What did you do rocket wise today?

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Clear coated the wings and tail of the GLR Nuclear Sledgehammer and worked on pictures and captioning for a Science Fair outreach we are doing Friday night.
 

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Worked on some MD rocket designs. Tried to pick out a CNC machine for cutting fins. Worked on a L3 cert rocket design. Brainstormed/planned some rocket trips (Delamar & Colorado). Worked on job application stuff (which counts for this thread because it'll help me fund more rockets).
 
Put together a Leading Edge "Skeeter" last night. BT-60 sized, upscale Mosquito. Bridges the gap between the regular Mosquito and the Mega Mosquito. Didn't do a single build in January, guess I was burned out without even realizing it. Time to finish some projects that are in limbo.
IMG_20190206_132800.jpg
 
Packing rockets for HARA launch tomorrow

Accidentally learned that wadding and kleenex look the same in peripheral vision, and one of them is Not good for blowing the nose.....
 
Got more of my rocket stuff out of storage and moved to our basement after our move in June. Soon my rocket lab and my garage workshop will be open for business (I hope).
 
Dusted off my stalled Falcon 3, and taped off for the last set of fillets...I'm back baby!

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Sanded the DAP "plastic wood" filets on my Crossfire ISX. Put about 8 coats of clear on the ISX's nosecone and nozzle, because I'm using glitter paint and have to raise the clear over the texture. I'll probably add decals and throw on 2 more coats (or so), then wet sand/polish.

Guided my daughter through putting together her Generic E2X. It's all slapped together, awaiting paint. Got the plastic bits all masked off properly for her glitter paint job (the glitter on all 3 rockets was her idea).
 
Its what I haven't done! Waiting to prime 2 rockets! My 2 engine cluster Big Bertha (need to apply last prime coat) and the 1st prime coat on the AeroTech Arreauxbee-Hi. I never had this hard of a time painting in Dallas, Tx.
 
Made a pretty bad error in painting. Thought I could get away with light coats, even in cold weather. I kept the cans indoors to get up to room temp.

Base gloss coat/primer combo went fine. I waited the "either 1 hour or 48 hours" on the can (actually 1 hour) before spraying the glitter coats. Daugher's nosecone / fin can, and the body on my Crossfire ISX, both look like road maps. Fins are OK on mine. My son's turned out just fine regardless. Seems the darker colors work better with Rustoleum glitter and/or 2x? not sure.

Either way, lessons learned:
1) Sand glassine layer a bit, and rough up plastic parts to promote adhesion.
2) Wait for warmer weather
3) Ignore the 1 hour option on the can, let it dry a full 48 instead.

I'm going to try to get some aggro sandpaper and knock off the paint on the ISX and start over. Option B is to fill the cracks with something (I have DAP putty that I used for filets) and re-coat. My daughters I think is salvageable. EDIT: no, it's not. Just checked. Add it to the "to be sanded" list.

Sometimes, you just have to back up and punt!
 
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It must be *less* than 1 hour. In other words, you must do all your painting within 1 hour or else wait a couple of days (or more, especially in the cold weather.) If you waited 1 hour to start the next coat that could explain your problem.

Normally I wait 10-15 minutes between coats, planning so that the final coat is done within the hour. This includes the times when I've done primer coats followed by top coats within that hour (only tried that once, but it worked).

Knock on wood I haven't had a crinkle coat yet, although I realize it'll happen eventually.
 
Through 4 bags (out of 12) on the Lego Saturn V. This has has so far yielded plenty of the "Holy crap these guys are geniuses" moments. Construction is very impressive.

I have some ideas about how the center could be hollowed out to make room for a body tube, but there would be plenty of challenging details to work out. I'd really love to see a full build thread (or at least a blog post) on how those guys in the Lego video converted theirs to be launchable. There would be a lot more to it than just using lots of Kragle.

s5bag4.JPG
 
shanejohnson2002 said:
Made a pretty bad error in painting. Thought I could get away with light coats, even in cold weather. I kept the cans indoors to get up to room temp.

Base gloss coat/primer combo went fine. I waited the "either 1 hour or 48 hours" on the can (actually 1 hour) before spraying the glitter coats. Daugher's nosecone / fin can, and the body on my Crossfire ISX, both look like road maps. Fins are OK on mine. My son's turned out just fine regardless. Seems the darker colors work better with Rustoleum glitter and/or 2x? not sure.

Either way, lessons learned:
1) Sand glassine layer a bit, and rough up plastic parts to promote adhesion.
2) Wait for warmer weather
3) Ignore the 1 hour option on the can, let it dry a full 48 instead.

I'm going to try to get some aggro sandpaper and knock off the paint on the ISX and start over. Option B is to fill the cracks with something (I have DAP putty that I used for filets) and re-coat. My daughters I think is salvageable. EDIT: no, it's not. Just checked. Add it to the "to be sanded" list.

Sometimes, you just have to back up and punt!
Click to expand...
Sounds like your glitter paint slid off the gloss undercoat. Try a flat undercoat (or primer) instead, and go very light, building up successively.
Glitter and fluorescent paints are a different formulation than spray enamels. I found out the hard way.;)
 
neil_w said:
It must be *less* than 1 hour. In other words, you must do all your painting within 1 hour or else wait a couple of days (or more, especially in the cold weather.) If you waited 1 hour to start the next coat that could explain your problem.

Normally I wait 10-15 minutes between coats, planning so that the final coat is done within the hour. This includes the times when I've done primer coats followed by top coats within that hour (only tried that once, but it worked).

Knock on wood I haven't had a crinkle coat yet, although I realize it'll happen eventually.
Click to expand...

True, except it's 35 degrees outside. I figured being colder would push it closer to an actual hour.
 
kuririn said:
Sounds like your glitter paint slid off the gloss undercoat. Try a flat undercoat (or primer) instead, and go very light, building up successively.
Glitter and fluorescent paints are a different formulation than spray enamels. I found out the hard way.;)
Click to expand...

I wish that were what happened. I masked off the tube sections of the nose and fins, and cut holes in a cardboard box to hold them. When I walked back outside to check on the glitter paint, I could very clearly see cardboard color inside the crackling on the overspray.

Either way, sand it back and start over seems to be my best bet.
 
shanejohnson2002 said:
True, except it's 35 degrees outside. I figured being colder would push it closer to an actual hour.
Click to expand...

Well the other part is that you’re not supposed to paint in 35 degree weather... ;)

But either way it *sounds* like you might have waited too long between base and glitter. But hard to ever know for certain.
 
neil_w said:
Well the other part is that you’re not supposed to paint in 35 degree weather... ;)

But either way it *sounds* like you might have waited too long between base and glitter. But hard to ever know for certain.
Click to expand...


Lol that's fair. Chalking that one up to "lessons learned".

Unfortunately I have no heated space I can use for painting, so it might have to wait until spring weather. Which, where I live, could be this Tuesday, followed by a snowstorm on Wednesday.

On a good note, my son's still shows no signs of any issues. So I'm batting 1 out of 3 this weekend.
 
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Dropped in to the LHS, Apogee Components :), grabbed 3" tube, and a Dino Chute to fit an extra Big Daddy nose cone I had laying around! Now, to cluster or not to cluster? Interchangeable MMT? Yahoo... Still waiting for the temp to get above balls cold so I can finish painting the Big Bertha and pin-stripe the Big Daddy stretched
 
Epoxied CR into a 5.5" nosecone, and shovelled snow. Now the sun comes out an makes me look silly.
 

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