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Black nose and body and pods, grey fins, white rings?
Neil_W's half-baked design thread
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Ever tried flat paint with gloss clear coat? If it doesn't just fill in the microtexture of the flat rendering it moot, then it might give a good luster or depth.
I was thinking of two possible approaches:
1) Paint in gloss, then mask, then flat coat
2) Flat coat, then apply black cut vinyl
Normally I wouldn't try to paint gloss coat over flat if my goal is maximum glossiness, although I haven't experimented with it much.
1) Paint in gloss, then mask, then flat coat
2) Flat coat, then apply black cut vinyl
Normally I wouldn't try to paint gloss coat over flat if my goal is maximum glossiness, although I haven't experimented with it much.
In the OR rendering it's a bit hard to tell the difference between the white rings and grey fins. Possibly I should make the fins darker grey if I were to use my existing can of Rusto Winter Gray. But I still feel like this needs a different fin treatment. Not sure yet what it is.
On the other hand, "Blackfish" will be the working name for this one now.
I may not have been clear. My proposed goal is to avoid maximum glossiness while having some. If it "just fill[s] in the microtexture of the flat rendering it moot" then it's a failure for my goal.
Satin or eggshell are not gloss at all, but more "semi-flat". What I'm thinking of is something different, like a "shiny flat" if that makes any sense.
Imagine it in metal. In your mind take some uniformly frosted brushed aluminum. It gets that look by having a jagged microstructure, uneven peaks and valleys. Now take it to a buffing wheel and just barely smooth the peaks so it shines while also keeping the frosted look. It's that look which I wonder if one can achieve with gloss clearcoat over flat paint.
And if it works that way, I think it would look awesome for an all black airframe.
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Might work, although I wonder if it would be difficult to achieve a consistent finish that way. Normally I'm not super picky about the level of gloss or flatness, I just want consistency.
Were I to go for a gloss black on matte black design, though, either for this or a future rocket, I'd want the gloss to be as shiny as possible, and the matte to be as flat as possible, to maximize contrast between the two.
Were I to go for a gloss black on matte black design, though, either for this or a future rocket, I'd want the gloss to be as shiny as possible, and the matte to be as flat as possible, to maximize contrast between the two.
I think I am liking this general approach: black nose, black fins. Other details still subject to experimentation.
This is a good baseline for now.
[edit: just cleaned it up a bit]
[edit: just cleaned it up a bit]
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Nytrunner
Pop lugs, not drugs
Baseline snapped. Development approved
lakeroadster
When in doubt... build hell-for-stout!
Instead of chevrons... could you perhaps make those look more like shock diamonds... like those that appear in the supersonic exhaust plume of a rocket?
Here's a photo Kris Hull posted a while back...
Attachments
Mach diamonds are cool but not what I'm looking for here. Plus, I abandoned the chevrons on Alcubierre and have been second guessing it ever since. Time to give the chevrons their day in the sun.*
*at least until I change my mind.
boatgeek
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+1 That looks fantastic.
lakeroadster
When in doubt... build hell-for-stout!
You know what they say "One man's chevrons are another man's diamonds".
You really are screwing up the bell curve for the rest of us Neal..... your designs and rendering are impressive, to say the least.
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IKR.... I feel so second rate
Yes, I've said that many times. (can anyone identify this pretty challenging reference?)
Thanks, but remember this is not a competition. Please, no wagering. (OK that was an easy one)
Would you do the Chevrons and "BLACKFISH" letters with decals?
Yes. Given the black paint, I can use white decal paper and print on a black background and get a decent match to the paint (not perfect, but close.) That precludes me from using the metallic black, but whatever.
A slightly modified approach would be to cut out each chevron individually, which would make placement very challenging and painful but would eliminate any chance of black/black mismatch.
Neil is in a class by himself. The rest of us have our own curve.
This one came together much more quickly than most. Today I posted the full composite render to my OR Model Album:
I plan on doing something slightly different with the rings on the pods but I can't show it in OR. Surprisingly, mass is only showing at 2.6 oz with a balsa nose cone. I'm not locked in at the point but it'll more likely end up being plastic, which will add almost another ounce. And fin papering will add a bit more as well. Still, should fly well on D12 and D16, and an E15 should really get it up there. Oh, it's about 32" long, BT60-based.
I plan on doing something slightly different with the rings on the pods but I can't show it in OR. Surprisingly, mass is only showing at 2.6 oz with a balsa nose cone. I'm not locked in at the point but it'll more likely end up being plastic, which will add almost another ounce. And fin papering will add a bit more as well. Still, should fly well on D12 and D16, and an E15 should really get it up there. Oh, it's about 32" long, BT60-based.
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Great looking rocket - being new to the thread do you publish the OR file before or after the build? Love to see what if might take to build.
Welcome!
None of the designs are proprietary, and all design details are available on request. And I really get a kick when someone else builds or even takes inspiration from one of my designs, so I will do whatever I can to help.
For many of these rockets, though, (including Blackfish), I'm using an alpha versions of the unreleased next version of OR which supports pods, and it's still very rough and buggy, so I don't just distribute the ORK files willy-nilly.
Blackfish is pretty straightforward, although there are some pod construction details that I haven't worked out yet. If you want more details on it or any other design just let me know and I'll PM them.
neill_w, where is the download site of the alpha version? I'd like to play around with it. 
PM sent.neill_w, where is the download site of the alpha version? I'd like to play around with it.
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Still working on a PAINTED version of the STOP sign. I have the sides papered (3/32" balsa), and the octagon fins are also papered. The sides are 36" long (funny how a lot of my rocket dimensions are dictated by the size of the sheets at Hobby Lobby!). The Air Brake recovery worked well on the trial version.
Cool!
Yeah, do you have any pictures? Will you do a build thread?
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I’ll try. I am living my teenage dream, sleeping with two blondes every night (one is a Labrador!), and hanging out with them watching TV or listening to audio books while I build rockets, one blonde plays word games on the IPad, and the other licks peanut butter out of her Kong. I just don’t think about stopping to take pics.
lakeroadster
When in doubt... build hell-for-stout!
Happy New Year everyone! 
And now for the 1/8-baked portion of this thread. I was trying to design something that would be called "Alien Dreadnought". I wanted it to come from the same alien race as the Estes Alien Invader, but a larger and more heavily weaponed craft. Thus far that attempt is almost completely dead (dread?) in the water.
However, in the process I came up with this airframe design which I kind of like:
Commonality of design elements with PDII are obvious, but this still feels quite different to me.
Anyway, I haven't figured out a good way to continue this design yet. This was my first attempt that I don't like very much at all:
Maybe the guns around the forward transition is not a bad element, but this needs a lot of work, or even a complete restart.
And now for the 1/8-baked portion of this thread. I was trying to design something that would be called "Alien Dreadnought". I wanted it to come from the same alien race as the Estes Alien Invader, but a larger and more heavily weaponed craft. Thus far that attempt is almost completely dead (dread?) in the water.
However, in the process I came up with this airframe design which I kind of like:
Commonality of design elements with PDII are obvious, but this still feels quite different to me.
Anyway, I haven't figured out a good way to continue this design yet. This was my first attempt that I don't like very much at all:
Maybe the guns around the forward transition is not a bad element, but this needs a lot of work, or even a complete restart.
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