A pair of Atlantis, a Gartrell, and maybe a Titan

[les]

I first had the rocket built and held the ring in place and marked the ring supports on the ring
I cut some tape strips and applied on the rings where the supports go.
Then while wearing gloves and holding ring by the edges, I sprayed the insides. Since the ring supports are not preset the painting is easy. And helps prevent runs.
I also put tape strips over the edges of the ring supports and pre-painted the tube and supports.


I will do a final coat of paint to cover the fillets and issues where the tape strips were not perfectly aligned and a bit of bare tube shows.
I may actually use a brush for the internal cleanup to avoid runs.

 

[neil_w]

Thanks, that’s what I figured was necessary but never give up hope that someone has a magical trick to make it easier.

 

[les]

Slow day. Primed the Estes Atlantis and worked the nacelle pods for the Sirius Atlantis. The Sirius nacelles didn't come out too bad. They are just dry fit at this point.
And bought some stuff for the GT.

 

[les]

So what is this?



Since the main part of the Sirius Atlantis is painted, I wanted to pre-paint the nacelle pods



Some clamps to hold and counterweight and we're off the the paint area



The directions warn to do very light coats so the primer does not attack the plastic. So it took 3 light coats to cover.



Now for cleanup.....

 

[les]

For the Gemini Titan, starting to work the motor mount

Pre-painted the motor tube ends and inside the nozzles



Masked the capsule and 3 coats of black





For the Sirius Atlantis, used some bondo to clean up the ends, and then another coat of primer

 

[BABAR]

ATTENTION - WE INTERRUPT THIS BUILD THREAD FOR A GRATUITOUS PICTURE

Before the build thread I had been working on a Fliskits Deuces Wild.
For various reasons I had to do the paint 3x
Finally done....

View attachment 364051 View attachment 364052 View attachment 364053

We now return to the build thread in progress
Thank you

Realize this reply is a bit late, but I really LIKE the paint scheme on this!

 

[les]

Argh - pulled tape off GT capsule. Some bleeding that needs to be cleaned up



sigh....

Lightly painting the Estes Atlantis doing multiple light coats

 

[les]

GT time. And an extra day of effort

Cut a bit of extra BT80 tube into a coupler. Cut some windows to lighten the weight and glued the tube holders. I'm going to also use the 1/4" lugs to hold the removable fins. Made holes for those. They ended up a tad big so using some tape to build up the lugs.



Painted the ends of the motor tubes and inside the nozzles. Dry fitted

 

[les]

Adding a solid balsa piece to represent the various supports and tubes. Also some dowels for the start of a structure. These are CA'ed to the tube guide

 

[les]

Estes Atlantis - used a brush to touch up where the spray can does not reach


Sirius Atlantis - painting the nacelles



Gemini Titan - Mixed up a bit of black epoxy to glue the nozzles in place
Glued motor tubes to mount, and started adding details

 

[les]

Needed some smaller dowels, didn't have any and didn't want to wait to order some. Came up with the idea to use some toothpicks. But they are the square type.
But a bit sandpaper and a drill changed square to round.......



Building up the engine structure

 

[les]

Attached the bridge to the Sirius Atlantis



Touched up the painting of the Estes Atlantis (no pix).

The Gartrell and and GT capsule needed paint cleanup as well. Discovered I had run out of Rustoleum 2X gloss white. Picked some up Saturday.
Did the cleanup on the Gartrell (no pix) and the capsule (that one I got a pix of)

 

[les]

GT - Applied First Vinyl!

Just plain color on the 3D printed interstage I got from shapeways.

Using the light shining from rear to cut out the vinyl.



All "done" (still need a do a bit of cleanup)

 

[les]

Worked on the motor mount for the GT. Used epoxy for the joints of the 2 motor tubes to the stuffer tube. I wanted to make sure all edges were protected


And then back to the Sirius Atlantis - Installed the bridge deck and nacelles



The tape stripes were a bit over size, so time for some more paint. Before and After...





And last for tonight....
Skinned the GT capsule. I did have some issues. Fortunately, 2 sets of capsule skins are provided allowing me to fix my issues....

 

[les]

Philosophical question ---- If you plan on mucking up, and then make the mistake, did you really muck up? After all, you planned for it, right??

When I was gluing up the motor mount, the instructions tell you to use the main tubes to ensure the motor tubes will be straight.
While I tried to be careful to keep the epoxy away from the edge, well...
I was concerned that it might get stuck so I did make sure it was located in the right place. Thank goodness....

Been doing the main body skinning and started applying the decals to the Gartrell and Estes Atlantis



GT - Trying to touch up the edges of the interstage I did mess things up - unplanned.
I sent a message requesting to buy a replacement just for that section - waiting for a reply.
Although with my error it has a sort of weathered look......

 

[snrkl]

.
Although with my error it has a sort of weathered look......

Pics?

 

[les]

Here. Actually got worse overnight. I think some of the cleaner I was trying to use got behind the vinyl.

 

[les]

Except for clear coat, I now declare the Gartrell complete!
I did change up the decal placement some from the face card

 

[Huxter]

>> Except for clear coat, I now declare the Gartrell complete!

Complete w launch lug!?

All great builds and documentation - thank you! Very inspirational!

Now I have so many questions to lookup (ie coloring epoxy) !

 

[les]

Complete w launch lug!?

Yes - it has its launch lug. Just not visible in the shots I took...



So now I get a copper lollipop!



Wait - that's not a lollipop. It's the antenna for Sirius Atlantis

Like the antenna on the Estes Atlantis

 

[les]

So again, except for clear coat I now declare the Estes Atlantis complete!!! (and yes, it has its launch lug on it )



Still waiting for the paint to dry on the Sirius Atlantis before I can decal and for replacement skins from John at Accur8 for the GT, so things will slow down a bit.

My next major challenge? Deciding what to build next........

 

[les]

I clear coated the Gartrell and Estes Atlantis, No new pix - can't really see clear........

I put the Sirius Atlantis by a heater which helped, and started to do decals. There are lots of decals........... Figure a minimum of 2 more nights

 

[les]

Started sanding some stock for the GT tunnels and painting them for better skin adhesion

 

[les]

And more decals on the Sirius Atlantis

 

[les]

Finally installed the antenna ... and the final decal



So the Sirius Atlantis is now done - except for the clear coat... (LOTS of decals!)

 

[neil_w]

Sirius Atlantis looks like a fun build.

 

[les]

Some shots of the base of the GT. Not really scale, but has some of the bits and looks OK from from a distance



Skinned some tunnels and started attaching

 

[les]

GT fins - Got some 0.05" thick acrylic sheet and some 1/4" round acrylic.

Cut the sheet into 2.5" x 2.5" squares. Used a combo of sanding and torch to clean up the edges.

Glued 2 together at right angle using thick CA on wax paper


I had to build up the rod thickness with some tape



And then used CA to glue the rod to the fins



This approach added some strength to the fin joint as each fin now has 2 glue points - fin to fin and fin to rod.
If I had just glued the fin directly to the rod there would have only been one glue joint.

Here is the fin unit on the rocket

 

[snrkl]

GT fins - Got some 0.05" thick acrylic sheet and some 1/4" round acrylic.

Cut the sheet into 2.5" x 2.5" squares. Used a combo of sanding and torch to clean up the edges.

Glued 2 together at right angle using thick CA on wax paper
View attachment 366501

I had to build up the rod thickness with some tape

View attachment 366502

And then used CA to glue the rod to the fins

View attachment 366503

This approach added some strength to the fin joint as each fin now has 2 glue points - fin to fin and fin to rod.
If I had just glued the fin directly to the rod there would have only been one glue joint.

Here is the fin unit on the rocket

View attachment 366507

We used to bend acrylic sheet like this with a strip bar heater - that might have worked here for the 90° bend maybe?



I’ve seen some instructions online on how to make your own strip heater.

 

[les]

We used to bend acrylic sheet like this with a strip bar heater - that might have worked here for the 90° bend maybe?

I’ve seen some instructions online on how to make your own strip heater.

True, but it is rare that I would use clear fins so I'm not sure it would have been worth the bother to build my own....