Boyce Aerospace GEMINI TITAN build log

[JoeFilgas]

I received this Boyce Aerospace short kit very quickly and it arrived safe and sound with all parts. Since this is a short kit I had to also order all the tubes and engine blocks separately. It also did not come with any decals for the capsule…more on that below. This model, once done will be added to my scale NASA rocket familyas I have already built the Mercury Redstone, Mercury Atlas and the Saturn V. So far I’m very impressed with the quality of the Boyce parts and 3D printing.

 

[JoeFilgas]

This is just a heads up if you’re building a Boyce Aerospace Hobbies Gemini Titan which is up next on my build pile. Boyce supplies full vinyl wraps for the thruster, but nothing for the capsule. Due to the unevenness of the surface of the capsule similar to the Estes Mercury capsules vinyl decals are not acceptable. At the suggestion of Boyce, I contacted Stickershock23 and they only do vinyl. So I did some more research and found Culttvman.com which sells, among other things, full reproductions of Revell Model kit water slide decals. The Boyce kit is 1/46 scale and the Revell kit 1/48…pretty darn close and will work fine for the capsule “UNITED STATES” and the . Some of the other decals may work on the support structure as well. They also came with substantial historical documentation which was quite impressive. Anyway I ordered these Friday evening west coast time and received them today. Fair prices and shipping. Just wanted to pass this along. Hoping to get started on this build soon to round out my historic scale NASA family.

 

[JoeFilgas]

Well a few days ago I sanded down all of the 3D printed parts running through 220/320/400 sandpaper. There’s really no way to get to all the print lines so I knocked down what I could. I actually like the look of the printing on the engine bell parts so I left those completely alone. Today I finally sat down and got going on the build beginning with cutting the engine mount tubes out of the BT 20 tubing. I glued in the turbo pump assembly followed by the BT-20s. Next I installed the engine blocks and set aside to dry. Then I moved onto the Inter tank section. I first cut out the 3 vertical pieces in each of the four bay windows and filed the top and bottom surfaces smooth. These actually popped out pretty easy with a sharp Xacto blade. I also test fit and sanded the done tank piece and set aside. Then it was onto what I think is the most difficult part of this build and that was freeing the very delicate inter tank window pieces from their 3D printed plate. The instructions say to carefully flex the bed and pop these pieces free. This really didn’t work as I was so afraid of breaking these delicate parts. I ended up using the instructions plan B of carefully prying them up with a sharp Xacto blade. They give you twice as many of these as you need in case you break them. Fortunately I got the first four off all in one piece. Next I had to file the inter tank windows to fit the internal bar parts I just freed. I was able to quickly get these to friction fit and used thin CA to secure. I glued the top plate in first then the bottom plates. CA kicker was also used. Next it was back to the twin engine bell by adding the engine retention base threaded rings. Then I taped off the portions per the instructions on both this and the inter tank pieces and shot with sandable automotive primer. I also got all the base tube sections cut from the BT 50 stock. That’s enough for one day!

 

[mh9162013]

Great thread. I've been curious about this kit, so thanks for sharing your build with us.

 

[JoeFilgas]

Great thread. I've been curious about this kit, so thanks for sharing your build with us.

Thanks my pleasure! Stay tuned for more progress soon!

 

[JoeFilgas]

Painting various parts is underway!

 

[JoeFilgas]

More parts paintwork done today!

 

[JoeFilgas]

Back at it today with a vengeance! Started by securing the appropriate length of Kevlar shock cord. Then I ran the cord through one engine tube out the back to protect from any glue. Then I marked the inside of the BT where the epoxy glue would go. I mixed up some 30 minute epoxy and with a brush applied to the tube. On the edge of the BT I placed a bead of thick CA glue for the turbo pump ring to adhere to. I sanded down the mating surface of the booster pump ring as well. I inserted the engine mount piece and made sure the CA joint was good then set aside to dry. I took the two engine retainer nozzles and taped off the upper white portion and painted the nozzles black and set aside to dry. I also painted the inside of the second stage engine nozzle black. Next I glued the short BT to the mid stage using the same procedures and glue and set this aside for the epoxy to grab hold. Next the lower bayonet tube was epoxied into the top of the mid section and set aside to dry. Once the mid section piece was secure enough I re-installed the top bayonet ring. I marked the inside of the upper stage BT to show glue areas for the bayonet ring and the second stage motor assembly. I used CA gel for the bayonet ring joint and pushed the two sections together. I then carefully removed the lower section and then reinforced the newly glued upper bayonet ring with a thick CA fillet from the inside. I also used some kicker to speed this step along. Then I applied the 30 minute epoxy with a brush above the bayonet ring where I had previously marked. Next I inserted the second stage engine bell from the top and brought the nozzle past the bayonet ring and out the back carefully aligning the back of the tube with the short turbo pump. I went ahead and added a fillet of epoxy to the engine bell unit from the inside top of the tube. While the epoxy was still not set I tested the fit of both bayonet rings to make sure the engine bell didn’t interfere with full contact. Next I taped off all three sections and applied coats of automotive filler primer to the BTs and set aside to dry. Finally I aligned the capsule with the lower equipment section and CA’d these two pieces together. Eventually I’ll be shooting the primered surfaces with gloss white in preparation for installing the full body wraps. That was definitely enough progress for one day!

 

[86mustang408w]

Oh, nice Joe!

 

[JoeFilgas]

Oh, nice Joe!

Thanks it’s coming right along! Took me awhile to decide which glue I wanted to use LOL!

 

[JoeFilgas]

Today was such a beautiful day I had to take advantage of the weather. Started by wet sanding the second primer coat on the three sections. The two smaller didn’t need anymore so they got painted gloss white. The main BT needed more primer so I used the hot stuff for more fill work and an overall third coat. I let that dry for about an hour and half and wet sanded that down followed by the gloss white. I popped off the previously painted white tunnel covers from their 3D base and used the vinyl wrap sections as reference to mask off the different colors required (silver and black.) I shot all of those the appropriate colors today as well. I have two more areas of which to paint, but I have to let the BT white paint cure for about a week first. Not much left to do. Should be able to finish within two weeks and it’ll be ready to join the rest of my NASA family of historic rockets for a family photo.

 

[JoeFilgas]

Got some more detail painting done today on my Boyce Aerospace Gemini Titan. I believe the paint work is now finished. Also installed the red frame around the capsule hatches with red vinyl and applied some decals as well. Lastly the top shoulder 3D piece the capsule and service module attach to permanently epoxied to the top of the second stage.

 

[JoeFilgas]

Well the majority of the rocket is now built and painted awaiting the vinyl wraps. I want to give the base paint a week to dry in controlled conditions in order cure. Once the wraps go on this coming Sunday the tunnel covers and launch lugs will be installed. Today I primered and painted the clear plastic fin mounts silver to match the background color and glued the clear fins to each mount. Finally, I’ll clear the entire rocket, less silver parts, with a matte clear after the paint has cured for 30 days.

 

[JoeFilgas]

 

[JoeFilgas]

Now we wait!

 

[JoeFilgas]

Well I started to finish the build today by first cutting out all the vinyl wraps and then marking a pencil line down the middle of the engines on the base tube. Then I carefully positioned the bottom wrap as instructed and made a couple of pencil reference marks for the edge. Next I peeled back about 1/2” of backing from the RIGHT side of the wrap and realigned it to coincide with the pencil marks. Then I pressed down the edge to the tube. I found the wraps very easy to install although perfectly aligning them at the joint was impossible. It is what it is. Wrap number 2 was aligned the same way with wrap 1 and applied. A small amount of the top of wrap 2 was then trimmed down to the height of this section of the BT. I then attached the second base stage below the bayonet, aligning the top portion of the tunnel cover to the position shown on wrap 2. To make sure this joint doesn’t move I wrapped some blue masking tape to the shoulder piece for a nice snug fit. Then I made another reference line on this upper stage portion using a pencil and a small piece of aluminum angle. The game here is to align the roll patterns. Easy enough just follow the directions. Wrap 3 was then placed using the same procedures. Next the top portion of the second stage was attached at the bayonet and fully engaged. Another pencil reference line was made utilizing the aluminum angle to align the tunnel covers on both stages. Wrap 4 was then applied again using the same procedures. A small amount of the gold stripe at the top of the wrap was then trimmed down to the tube height. Finally I poked holes in the BT where the 3D tunnel covers and launch lugs were to be installed then using gel CA I glued all of them down. I had pre-painted the tunnel covers with the multi colors to match the underlying colors of the wrap. Since none of the 4 requiring this came out good enough in terms of paint alignment I had to shoot a little more paint to get them to match before installing. There are plenty of oopsies on this rocket and like all other rockets I have built none have come out perfect. In about a month I’ll shoot the entire rocket in a matte clear to complete this model. Anyway I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out and she’s now a part of my NASA family collection spanning the Mercury through Apollo missions!

 

[JoeFilgas]

A conventional stand would not work with this rocket (tried the plastic fins, but no go) so I found some scrap pine in the garage, a short piece of 3/16” steel rod cut to just go through the lower launch lug, some CA and there you go! Will paint it flat black tomorrow!

 

[JoeFilgas]

This is just a heads up if you’re building a Boyce Aerospace Hobbies Gemini Titan which is up next on my build pile. Boyce supplies full vinyl wraps for the thruster, but nothing for the capsule. Due to the unevenness of the surface of the capsule similar to the Estes Mercury capsules vinyl decals are not acceptable. At the suggestion of Boyce, I contacted Stickershock23 and they only do vinyl. So I did some more research and found Culttvman.com which sells, among other things, full reproductions of Revell Model kit water slide decals. The Boyce kit is 1/46 scale and the Revell kit 1/48…pretty darn close and will work fine for the capsule “UNITED STATES” and the . Some of the other decals may work on the support structure as well. They also came with substantial historical documentation which was quite impressive. Anyway I ordered these Friday evening west coast time and received them today. Fair prices and shipping. Just wanted to pass this along. Hoping to get started on this build soon to round out my historic scale NASA family.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The RustOleum Satin Clear Coat I used MELTS THESE DECALS! I stopped after the first mist coat and have left the damaged decals intact for now. Perhaps if I had used the Micro Sol satin coat first the paint might not have damaged them although I don’t know if this would work without testing.

 

[JoeFilgas]

30 some odd days after I painted the rocket satin clear by RustOleum was shot on the entire rocket. The vinyl wraps did not accept the clear coat evenly meaning there was some minor spotting. All in all turned out okay and unnoticeable a few feet away. This is the final post to this build thread.