Maybe better to stay with the paint you like and just change the color, unless you really want to match mine, which isn't necessary. Which DupliColor product line are we talking about?
Alcubierre Upscale (a Neil_W design)
- Thread starter SDramstad
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Neil, I looked through all the paint product lines. They make a ton of stuff.
The perfect match line is what I was looking at.
I'm going a little crazy with this... when I look up the Duplicolor page I only see like 5 colors, all black/white/grey. Where is the color chart?
Exactly. Kind of drove me crazy too. From the duplicolor website click "where to buy" then "amazon" then "perfect match". There is a tab to click there for color and a long list pops up. Its the only place I have found list so far.
I ended up scrolling through the Pep Boys product pages. Geez Dupli-color, get your act together.
Anyway, most promising colors I saw seemed to be in the blue family: Bright Aqua Metallic, Intense Blue Pearl, and Cayman Green Metallic (which looks pretty blue to me). These all presume a similar overall scheme, just swapping the color. If willing to go a bit darker, there are some darker reds that look nice: Dark Cherry Metallic and Inferno Red Metallic.
Given that this product line is intended for matching car colors, it's not too much of a surprise that there's no magenta-like colors.
Anyway, most promising colors I saw seemed to be in the blue family: Bright Aqua Metallic, Intense Blue Pearl, and Cayman Green Metallic (which looks pretty blue to me). These all presume a similar overall scheme, just swapping the color. If willing to go a bit darker, there are some darker reds that look nice: Dark Cherry Metallic and Inferno Red Metallic.
Given that this product line is intended for matching car colors, it's not too much of a surprise that there's no magenta-like colors.
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I was looking at a can of Inferno Red Metallic at auto zone last night. Looked pretty good.
And what? No one likes magenta cars??? Whats up with that???
And what? No one likes magenta cars??? Whats up with that???
One comment on the Inferno Red: it's pretty dark, and may not contrast all that well with the carbon fiber. It's possible that some silver edging (or something like that) on the carbon fiber would help define it a bit better, but I don't know if you want to do anything like that.
Maybe 2 colors on the body tube. Aft end including fins silver grey. Nose cone and forward body Inferno red. Transition line would run diagonally from the forward edge of the top fin down to the belly at an angle about the same as the nose cone.
I think I get what you're saying. Do you want the wings to be all silver, or should the transition line include them?
I think the wings should be all silver but I need to go stare at it for awhile before I make up my mind.
Leaving the paint job aside for now my next step is to start on the E-bay. I am using a 6 inch fiberglass coupler as a case and will be using a Stratologger CF for the altimeter.
I am using 2 bulkheads at each end, 1 tube bulkhead and 1 coupler bulkhead. I put glue between the 2 pieces then tightened a 1/4-20 bolt down through the center hole to hold it tight while the glue dries. The sled is made of 2 1/8 inch thick plywood that has 2 1/4 x 1/4 inch balsa strips glued in between. 1 is glued along the long edge of the sled and the other about 1/2 inch in from the edge. I then glue another 1/4 x 1/4 strip running the long way inside the coupler. When assembled the 1/4-20 threaded rod will slide in between the 2 pieces of plywood and the balsa strip will slide between them along the edge of the sled. This will hold the sled in position so the power switch will stay aligned with the access holes. I picked up some eye bolts awhile back and will use them on this build. One will be lock-tighted to the threaded rod and the other will screw on and off to allow access to the inside. For power I am using a 200mah LiFE battery that I used to get from Hobbico before they closed up. Having a hard time finding those now.....
Will finish assembly on the ebay in a few days. Will put up more pictures then. I do need some input here. The pods I am putting on the wings have a balsa wood "ramjet nosecone". Was thinking of using one on each end of the pods.
How does that look? If I do this I will need to cut about 1.5 inches of tube from the back of the pods so the ramjet doesnt hit the ground first.
More later....
I am using 2 bulkheads at each end, 1 tube bulkhead and 1 coupler bulkhead. I put glue between the 2 pieces then tightened a 1/4-20 bolt down through the center hole to hold it tight while the glue dries. The sled is made of 2 1/8 inch thick plywood that has 2 1/4 x 1/4 inch balsa strips glued in between. 1 is glued along the long edge of the sled and the other about 1/2 inch in from the edge. I then glue another 1/4 x 1/4 strip running the long way inside the coupler. When assembled the 1/4-20 threaded rod will slide in between the 2 pieces of plywood and the balsa strip will slide between them along the edge of the sled. This will hold the sled in position so the power switch will stay aligned with the access holes. I picked up some eye bolts awhile back and will use them on this build. One will be lock-tighted to the threaded rod and the other will screw on and off to allow access to the inside. For power I am using a 200mah LiFE battery that I used to get from Hobbico before they closed up. Having a hard time finding those now.....
Will finish assembly on the ebay in a few days. Will put up more pictures then. I do need some input here. The pods I am putting on the wings have a balsa wood "ramjet nosecone". Was thinking of using one on each end of the pods.
How does that look? If I do this I will need to cut about 1.5 inches of tube from the back of the pods so the ramjet doesnt hit the ground first.
More later....
I suggest trying ogive or elliptical nose cones on the aft ends of the pods, with the ramjet fronts, and see how you like that.
Honestly I think it looks a bit weird with that cone at both ends. If you cut the spike off the rear piece you'd be left with something slightly more like a tail cone (although there's not much taper to it).
Are you planning to include the elliptical fins on the outside of the pods?
Are you planning to include the elliptical fins on the outside of the pods?
I still do plan on canards and the fins on the pods. Will have to browse the hardware store and see if I can find some balsa to turn.
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Concur. Truncated tailcone would be better. A ramjet or spike at the tail end doesn’t make sense to me.
Well, an aerospike nozzle doesn't look altogether different from an aerospike ramjet intake. On its own in the rear it wouldn't look bad. But I have to agree that being the same on both ends looks odd at best.
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It'd be some work, but a plug-cluster aerospike could look great. Or take a cue from sr71 aft end?
I think I am just going to turn some balsa on the lathe and get close to Neil's original look
Finally got back to it. I went ahead and ground the tips off the aft end of the pods and shaped them a bit.
I had also cut an inch off each of the pods to help with ground impact problems. Looks pretty good so far. Still need some filler and touch up on the balsa bits.
Pods are still not glued on yet. Want to wait until I have painted the fins and body before I glue them in. More to come, soon I hope.
I had also cut an inch off each of the pods to help with ground impact problems. Looks pretty good so far. Still need some filler and touch up on the balsa bits.
Pods are still not glued on yet. Want to wait until I have painted the fins and body before I glue them in. More to come, soon I hope.
Alright, nice to see this going, progress is looking good.
Thanks! I started my L3 build so this one slowed a bit. Will start a build thread for that one soon.
Dang, almost 2 months since I updated things here!!! Most of that time was spent on my L3 project but I did do a little bit on this build.
Did some painting. This is the hard part for me. The design comes easy, picking the colors not so much. Thought I would try silver and red.
Nose cone is still in primer. Could use some suggestions on finishing it up.
Was supposed to be at Mini Midwest power this weekend but that didnt work out. QCRC is supposed to have a launch in June. Maybe able to fly both this and my L3 then.
Did some painting. This is the hard part for me. The design comes easy, picking the colors not so much. Thought I would try silver and red.
Nose cone is still in primer. Could use some suggestions on finishing it up.
Was supposed to be at Mini Midwest power this weekend but that didnt work out. QCRC is supposed to have a launch in June. Maybe able to fly both this and my L3 then.
My suggestion would be more red among the silver. Maybe silver part way up the nose cone with red at the tip, or the reverse. Maybe red on the ventral fin. Or something like that.
As for smaller details: well, I'm better at the broad strokes.
As for smaller details: well, I'm better at the broad strokes.
And a little more work done. Installed the power connector and switch to the sled.
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Need some sort of oblique pattern that disguises the nose cone/ body joint. Maybe a multi window windshield decal that crosses the joint. I don’t know, I just know that an abrupt perpendicular/horizontal (with rocket pointed up) break like what you have now between painted body and different color cone doesn’t work for me,
It's hard to tell from the angled shots, but it looks like the masking line between the silver and red is approximately the same as the angle of the nose cone. That's a nice touch, I like it.
What about adding more along the same lines? Or, choosing a third color might look good.
I also like the idea of adding something that suggests a windshield on the front somewhere.
What about adding more along the same lines? Or, choosing a third color might look good.
I also like the idea of adding something that suggests a windshield on the front somewhere.
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Now I'm just drawing stuff......
By which I suppose to mean that the nose cone joint coincides with a panel boundary in the multi-panel window?
