Yes, another Saturn V build...

I picked up the new Estes kit Christmas `09 hoping for a fast build, however, life just seems to get in the way...who knew :sigh: Anyway, after coming up with a different way to construct the fins ( see here: https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?p=138956 ) I finished most of the construction and painting a few weeks ago. I've tried to keep it to the standard build hoping to keep the weight down and fly on D12 motors (just to anger some naysayrs) or Aerotech Es. I modded the fins and the tower but still wanted to keep it at 11 oz ready to fly. Well, I almost made it. I sits at 12.6 oz ready to fly...with all the mods (see fin post).
Now the question I have is this...should I use a wrap for the Service Module or just detail the basic BT. I've already painted the tube silver and have made "raised" ESC radiators (white panels) to detail the BT...OR...I have a wrap I made in powerpoint. I used the gradiant in PP to make it look like silver and print on my printer. Pictures are below. The ESC grills are made out of self-stick lable paper to give them some raised effect (I printed a few extra in case I dork it up...)

What do you think? Wrap or No?

... or you could print the wrap on clear inkjet decal paper and use it!.

If your silver looks good to you, give it a coat of Future ONLY if it does not affect the silver...giving a smooth surface for good decal adhesion. BTW, Valspar Brushed Nickel and Tamiya Mica Silver, both look good as silver and take clear coat well.

Go back to PP and take out the gradient effect and the color. This will leave you with a just the lines. Since we cannot print white with an inket, you can leave just the outline of those areas on the decal and apply the grills later.

After the decal is dry give it one coat of Future and let cure for 24 hours. Then apply the grills and any other decals you want... the U.S. flags may present a problem since they also have white... may have to resort to regular silkscreen or ALPS printed decals. I may have some U.S. flags already printed from my ALPS that may fit your needs. If you want, send me an email with the PP file and I can try printing the white parts and the US flags for you. My ALPS is not working properly as it has a head burned that shows up on the decal as a fine line every .4 inches...

BTW, I did the fins of my Saturn V the way you did your and they rock! Very strong and sturdy. I had to trim the fairings a little but it worked out fine.

- RPR

ps... I sent you a PP file with what I have as the CM and flags...

I like Raul's idea about making a clear decal over silver. For the radiator panels, I have some white corrugated paper you could cut to make those. Let me know if you are interested and I'll put a piece in the mail.

I'll have to follow this one The clear decal sounds great. Are you single engine or cluster?
Cheers
fred

I'm flying it single engine. The original purpose was to do a quick build...that didn't happen. I like the idea of a cluster but didn't get there on this one. I am working on a Sat 1B that will have an interchangeable mount for cluster/single. Speaking of cluster, I need to come up with something to burn through all of those A8-3s I have left from the Blast-off packs!:y:

Just got my Saturn V in today. What did you use to mask off the black from white? I have a terrible time coming up with clean lines.

madmatt54 said:

Just got my Saturn V in today. What did you use to mask off the black from white? I have a terrible time coming up with clean lines.

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Tamiya tape and a wooden stick to burnish it down prior to paint. You have to go light and spray only mist coats until the paint builds up. I did get a little overspray in a few places but was able to clean it up with an Exacto knife (scraping). The other thing is to let the white base coat dry completly (in my case...6 mths :eyeroll

Went to check on the white paint on my saturn V, already collected a dozen or so "passengers"

Thanks, yours looked really nice, and I always end up with rough edges. I don't think I have the patience to wait for 6 months of dry time though.

I noticed your middle roll pattern is different than mine. Was hard to tell where to put it looking at the instructions. I was going by bottom tailcones of the details going sticking beyond the wrap. But now I see your picture, you went by the eight rockets centered in the bars. Mine more closely matches the instructions 3 13/16"... I am wondering which is right? Every time I look at my Sat V, am I going notice where I messed up?

There's a inconsistency in the measurements.
The paint pictures in the instructions are actually of the older Estes Saturn, not the (closer to the) Centuri Saturn you built.
I explain it all in my blog:

https://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com/2011/06/estes-saturn-v-build-part-54-interstage.html

Check Part 54 and a few posts before that.
The stated measurements are from the old Estes kit instructions.
Those instruction measurements don't match the raised masking lines on the (Centuri) vacuform wraps!
I had a few "what?" moments myself when masking.

Actually your's is right. I didn't follow the instructions too closely. When I started masking, it looked like the right place. I thought they wanted the top of the wrap painted at the upper seam on the corrugations. It appears they wanted the second one painted....
Where I went wrong was that in most pictures it appears the upper-most corrugations are painted. There is another smooth band around the SII tank that is not painted (white). Estes provides two cooregated sections...I painted the upper most...it is not correct...at least on the real Saturn V. So rest asured yours is by the instructions and mine is not...

So great...now I really am going to launch this with a D12... I christen thee "Apollo 20"... :eyeroll:

hcmbanjo said:

There's a inconsistency in the measurements.
The paint pictures in the instructions are actually of the older Estes Saturn, not the (closer to the) Centuri Saturn you built.

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I noticed that too. I built the one pictured in the instructions back when I was a teen, maybe pre-teen. There is a lot of differences between that kit and the newer one. In many ways, I like the older one better. Glueing on all the details would of eliminated a lot of masking.

Nice blog btw.

I started out masking, but then abandoned it and just went and did it by hand. It's not as difficult as it seems. A fine brush to do the edge's and then a nice fat brush to fill it. I did a flat white primer, gloss white base (old krylon), then flat black roll patterns (Testors).

Nice job!

n3tjm said:

I noticed that too. I built the one pictured in the instructions back when I was a teen, maybe pre-teen. There is a lot of differences between that kit and the newer one. In many ways, I like the older one better. Glueing on all the details would of eliminated a lot of masking.
Nice blog btw.

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Thanks for stopping by the blog!
I was excited to get this version of the Saturn V. I liked the depth of the corrugations in the vacuform wraps over the flat embossed cardstock in the old Estes kit.
(I know either kit corrugations aren't really true to scale.)
I agree, gluing on the details after masking (old Estes) was so much easier than masking around the vacuform wrap details. (New Estes version)

Finished my Saturn V . Its on display at my church. Man those parachutes took a long time to assemble. Those shrould line bundles just wanted to tangle up. Opinions on the new chutes?

n3tjm said:

Finished my Saturn V . Its on display at my church. Man those parachutes took a long time to assemble. Those shrould line bundles just wanted to tangle up. Opinions on the new chutes?

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Sounds like a cool church Your saturn looks great. I will open that new one as i have just been building the old kits.
Cheers
fred