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Spectacular! (I just had an eyegasm). That dark cloth background is a great touch too.
Here's a little report not specifically related to Alcubierre, but relevant to this thread.
I've been finishing up a Deuce's Wild using some of my leftover silver-painted decal paper. First, I had a 1/2" band wrapped around the BT60 body tube: that worked fine except for one of the ends wouldn't lay down. I ended up putting a dab of CA under there, and it was good.
On the other hand, I had some pieces to put on the fins (flat!) and those were a complete failure. Here's the design:
View attachment 379533
I had three problems with the fin pieces. Apologies for no pictures, but in the heat of the moment I wasn't thinking about the camera (hadn't planned on documenting this since it seemed routine).
Problem 1: The edges wouldn't lie down, period, but remained slightly curled up. Let's say the last..... I dunno, may 1/32" of each edge. Would. Not. Stay. Down. Trying to get CA under that edge without making a mess all over the fin seemed like a fool's errand, and I couldn't think of any other way to fasten the edges down.
Resolution: These pieces were cut with a blade from the rear. Perhaps this imposed a slight bend upward at the edges that made itself known when the decal was wet and flexible. Not sure how to fix this because cutting the silver from the front makes for a messy edge. Maybe worth a try to trim all the pieces down just a bit (slightly smaller won't hurt) cutting from the top side. Maybe messy edges are better than no decals. I'll have to experiment. Not sure why this didn't bite me with Alcubierre, could be that they worked better being mostly scissor-cut, or that the edges are more likely to stay put when the decal is bending outside a curved surface.
Problem 2: The decals would not conform to the paint dam between the red and white. I could see the edge through the decal, and it seemed likely that there was a bit of an air gap under there. With a normal decal some Micro-sol on top would have taken care of that, but that won't work on top of paint.
Resolution: The painted decals are simply not as flexible, and won't conform to fine irregularities. That's not going to change. The fix is to eliminate the fin irregularities. If I want this to work I'll need to either smooth down the paint dams or else move the decals to the edge of the red/white boundary instead of straddling it.
Problem 3: The silver decal was not completely opaque, as it turned out. You could easily see the boundary between the read and white underneath the decal.
Resolution: This should not have been a surprise. In the future, a coat of primer before painting metallic decals should do the trick. I got lucky with Alcubierre because the decals were always on top of solid cranberry. For this rocket, if I can solve problem #1, I'm definitely going to have to move the decals off the red/white boundary, and just onto the white. Won't look as good, but better than nothing I think.
Final note: I had the logo decal printed and clear-coated and ready to apply. And now for the life of me I cannot figure out where I put it. Not a happy camper right now.
Vinyl would undoubtedly adhere better, although I believe you'd still see the dam underneath. I don't have any silver vinyl, though (would vinyl take on paint? Dunno).Since you mentioned Micro Sol I assume these are water slide decals. Would using a slightly larger silver vinyl decal over the 1st hide the paint dam and adhere better? I know you wanted to use up the water slide ones but since vinyl is thicker it would certainly hide any irregularities better.
Since you mentioned Micro Sol I assume these are water slide decals. Would using a slightly larger silver vinyl decal over the 1st hide the paint dam and adhere better? I know you wanted to use up the water slide ones but since vinyl is thicker it would certainly hide any irregularities better.
Vinyl would undoubtedly adhere better, although I believe you'd still see the dam underneath. I don't have any silver vinyl, though (would vinyl take on paint? Dunno)
Vinyl CAN be painted but you have to be careful not to over-do the 1st & 2nd applications. Go lightly because rattle can paint can and will ruin like crazing.Hmm, I could try spraying some vinyl pieces to experiment... First I'll see if I have any luck with the newly-cut silver decal paper.
wrapped un-filled spirals of the main 4" tube with white vinyl wrap. Looks better than expected: clean, uniform, and completely covers paper tube imperfections. It adhered really well after applying a light coat of gloss paint to the BT, to give vinyl something smooth and less-porous to grab onto. Also increases torsional rigidity of the airframe:
a
Aaaaaand here you go. I had a lot of difficulties with lighting and exposure, so these pics aren't as good as I'd like. But the rocket is good.
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Thanks for the kind words. Sadly, my ability to travel significantly to any rocket launch is virtually non-existent. For now, this bird will fly locally only.Hey...you going to NARAM this Summer? If so bring that beautiful rocket!!!
Haven't tried it, but you have me interested...Hey Neil....Have you ever modified one of those pipettes to distribute CA? They can be heated over an open flame just enough to make it stretch. Then you pull the ends apart to form a really tiny tube in the center. You can cut the sides apart and use the bulb end for applications. This is great for getting in those hard places. Of course, they're only good for a couple of uses. I bought a whole bag of em online for way cheaper than the hobby stores sells for.
Thanks for the kind words. Sadly, my ability to travel significantly to any rocket launch is virtually non-existent. For now, this bird will fly locally only.
In other news, I just checked on my Deuce and now that they're *fully* dry, the edges have lifted again. For those keeping track, that means they went down initially, then lifted, then went back down as they dried, and then lifted again after finishing drying. Yeesh.
Anyone have a good suggestion how to seal the edges back down? I'm probably going to end up trying to work a bit of CA under each edge with a pin. That will not be fun.
Wish I could understand why this happened. I'm now even more relieved that I had none of these problems with Alcubierre. Why???
Could work, although not easy to get even pressure applied across entire decal. Still wish I understood why it would be necessary; I *want* there to be some flaw in my technique that I can identify and fix, but I'm having a hard time with the "identify" part of it.For flat areas place your decal
Place wax paper over it
Place a hotel key card over that
Bind with something, clothes pins or tape or rubber band
Allow to fully cure.
?Maybe put layer toilet paper/Kleenex between the wax paper and the card?Could work, although not easy to get even pressure applied across entire decal.
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