Build thread: Sport-scale IRIS-T missile, 1:3.8-ish

KevinM said:

I'll echo what was said a long way back - what a great build, I can't believe it took me so long to find this!

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Thanks. Sure has been fun, I'm getting kind of sad that it's nearing the end. I don't think I can muster up any more ways to extend it, unless I want to add a lot more bolt decals.

Although it can make for a bunch of extra steps, if you do any more builds with decals like this you may find that the clear parts disappear better (and will certainly adhere better) when put down on a gloss surface instead of a flat one. You're going to over-coat it with flat anyways, right? The tricky part with this is finding military colours in a gloss finish, otherwise you need to paint, gloss-coat, decal, then dull-coat.

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The nose cone was my test piece to see if the paint was smooth enough to provide a good decal surface. It seems to be. I was prepared to gloss coat the rocket before decals if need be, but as as far as I can tell it is not necessary. The main bits that remain visible are the edges, and those are due to decal thickness rather than the underlying paint surface.

It's possible it would have done slightly better if I had gloss coated first. We'll see how the whole thing looks after flat coating. Right now I'm fairly optimistic.

Another thought on the finish for the dome - you may come to appreciate the way a gloss finish on the dome compared with a dull finish on the rest of the model helps to draw attention to all the wonderful work you put there.

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When I thought about it, the real thing is certainly glossy glass, so no reason to be flat there. I had originally thought the lack of reflection on the surface might have made it easier to see inside, but it's OK as is. The biggest issue, if you can call it that, is that the plastic dome is low quality and creates a lot of distortion when looking through.

Thanks as well for posting the source on those clear domes. I'm going to have to take a look around and see if I can find something similar for the "XBT cover" on my 1/2 scale TOW.

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If you tell me the diameter you're looking for I might be able to direct you to some better options. Finding that particular toy is likely to be extremely difficult or impossible (it was only after several Dollar Stores across months of searching that I found it). Or, if you happen to need that particular diameter (slightly more than 1"), I can send you a few of my leftovers. Let me know.

Decals are taking a little while as I do them bit by bit and try not to rush. Most are routine, a few are a little more interesting. I'll highlight those as I go. This is my first time with home-printed (inkjet) decals.

After good luck with the nose cone, I decided to start with the yellow and brown bands. By the way, the yellow band means "high explosive" while the brown band means "rocket motor". This distinguishes this model from a "dummy" model which would have blue stripes. Here's a table of the colors I just found: https://rhode.meccahosting.com/~a000593d/Missile-Ref/missile-markings.html.

Anyway, these were going to be a bit tricky because they need to wrap around the body *and* the wiring tunnel. To start, there was no way to know *exactly* how long to make them, so I started by making them extra-long and I would cut to fit. The problem with *that* is that the only time you can cut to fit is after they're on, while they're still wet. That turned out to be quite a pain. After doing the first one (brown), I was able to see how much I had cut off, and then cut the yellow band to the same length.

Ultimately, there was a very slight overlap at the end (that was as good as I could do). Because these are translucent inkjet-printed, the overlap areas look like darker versions of the same color. Here are the two finished bands, with the arrows point at the overlaps at the end.



That'll do. I intentionally started (and ended) the bands as close to the edge of the wiring tunnel as I could get, in a place where I thought whatever messups I had would be least visible.

Getting the bands on *straight* was also really tough. They ended up almost but not quite perfectly straight, not noticeable except under very close inspection.

A generous helping of Micro-sol was applied on top of all the decals to ensure that they would really nestle down on the not-smooth paint surface. I don't know how much the Micro-sol is helping (if at all, given the clear-coated decals) but the decals do seem to be laying down pretty well.

This is looking great. If anyone comments that the paint details aren't scale, put your nose in the air and say "They are correct for the [insert obscure air force that uses Iris-T here] markings. Obviously!"

KevinM said:

Thanks as well for posting the source on those clear domes. I'm going to have to take a look around and see if I can find something similar for the "XBT cover" on my 1/2 scale TOW.

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If you want to go larger, I've had some success finding acrylic and polycarbonate domes available from various places online within easy google range. Those were for my planned scale of the missile, so they weren't much help for Neil unfortunately.

boatgeek said:

This is looking great. If anyone comments that the paint details aren't scale, put your nose in the air and say "They are correct for the [insert obscure air force that uses Iris-T here] markings. Obviously!"

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Bugger the scalefolk I say! Just ask them where their flying detail-accurate IRIS-T with mock-functional IR unit is!

boatgeek said:

This is looking great. If anyone comments that the paint details aren't scale, put your nose in the air and say "They are correct for the [insert obscure air force that uses Iris-T here] markings. Obviously!"

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Nytrunner said:

Bugger the scalefolk I say! Just ask them where their flying detail-accurate IRIS-T with mock-functional IR unit is!

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For the record: no scale folk have given me any grief about this model so far. The vanishingly few that have commented at all have been supportive. That said, it's good to have a comeback ready to go.

I am tickled by the possibility that I might be the first to build a legitimate flying model of this thing, although lots (and lots!) of stuff gets built out there in the world without showing up on forums or other social media, so who knows.

"The vanishingly few that have commented at all have been supportive"
I have been surprised by the lack of comments/support on the site. I come from a model aircraft background and if you post something like "kit bashing a blah-blah to blah-blah" or "blah-blah build thread" on the site I use to visit, you'll have a dozen comments the next day and people subscribed to the thread. They are quite the enablers Not so much here. I've had just a few people post on my Estes Star Orbiter to IQSY Tomahawk bash but those that did have been helpful and supportive which is great because I just decided to try rocketry again after many, many years. Oh, and I haven't completely followed instructions in years

Anyway, the decals look great (like the rest of the build) and I am looking forward to the final pictures! I'm gonna be hitting you up for how you made the decals because I see another bash coming up (after the Honest John build) that is going to require some.

-Bob

Eh, different strokes?

Speaking personally, I usually take an art gallery position when reading threads.
(Until I have a question in which case I drop a tangent into the conversation like a 5 ton brick)

I'm more present than normal on this one because I'm indirectly responsible for its existence

Pictures help generate comments, videos are even better.

And yeah, outside of the watering hole people pretty much try to be helpful and offer constructive advice. The only time you'll get a harsh word is if you start being a troll or repeatedly dismissing words of caution against unsafe practices by the inexperienced or continually pontificating about a subject you're demonstrably ignorant of.

Bruiser said:

"The vanishingly few that have commented at all have been supportive"
I have been surprised by the lack of comments/support on the site.

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In this case I was referring to the vanishingly few "scale guys". Particularly in the latter parts of this build, there has been plenty of participation from folks in general. I suppose, though, that I don't know which if any are actually "scale guys", because I'm not one and don't, shall we say, travel in those circles.

Nytrunner said:

I'm more present than normal on this one because I'm indirectly responsible for its existence

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"Indirectly"?

You made all your own choices here lol

Nytrunner said:

You made all your own choices here lol

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I know, just pokin' ya. I'm actually really grateful because this has been one of my most rewarding builds (competing for the top spot, to be sure), and it never would have entered my thoughts otherwise.

neil_w said:

In this case I was referring to the vanishingly few "scale guys". Particularly in the latter parts of this build, there has been plenty of participation from folks in general. I suppose, though, that I don't know which if any are actually "scale guys", because I'm not one and don't, shall we say, travel in those circles.

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It occurred to me shortly after I posted this what an idiotic statement my previous one was. I haven't the foggiest idea which participants on this thread might be "scale guys". I perhaps have a slightly clearer idea on YORF, where I've been posting an abbreviated version of this build thread.

In any case, this build has not started any flame wars yet, so I think I'm doing OK.

More decals: this time the bolts on the front strakes and bulges.

Here's a close-up of one of the side bulges (from photo of the real thing):


There are two bolts on each side of the strake. The two strakes without the bulges have the same four bolts surrounding them.

Well, when I went to put on the decals, I found that I had not really left enough room:



It's not *impossible* that I could get them in there, but it would be really difficult, and screwing it up would be the most likely outcome. I reluctantly decided to forego these decals. Mildly annoying but no tragedy, they were not nearly the most important details here.

The 10 additional bolts that hold the bulge on were more important and still OK, and so on they went as one big piece. Only right now, looking at that picture above, do I realize I put the bolts too close to the top and bottom of the bulge. They should have been further in. Oh well!


Above mage also shows the logo, which is much bluer than in that picture (I'll get better pics at the end), and a bit of the guidance serrno plate underneath the strake. The logo is ever so slightly crooked, which seems to be a chronic problem with my decals. I'm going to need to be more rigorous with my placement methodology in the future. As with most of these things, it's not noticeable unless you really scrutinize it, but it's annoying that I'm making these dumb mistakes at the end.

Next up: the wing bolts. I'm still working on them, they will be where I attempt to implement my more careful and controlled placement system, once I figure out what that is.

Next up: the wing bolts. Each wing has a set of large bolts on each side, fastening them through the skirts to the body bands:


As mentioned previously, I wanted to be sure to get these on straight and consistent. My first try was to put pieces of tape on each spot to provide alignment:


Problem: I was no better at putting the tape on straight than the decals. Getting the tape to "land" in the correct spot was amazingly difficult. So I gave up and ripped off all the tape, and decided to just eyeball it, but carefully. What I realized is that the bolt decals are small enough that I could nudge them around a bit with tweezers to get them into the best possible position (not as easy or possible with the larger decals).

End result is good. Here's one set:


A few other miscellaneous decals are visible in this picture as well.

Ultimately, my rendering of the bolts as outlines with dots in the middle is imperfect at best, but without something like an ALPS printer I couldn't think of what else to do really. I'm happy with the results.

I did run into one snag though: I printed six sets of bolts (four plus two spares), and tonight I realized I needed *eight*, since I had overlooked that each wing uses two sets. So I'll need to print some more. This opens up the possibility of adding a few more bolt details elsewhere on the model. See, there is still more dragging out of this build to be done!

*sigh* All I can think of when I see that warning label is that something happened in the past and now there have to be "Do Not Drop the Missile" labels on everything....

This is why we can’t have nice weapons!

Based on photos, I’m not at all sure those warnings are on the deployed missiles, but (as with all my decal decisions) I just went with what I liked.

Oh that's one you made up! Now I wonder what the real one said

Nytrunner said:

Oh that's one you made up! Now I wonder what the real one said

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No, that *is* what the real one says. My made up one from back in the day said "Be careful out there".

Here's some more freaking decals. Thankfully we are nearing the end. Final tally will be something around 60 individual decals on this thing.

The one good picture I have of the wiring tunnel shows bolts along each edge, plus a few extras here and there. I'm not at all sure is they are visible on production missiles but I decided to throw them in. They're pretty minor in the grand scheme of things but they add a bit of detail to the underside.

Each pair of bolts (across from each other on the tunnel) was done as one decal. These guys are tiny:


To ensure that they were spaced evenly on the tunnel (every two inches, I measured and placed tape markers at each position, with a pencil mark to show it exactly.


Then the decals were applied. Very fine-tipped tweezers came in handy here. As with the wing bolts, I found that the only practical approach here was to throw down the decal in the correct general vicinity and then nudge it around with the tweezers until is was perfectly placed (well, as good as my eyes could manage, anyway). Because these decals were so small and easily knocked off position, I had to wait until they were well adhered (but not yet dry) before slathering them with Micro-Sol.

I'm pleased with the final result:

#tedious

BDB said:

#tedious

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#notasbadasyoudthink
#cuttingthemoutistheworstpart

These are gonna take a while.

Sir.. you are a steely eyed missile man!

Awesome thread.

Even though I gave you pictures, I can't place a few of those decals.

The arrows, bolt pairs and slots from the 2nd page I recognize. I'm having trouble with the half bolts, triangles, and....buckets? on the 1st

Nytrunner said:

'm having trouble with the half bolts, triangles, and....buckets?

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Half bolts: at the edge of the fairings, on the BT. I may or may not run out of energy before doing those.
Triangles: three bolts at the front of the fairings. The red lines are cut guides, which are not actually all that helpful
"Buckets": The thing on the fairing under the trailing edge of the control fins, needs to be fit around the fin. I'll show that in more detail in later posts.

OK, let's talk about those fin can decals. Nytrunner sent me this amazing picture, which unfortunately I failed to properly study earlier in the build. Maybe I'll get back to that later, but for now it provides a good reference for the decals. At least I *think* so: many of the IRIS-T photos I've collected to not have the fin can painted like this. Anyway:


I chose not to recreate every bolt, but I'm trying to cover the major features.

The first round of decals (which may turn out to be the only one, haven't decided yet) is done in four separate sessions. Each session covers all the decals that face in the same direction, which is up. This way I can apply all of them, then apply Micro-sol, and leave the whole thing to dry.

Here's the setup, with all the decal points labeled:


My sequence is intended to minimize the likelihood of bumping into a decal and messing it up while doing the later ones.

Here's the set of decals for this one session. They are very small (most of them) and require careful cutting. I do almost all of it with scissors.


Decal #1 is the three bolts in a triangle; these go at the front of the actuator fairing. I didn't get the triangle shape exactly correct in my decal, but I'm not worrying about it.

Decal #2 is the one that looks sort of like a bucket. This represents the piece that sits underneath the trailing edge of the control fin (see picture #1). Not sure what that is; it *looks like* it holds the control fin in place, and then perhaps retracts when it's time to fly. Because my fin is glued all the way down, the decal cannot go under it, but must instead wrap around it to look correct. And so I need to cut a slot out of the decal:


That is a pain. I wasn't sure how it was going to look, but I'm very happy with the result:


Decal #3 is a 4-bolt rectangle at the aft edge of the fairing.

Decals #4 and #5 each consist of:
a) the little arrow that points forward. Are they worried that someone will install this backwards, or not realize which direction the missile flies? I admit I'm a bit puzzled. But they look good. Cutting out the little arrows is Not Fun. Also positioning them precisely was challenging.
b) Near the root edge of the fin, two recesses in the bulges for bolts.

Here is the finished set:


Compared to the first picture, I think that's a decent representation. I have two sessions done so far, two more to go.

Incredible!

the awesomeness continues!

-Bob

Thanks. I think I'm about ready for the awesomeness to end, if you know what I mean.

Just keeps getting better and better.

Any tricks with recovery planned to preserve that pristine contact lens on the front when the rocket returns to a Terra (too) Firma?

BABAR said:

Any tricks with recovery planned to preserve that pristine contact lens on the front when the rocket returns to a Terra (too) Firma?

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The old "Land on Grass" trick comes o mind

BABAR said:

Any tricks with recovery planned to preserve that pristine contact lens on the front when the rocket returns to a Terra (too) Firma?

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I have thought about this.

I have three options I can think of:
1) As Nytrunner says: "Land on grass". This is generally true of my usual launch sites, but there's no guarantee.
2) Cover up the dome with tape or something for flying. That would be sad, but probably no worse than those who remove the towers from Redstone or Saturn models before flying.
3) Don't worry about it. I have materials to make at least a couple more domes if necessary.

I think if I could come up with a not-too-ugly mostly-transparent temporary cover, then I would go with #2. I am not sure how to do that, though. Odds of finding another clear dome that would fit well on top would be slim to none. If anyone has any ideas I'm open.