Sadly I've had no opportunity to do anything recently except fiddle with decal designs. You shall see it finished and in action, I always finish up my build threads with flight reports.
Thta's where my thinking was also.Could you just trim some off the ends of the rings or do you think that would make the ring look out of round?
-Bob
I have not forgotten about this build. Today I even got to work on it just a bit, for better or worse.
I was annoyed at some roughness in the paint, so I went in and wet sanded very gently with some 1500 grit paper. I did succeed at getting rid of the bumpy bits; next I'm going to get some 2000 and 3000 and then finish with my polishing compound and see if I can get it back to gloss. I didn't do the whole rocket, just some easily accessible areas, so I don't expect it to be a terrible effort. There are a couple of very small spots that will require a bit of touch-up paint, but no big deal.
Then I thought it would be fun to do a "complete" dry fit, with the ring pieces squeezed into position and held in by friction:
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Looks pretty cool! Upon closer inspection, though...
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My dorsal and ventral fins do not reach the ring, and the gap is substantial, probably 3/32" or so. This is super frustrating because of the amount of time and effort I put in to ensure that it wouldn't happen. Honestly I'm confused how it could be off by so much.
In hindsight, I should have left the fins too tall until painting was finished, and then sanded them down to size as the final step before gluing. Now I shall have to glue on another piece to the end of each fin, and then sand that to size and shape to match the fin. Fortunately, these pieces will be silver, so I won't need to break out the cranberry again for them. There will however be some significant cranberry touch-up work required in other areas to fill in some of the areas I masked off to preserve gluing surfaces.
Looks like this rocket will be following the dreaded ninety-ninety rule.
I've been very reluctant to mess with the geometry of the rings, but maybe it would be the better way to go here, although it wouldn't necessarily be less work. Would need to sand the two ring ends very slowly and carefully until reaching exact fitment. Might also need to sand off some paint on the outside bottom of the ring where the glue joint goes.Could you just trim some off the ends of the rings or do you think that would make the ring look out of round?
Interesting idea, but this would be impractical for me for a variety of reasons.Wouldn't it be easier to tape off one side of the dorsal fin & mix up a batch of epoxy with a filler to make it thicker and then position the rocket so the tape is down and then fill in the gap with the epoxy mix? I have been using WEST System epoxies for 30+ years now and have found that they are always stronger that the woods/plastics I am using them on.
I have an idea for the ring/vertical fin gap, a piece of balsa to bridge the gap, and then you sandwich two pieces of 1/32nd balsa or 1/64th ply over the extension and a little on the fin, paint them your accent color prior to gluing, cut them in a decorative shape for aesthetics.
Forgive my ignorance of the tiny wood fractions, but woodn't 1/64 ply just be.....a single ply? Thus being.....a wood sheet?
Unfortunately, given the uncharacteristically cold weather we've been having, I have no idea when I'll get my next painting opportunity. This paint job could take all winter at this rate.
I've done that before with success. But I usually heat the paint can in warm/hot water in the sink first.at least keep the spray can you are going to use in the house rather than the garage so that they are at optimal operating temperature. You might be able to spray paint on a cold day if the rocket and paint can are at room temperature, and let them dry a little and outgas in the garage until the smell is bearable enough for the house. But, test that out on a scrap piece of cardboard first... temperature and humidity are tricky variables for spray painting outside.
In this picture my paint-blocking dowels are still inserted, so you don't see the interior of the lug. In real life, because I beveled the ends of the lug, you can see nicely into the white interior at the ends. I may stop doing that in the future. Now I'll have to color the interior of the lugs, at least at the ends where it shows.
What's the problem? Can't find the perfect font? Sizing? Scaling or whatever? Let me know if I can help in this department.Party pooper.
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Seriously though, I was thinking about something small to go in the area of the silver triangle on the outside of the ring.
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