Build thread: NewWay Angled Invader

[neil_w]

NOSE CONE

I decided to jump ahead and put the nose cone together, because... well, maybe I just needed a break from fin prep.

Another cute little jig is used to align the side bulge pieces. on the sides of the cone, and then a quick application of liquid plastic cement seals the deal.

I used an old (!) bottle of Ambroid that my Dad had, and it glued the pieces of ABS quite securely.

After I was finished, I was admiring my handiwork and noticed that the two bulges were not quite at the same height on the nose. Not a big deal (won't be noticeable unless you're looking) but I was curious to see how it could have happened. I turns out I must have had the jig a little bit off kilter when I positioned the piece. After assembly, here's how the jig fit back onto the two sides:

The one on the right is the one that ended up lower on the cone.

<Right now Rick is probably facepalming. I know I would be.>

I was prepared to chalk this up to my own carelessness at using the jig. But later, after having removed all the other pieces from the cardstock sheet 'o' jigs, I noticed an extra piece left over:

This piece should have gone underneath, where it would have held the position of the jig against the shoulder of the nose cone. Now looking back at the instructions, I can see where it shows this piece in place, but it was not obvious and I missed it. If I had gone in the correct order, I would have noticed the extra piece and would have figured it out. Really, this was a dumb mistake on my part. Fortunately the consequences are not too bad, and the rocket will look fine when finished.

After some filler/primer the nose is finished and smooth as a baby's butt.

 

[neil_w]

GETTIN' JIGGY

I decided to build all the rest of the jigs, just because I felt like it. This is where I noticed the extra piece that should have gone into the nose cone jig.

The great thing about these jigs is that it gives more stuff to build. Even if it's trivial stuff, just having the opportunity to glue more stuff together makes me happy.

 

[BABAR]

GETTIN' JIGGY

I decided to build all the rest of the jigs, just because I felt like it. This is where I noticed the extra piece that should have gone into the nose cone jig.
View attachment 542997
The great thing about these jigs is that it gives more stuff to build. Even if it's trivial stuff, just having the opportunity to glue more stuff together makes me happy.

Next you will be CWFing them, priming them, painting them, and ordering decals from StickerShock!

 

[neil_w]

Next you will be CWFing them, priming them, painting them, and ordering decals from StickerShock!

That’s a completely ridiculous idea.



Of course I would print my own decals.

 

[neil_w]

PODS

There are some interesting side-effects from using square body tubes. One is that traditional paper marking guides that wrap around the tube aren't really practical. And so a little cardstock marking guide is provided to locate the dowels that attach to the pods:

I marked the location and masked it off before applying filler/primer.

Another thing about square body tubes is that sometimes fins must attach at strange angles. That is the case for the pods here, and so one jig is both for assembling and sanding the pod fins.

Sandpaper is wrapped around the pod tube, and the fin (shown at right) is sanded to create a good angle on the root edge. Even with the jig this was a bit tricky but eventually I got acceptable results.

I also used the jig to mark off where the root joints would be on the pod tubes, so I could remove the filler primer (I forgot to mark these before spraying).

The tube is placed in the jig, and the fins are attached. The jig holds them at the correct angle, and the angled root edges hopefully make good solid contact with the tube.

After my standard regimen of one thin fillet of TBII followed by Quick and Thick fillets the pods are finished.

Realistically, it looks like I could have waited to apply filler/primer to these completed subassemblies; sanding wouldn't be too bad. I still might, although it'll be OK without it.

 

[neil_w]

In case anyone was wondering:

 

[BABAR]

In case anyone was wondering:
View attachment 543316

I always thought imitation was the sincerest form of flattery, but in today’s business world permission is definitely safer if easier than forgiveness.

 

[neil_w]

LAUNCH LUGS

Dual launch lugs (square, naturally) are provided for symmetry. A little jig is provided for marking the locations.

(did the original Alien Invader have dual lugs?)

Once again I used the placement marks and removed the primer from the glue joint zone.

Then the lugs were glued in. Normally I would lay down my aluminum angle and rest the lug against it to ensure perfect straightness, but no such option here: it's pencil marks and eyeballs all the way. I had to fiddle with the positioning a bit until I was convinced that the two lugs were in perfect alignment with each other; it was weirdly difficult.

This positioning of the lugs ensures that the rod will miss the fin that will go in that slot.

I think my aluminum angle must be feeling forsaken. There isn't much use for it with square airframe components. Fear not Mr. AA, we'll get back to you on the next build!

 

[kuririn]

(did the original Alien Invader have dual lugs?)

Affirmative.

That reminds me, I really should get some filler/primer/paint on this puppy.
Great build thread, following with interest.

 

[Hobie1dog]

one cool design, .Thanks for all the pictures.

 

[modeltrains]

one cool design,

Hey, how's that for a rocket company name?

I can see the rocketry magazine article now, "The latest addition to One Cool Design's hundred and twenty-seven item catalog is ..."

 

[BABAR]

Hey, how's that for a rocket company name?

I can see the rocketry magazine article now, "The latest addition to One Cool Design's hundred and twenty-seven item catalog is ..."

Better than The Oneders, which was commonly phonetically pronounced.

Yes, I know it was a fictional movie, but it was enjoyable.

 

[bad_idea]

In case anyone was wondering:
View attachment 543316

That's good to know.

The extensive use of jigs in this kit is impressive and speaks of very thoughtful design. I'm currently designing assembly jigs for a design of my own, and they won't be nearly as efficient in their use of wood as these are.

Between making the effort to get Estes' blessing and that thorough design, I'm impressed. I'm not normally a kit builder, but if that NewWay Saturn V ever makes it to market, I might just have to build one.

 

[neil_w]

PAINT EXPERIMENTS

I have spent a stupid amount of mental energy thinking about how to handle the painting of the interior of the pods, which is supposed to be orange. In my experience doing that sort of thing with a rattle can is nearly impossible, and I don't have an airbrush, so that leaves the venerable paint brush. I also couldn't decide *when* to do it, but that decision was deferred.

Having had good enough results brush-painting cheap acrylic craft paint on my Deluxe Skywriter, I decided to see what I could with here. So I grabbed this stuff at Michael's:

That's Craft Smart white as base coat, Craft Smart "Neon Orange" and DecoArt "Torrid Orange" (a bit more expensive) as possible top coats. I used piece of scrap body tube as my test subject.

Note that capturing the essence of fluorescent colors in photos is very difficult or impossible, I did the best I could here.

The CS Neon Orange coated really nice and smooth, and it was very bright, but the color was not as saturated as I wanted, a bit too creamy. The DecoArt paint was much more intense orange, but it was thin and virtually impossible to get an even coat, e.g.:

Then I had the genius idea of applying the DecoArt paint on top of the Craft Smart Neon Orange, and that worked *much* better:

Now we're talking.

Then I began to wonder about how well this paint can handle masking, because if I were to do this in advance of the rest of the painting, then I would probably need to have it in masking tape for a pretty long time. So began part two of the experiment. I put 5 numbered pieces of tap on the inside of the tube:

I removed each piece at a different time. Thus far I have removed the first four pieces, with the last piece at 5 days. Thus far not even a hint of lifting. I'm going to do the last piece at two weeks; if that's OK then I'm clear to do this painting in advance.

 

[Hobie1dog]

that's the way test sample painting should be done.

 

[Bluegrass Rocket]

Neil,
I used Testors neon orange in the small glass bottle, which I realize is hard to come by now. I just brushed it on after painting the back of the rocket black. The testors coated over the black very well. I tried the acrylic paint on my first prototype, but it wouldn’t cover the black. It might be best to paint the inside white, then the acrylic orange.

 

[neil_w]

Neil,
I used Testors neon orange in the small glass bottle, which I realize is hard to come by now.

The stink of the Testors makes it a non-starter for me, which is why I thought I’d try the acrylic.

It might be best to paint the inside white, then the acrylic orange.

Well, I did that but using an acrylic base coat of white. When it comes time to paint the rocket I will mask off the interiors and hopefully keep the spray out (we’ll see how that goes).

My theory in painting in advance is that it’s easier to maneuver the bush inside the pods when not attached to the rest of the rocket, and no danger of a stray brush hitting the rocket. Last time I did open pods I also painted in advance and it worked out pretty well. But it can certainly be done either way.

 

[neil_w]

Here's a small white craft pumpkin painted with my proposed regimen of Craft Smart white base, followed by Craft Smart Neon Orange, and finished with DecoArt Torrid Orange (it was a work thing, don't ask):

Four observations:
1) Again, it's very hard to capture in a picture exactly how fluorescently glowy it is. It really looks great.

2) These paints are made for porous surfaces. Getting adhesion on the smooth plastic of the craft pumpkin was a challenge, and this required more coats than I originally intended, and it's still not totally uniform. They make other craft paint varieties for non-porous surfaces (in some cases they are enamels), but in most cases I could see they talked about multi-day curing time and baking to cure. I ain't got time for that ****. The interiors of my pod tubes will be... well, probably "semi-porous", given the fact that I stupidly coated them with CA before I thought this all through. It's not a very heavy coat, and I can rough it up with sandpaper before painting.

3) The extremely matte fluorescent finish on this paint seems like a good match for the inside of tubes, which won't be subject to handling and the elements. At least, not as much. I certainly wouldn't dare mess this up with clear coat or anything.

4) Also hard to tell in the picture, the finished color and texture looks almost exactly like a Cheez Doodle (or, if you prefer, a Cheetoh). I wonder if they use fluorescent cheese dust in those things?

 

[neil_w]

MOUNTING THE WINGS
Time for some more jigs. There are two simple stands to hold up the main body, and then another jig to hold a pod at the exact same level. Then, the wing is glued to the body, using the pod to maintain the correct angle of the wing (the pod is *not* glued at this time, and it's a good thing because I have it backwards in this picture):

Here it is drying. Notice the beautiful finish I achieve on the inside of the pod tube.

After it was reasonably solid I turned it 90 degrees and applied fillets (as always, one thin TBII fillet followed by larger Quick and Thick):

When doing the second wing fillets, I had to prop the whole tube up higher so the first wing would clear the bench.

Note that although the tubes are slotted and the fins have tabs, this isn't a traditional TTW mount, since the tabs do not glue to the motor mount. Rather, the tabs are barely deeper than the BT wall thickness, and the whole thing is primarily for alignment. Maybe it also adds a little strength, but I'm not really sure. It *does* mean that you should not get CWF all over your fin roots because getting a good fit again after sanding was Too Much Work.

 

[jqavins]

(Late to the party as usual. Neil, I was haunting the Scratch Built subforum looking for your next build until something in the What Did You Do... thread led me here.)

For some reason I was holding off on discussing this but now that it's in discussion I might as well give my thoughts. There are two primary problems I had with the full-sheet CWF approach:

I've used the full sheet method with the foam spackle (spackle frosting) I like to use, and it's always gone quite well. But it's always been on simple shapes, as you referred to below.

1. What started as a sheet with a bunch of cutouts becomes one solid sheet. You can't see the cut lines clearly, and you can't feel them either.

Your own picture seems to contradict that:

I can see those cut lines pretty clearly.

This might have all been OK with simple trapezoidal fins or something, but with the complex shapes in this kit it was just not good. I did eventually get everything into proper shape, but I will probably not ever do it this way again.

I'll have to try it with CWF some time to see what happens, but I definitely recommend it with spackle frosting.

If you're not going to shrink it then there's no point in using heat shrink.

This comment confuses me?

If you're not going to shrink it, you might as well use a different tube material. There's probably something better if you're not looking for the snug fit that shrinking gives you, such as small diameter circular braid from coax or other shielded wire. And it probably wouldn't stay unshrunk after a flight or three anyway.

Lunch time is over and I have to go to a benefits presentation. I'll read the rest soon, and undoubtedly have more to say.

 

[neil_w]

Your own picture seems to contradict that:

I can see those cut lines pretty clearly.

I'll have to try it with CWF some time to see what happens, but I definitely recommend it with spackle frosting.

Suffice to say, when my face was up against the board trying to see where to put a knife blade, I couldn't nail it. And either way, the way the CWF accumulated onto root fin edges was very undesirable, and resulted in sub-optimal fit of all tabbed fins and also the joint between the two wing pieces.

In hindsight, it's possible that carving off the CWF with a knife rather than sanding it off might have been more successful. Maybe I'll experiment with that sometime.

 

[jqavins]

In hindsight, it's possible that carving off the CWF with a knife rather than sanding it off might have been more successful. Maybe I'll experiment with that sometime.

For some materials, and I don't know if CWF is one, the best way can be to scrape it off with the backside of a knife.

 

[mbeels]

All those jigs are great, this looks like a really nice kit, very well thought out and put together.

That fluorescent pumpkin-cheese-doodle looks quite intense. I can only imagine what it looks like in real life.

 

[mbeels]

I have spent a stupid amount of mental energy thinking about how to handle the painting of the interior of the pods, which is supposed to be orange. In my experience doing that sort of thing with a rattle can is nearly impossible, and I don't have an airbrush, so that leaves the venerable paint brush. I also couldn't decide *when* to do it, but that decision was deferred.

4) Also hard to tell in the picture, the finished color and texture looks almost exactly like a Cheez Doodle (or, if you prefer, a Cheetoh). I wonder if they use fluorescent cheese dust in those things?

Alternate painting idea: Feed my 3 year-old some cheetos and then let him handle those pods. They'll be orange! But I can't guarantee the evenness of the application, or the durability of the result.

 

[jqavins]

A nifty little jig is provided to position the little... "I don't know what to call them" pieces that go on the wings.
View attachment 542522

I think those are officially called "greebles".

Dual launch lugs (square, naturally) are provided for symmetry. A little jig is provided for marking the locations.
View attachment 543581

Are the notches deep enough to pass the lugs through? Leaving the jig in place (and a little gap in the glue line) would certainly make positioning the lugs easier.

Hey, how's that for a rocket company name?

I can see the rocketry magazine article now, "The latest addition to One Cool Design's hundred and twenty-seven item catalog is ..."

Perhaps a better name is "Another Cool Design".

Better than The Oneders, which was commonly phonetically pronounced.

Yes, I know it was a fictional movie, but it was enjoyable.

It was. And that name, The Oneders, was one of the two clue-by-fours that it used for foreshadowing.

(Another lunch time come and gone.)

 

[neil_w]

PAINTING THE POD INTERIORS

I got out my painting kit and followed the sequence worked out previously. I put masking tape over the outside of the fin slots so paint wouldn't slop through onto the exterior.

One coat of white base was clearly not enough:

And so on went coat #2.:

That's good. Pay no attention to the messy interior surface. Flat paints are good for hiding that stuff.

On went the Craft Smart Neon Orange:

And finally, the DecoArt Torrid Orange:

As before, trying to capture the true essence of the fluorescent paints is very difficult. Reality is lighter and less reddish than the above. But very bright orange to be sure.

I looked at those slots and thought well they need to be covered so you won't see the bare wood fin tab sticking out. So I painted up some cardstock and cut out a couple of small pieces:

I glued these onto the inside of the slots and voila! We are done. The cardstock pieces blend in very well and are virtually impossible to see unless you stick your face up close and look for them.

In some respects it would have been better to wait to glue in those pieces until after pods were attached to the wings... but aligning those pieces with the slots was actually a bit tricky (I made them needlessly small) and so that was definitely easier when I could look through the slot.

In any case, they look good. Now I just need to ensure that they don't get messed up. Will have to take a good amount of care when masking them off to spray the rocket.

 

[jqavins]

Here's a small white craft pumpkin painted with my proposed regimen of Craft Smart white base, followed by Craft Smart Neon Orange, and finished with DecoArt Torrid Orange (it was a work thing, don't ask):

I had no thought of asking, until you said that painting a plastic pumpkin was, somehow, a work thing. Now...

the pod is *not* glued at this time, and it's a good thing because I have it backwards in this picture):
View attachment 544524

(Sorry, I'd already inserted the Inigo picture before I read the next post, so I just had to.)

 

[neil_w]

I had no thought of asking, until you said that painting a plastic pumpkin was, somehow, a work thing. Now...
View attachment 544827

Ok fine.

HR set up a table in our lounge area with pumpkins, an assortment of craft paints and some brushes. Everyone was welcome to come paint a pumpkin or two (or three).

Lots of folks did so, and many were quite creative. I heard someone lament that there was no orange paint…

And you can fill in the rest.

 

[BABAR]

PAINTING THE POD INTERIORS

I got out my painting kit and followed the sequence worked out previously. I put masking tape over the outside of the fin slots so paint wouldn't slop through onto the exterior.

One coat of white base was clearly not enough:
View attachment 544796
And so on went coat #2.:
View attachment 544797
That's good. Pay no attention to the messy interior surface. Flat paints are good for hiding that stuff.

On went the Craft Smart Neon Orange:
View attachment 544798
And finally, the DecoArt Torrid Orange:
View attachment 544799
As before, trying to capture the true essence of the fluorescent paints is very difficult. Reality is lighter and less reddish than the above. But very bright orange to be sure.

I looked at those slots and thought well they need to be covered so you won't see the bare wood fin tab sticking out. So I painted up some cardstock and cut out a couple of small pieces:
View attachment 544800
I glued these onto the inside of the slots and voila! We are done. The cardstock pieces blend in very well and are virtually impossible to see unless you stick your face up close and look for them.
View attachment 544801
In some respects it would have been better to wait to glue in those pieces until after pods were attached to the wings... but aligning those pieces with the slots was actually a bit tricky (I made them needlessly small) and so that was definitely easier when I could look through the slot.

In any case, they look good. Now I just need to ensure that they don't get messed up. Will have to take a good amount of care when masking them off to spray the rocket.

Looks great
Outer color is black, right?
Could you use a black sharpie on the edges pre painting, so you don’t have to mask so tightly?

 

[neil_w]

Looks great
Outer color is black, right?
Could you use a black sharpie on the edges pre painting, so you don’t have to mask so tightly?

It's possible that I could let the masking lap over the tube edges, and paint those edges separately (could do it after, need not be before). That could make the mask job easier.

Captain Kirk, I shall consider it!