painting rockets with tube fins and rings (and other obnoxious nooks and crannies)

I'm thinking about a rocket with rings and/or tubes for my next scratch build. Here's an example (not a final design, just an example of the sort of thing I'm considering):


The thought of painting this thing is giving me the sweats. How do you get the paint into the various orifices in an efficient and/or effective way? How do you mask in there if god forbid you want to do something interesting with the paint job? I know it's possible because others have done it, but the technique is not obvious to me.

Ultimately I have to decide if building something like this is going to be worth the painting headache. Not sure yet...

Paint it one color and add a couple of decals--it would still look cool!

Honestly I wouldn't even know how to get one color in there, at least not without create all sort of horrible runs. Rattlecans don't seem to be a good match for painting in very tight quarters like that, cuz you can't get too close, but you have to get close to get the paint in there... etc. I'd love to see a video of someone doing that sort of painting.

Airbrush.

paint the outside, stickershock the insides

You mean like this?




Ummm....... 30 yrs of practice.LOL
No drips, no runs, no errors!

Seriously, I wouldn't even know how to describe how I did it, without a video.
Notice even the front & back edge of tubes are black.

If this helps. Always start with lightest color & work towards dark. On this yellow.....red......black.
Little tiny bursts from every possible angle to get full coverage with out runs.

One color, oh heck, that's so easy.


Edit: Lots of taping & lots MORE patience.

You mean like this?

Click to expand...

Yeah, like that... except imagine that with longer, skinner tubes.

In any case, that looks great, it's one of my favorite Fliskits models.

paint the outside, stickershock the insides

Click to expand...

That's an interesting thought...

Paint before assembly.

M

blackjack2564 said:

You mean like this?

View attachment 279947 View attachment 279948


Ummm....... 30 yrs of practice.LOL
No drips, no runs, no errors!

Seriously, I wouldn't even know how to describe how I did it, without a video.
Notice even the front & back edge of tubes are black.

If this helps. Always start with lightest color & work towards dark. On this yellow.....red......black.
Little tiny bursts from every possible angle to get full coverage with out runs.

One color, oh heck, that's so easy.


Edit: Lots of taping & lots MORE patience.

Click to expand...

Hey is the front end the pointy side? Just kidding, really nice work!

Plan to use a lot of masking tape.

Nothing worthwhile is ever easy.

Fill a balloon full of paint and launch through it? probably a stupid idea.

kcobbva said:

Fill a balloon full of paint and launch through it? probably a stupid idea.

Click to expand...

That suggestion should win some type of award, but I have no idea in what category.

You can use one of those...what do you call it...hmmm...oh yeah...paint brushes. (Ugh...manually hand painting...how bourgeois!)

What are we, animals?

Usually if I'm dealing with the inside of tubes,
I'll spray some paint into a small (plastic mixing) cup.
Dip in a brush and paint.

https://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com/2011/07/tip-doing-paint-touch-ups.html
https://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com/2015/09/quest-magnum-sport-loader-3012-build_10.html

After it dries well, spray the rest.
If the inside of the tubes are a different color, mask the insides with small pieces of tape before spraying the main outside color.

Good luck!

Like this? Like everyone knew I couldn't resist??!!

kcobbva said:

Fill a balloon full of paint and launch through it? probably a stupid idea.

Click to expand...

neil_w said:

That suggestion should win some type of award, but I have no idea in what category.

Click to expand...

Fortunately it wouldn't likely be a Darwin, unless you were drinking the paint afterwards.

K'Tesh said:

Fortunately it wouldn't likely be a Darwin, unless you were drinking the paint afterwards.

Click to expand...

Now THAT is funny! As for winning an award, it might indeed. I did grow up in Texas and we were quite fond of "Hey Yall watch this". I think we all know what typically followed! We were pretty proud of it too!