal things, some water got to the motor tube. I left a phenolic case in until it dried and all is well. Also some water got in the edge of the body tube at the nose cone. Made it a bitch to get off. Next time I'll seal this with CA.

And I repeat, don't dunk half way unless you *really* want abrupt transitions in color. I like the blue tip of my NC (did this on purpose), but not the other color transitions.

Dick,

I'll bet the temperature had plenty to do with the fast drying. I've done my dipping in the basement, where it is always cool. And especially now, the air conditioning blasts through even closed vents in the basement -- it is almost chilly down there. Now I never do regular painting down there, but since so little paint gets sprayed for the dipping, I've not had problems with fumes. I also run a fan at the window to vent.

One thing you'll find with going with gloss topcoat -- the paint really seems to flow smoothly. Also, you don't need a super finish, since blemishes will get hidden in the swirls of color.

Now I'm all anxious to try another one.

Ok, now I have decided what paint job to do on my Initiator I got a zipper on it, and need to repaint it anyway........

Ok, I was thinking about the whole bouyancy thing, do you guys think that putting some weight in the rocket while doing the whole dipping thing would help with it trying to pop back up? Also, with the big swept fins on the Initiator, should I core out a used SU 29mm motor and glue a fat dowel in there to do the dipping with? I am excited to try it out I have abunch of half filled cans of spray paint that I can use on it.... I am thinking a gloss white undercoat dipped in silver and blue "sheets" should look cool

-Brian Barney

Brian,

I dunno whether the weight would help much, but the motor/dowel would based on my experience. Just make sure it is sealed!

Brian,

Alright, another easter-egg Initiator ! Here's what I've found works well. I usually have a long dowel that I put in the engine tube while I paint. To keep rocket dry during dipping, I wrap tape around the dowel to get a really tight fit. When you dip the rocket (only in the water a few seconds, it will not take on moisture. For rockets with motor tube protruding enough, you can wrap tape around the outside, sealing the aft end.

For the nose cone, I've found that taking Saran Wrap around the shoulder makes a good water seal. If you do not want to dip the nose cone, then put it in thin plastic bag and insert into rocket, effectively protecting it, and sealing the top of tube from taking on water.

I think silver and blue over white would be great. (Now I know what to do with the little bit of silver I have, plus a few more colors of metallic. Thanks for the suggestion!)

Next, we will have to think of planning an Easter Egg Rocket Fly-in, where we can all get together to compare painty jobs, and fly.