bull-pup

[Rob Fisher]

heres a better picture of my estes bull-pup. I didn't care for the missile look of the rocket but really liked the boat-tail.

 

[rkt2k1]

Rob,

I like your custom finish on the Bull Pup. I just completed building a Bull Pup but haven't finished it yet. I did build it with the small forward fins, but now after seeing your model, I'm thinking maybe to go for a custom finish. I like the fade effect you did between the black and red. Did you just do that with spraying or did you use some other technique?

Thanks,

 

[Rocketmaniac]

Great looking paint job........ I must say I have never seen a Bullpup painted anything other than white and without the forward fins........ I hope to have my 3X estes Bullpup finished by next weekend........

 

[Rob Fisher]

yeah-I just used a spray can of gloss red and flat black. I bet you could really do some amazing work with one of those hobby shop airbrushes that attaches to a small aerosol can of air. You could really achieve a nice "fade" effect since you can dial down the amount of paint coming out of the nozzle. Then again if my rocket comes out that nice I might be afraid to launch it! Nawww. just kidding, I always launch every rocket I make. Thanks for the comments. God I can't wait for spring!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[PWALPOCO]

Hi all again ,

well as the newbie Brit here Im currently looking at your cool two tone paint job Rob and hoping I can do even half as good a job with my Bullpup.

Currently going thru laying down a primer coat on my first ever kit build and praying to the great rocket building god idol that it all goes ok !!

Im not going to do anything flashy with this kit though , just a standard build , standard paint job , all the fins etc , so itll be white , with transfers .....

Oh well , this is just my first build and if I can lay my hands on a camera Ill get a pic to you all when Im ( eventually ) done ....

please wish me luck ...... Ive not done anything like this before and Ill need it ....

Paul

 

[Rob Fisher]

Wow-the bullpup is kind of a hard kit for a first time build, but i'm sure it'll turn out great! If you build this one for your first kit, you will be able to build anything! keep us posted with some pictures. -see ya.

 

[corpse]

i just started my 2nd bullpup today.
hope i can get the top fines on right this time.
LOL the 1st one is a lawn dart . LOL

Rob love that 2 tone paint job.

great job .

hows it fly?

 

[PWALPOCO]

Rob Fisher

Wow-the bullpup is kind of a hard kit for a first time build, but i'm sure it'll turn out great!

Why dont they tell you these things !!

Oh well , so far its going ok , tho I know the fins arent as good as Id like them to be. Ive learnt a few things while putting this one together (which was the whole point) and I may buy another Pup just to assure myself that I can do things better the next time round.

Photos will be provided to those who wont laugh !


Paul

 

[corpse]

make sure the top fins line up with the botton fins.
if they dont look out !
that was the hardest part .
i had to take off the top fins to fly it.
after i did that it went great. stright up ! like a dream.

 

[PWALPOCO]

Thanks for the tip Corpse

Ive got the fins lined up using the "draw a line using a doorframe as a guide" technique. It works !!

So , getting the fins aligned one above the other was OK .... HOWEVER .......

The bit Ive had a small problem with is that 3 fins are currently 90degrees to one another , while the forth although attached at the correct point has a slight lean on it. Basically if you look down on the rocket from above the nose , the main fin tips point at 3 oclock , 6 oclock , 9 oclock and 5 past 12. The roots are all on the right spot however. I suspect Ive left a slight angle on the Root edge of the rogue fin and this has affected the lie of the Fin.

The small fins look all well aligned at 3 , 6 , 9 and 12 oclock.

Paul

 

[WiK]

Does everyone take the top fins off for it to fly? I've got mine on and it flies beautifuly

Paul, what sort of glue were you using for the fins?

 

[rabidsheeep]

the fins are supposed to stay on for flying...

and NEVER launch a bull pup without the nosecone weight...

 

[WiK]

and NEVER launch a bull pup without the nosecone weight...

LoL

I know theyre supposed to stay on for flying, but does everyone find they make it unstable and rip 'em off?

 

[arthur dent]

I woud'nt woory to much about the fin being at 12.05.I've flown rockets with fins just like this and they've flown just fine

 

[cydermaster]

Nearly all my rockets end up with one fin that looks like it had too many Alcopops for breakfast, but it doesn't seem to effect them. I've noticed that some flights can be a bit 'squiraly', but there are many other factors which could be causing the squiral.

At the end of the day, theres only one way to find out if a rocket flies ok ...... and thats to shove some BP up its neather-regions, and launch the b***er!

 

[xxxREKxxx]

Here is a pic of my veteran Bull Pup. I guess it's 8 or 9 years old and flies at least twice each year. It's pretty well scarred up. I lost a lower fin last summer (it's the unpainted one in the photo) and the upper fin just peeking out at 9 o'clock was rebuilt using Elmers wood filler. This was another case of separation anxiety and it tried to strain itself through a chain link fence. Someday I'll probably lose it and I'll be bummed but then I can buy another!
Hey Cydermaster, What are Alcopops? They sound dangerous
Bob

 

[cydermaster]

Originally posted by REK
Hey Cydermaster, What are Alcopops? They sound dangerous

Alcopops are alcoholic fruit flavoured fizzy drinks, loved by British teenagers as an alternative to cyder on a Friday/Saturday night. It tastes just like Cola/Dandylion & Burdock/Orangeade/Lemonade etc. PLUS it gets you hammered.

[cynical mode]
Teenagers don't like the taste of proper beer, so the breweries developed these to corner the teenage market.
[/cynical mode]

 

[Rob Fisher]

sounds like you need a fin alignment jig

 

[PWALPOCO]

Ace , someone saying things I want to hear , YES , I want a jig , where can I get one in the UK ?

On another note , heres my almost complete pup. Need to do the decals next , so any tips before then are welcome !

Ive heard the warm with a p.p.b of soapy water tip , any others ?

BTW , this photo I think makes things look better than reality! The surface isnt even and this is becuase the first paint job went badly ( I think poor paint ) so had to remove that and try again. This didnt leave a good surface once I was done , I can tell ya and it shows in the quality of the second attempt.

Had I used the paint that Im using now from the start I think things would have gone better.

For info the paint Im now using ( for those in the UK) is Halfords Applience White Gloss over their Grey Primer and Ill be using their clear coat once the decals are on.

This whole thing has been a learning experience for me , its my first build and had the paint job gone ok then I wouldnt have had any regrets. Im willing to tolerate the scew up with the fin as my method for that was crude but will try harder next time !

Ah well thanks for the Tips during this build .....

Paul

 

[WiK]

Hey Paul,


It looks great
The Halfords paint is probably the best paint you can get in the UK without buying an airbrush... You might wanna use their clear laquer in a very well ventilated area, it *stinks* .


Just out of interest, is that a blob of blu-tac with a rocket motor casting your using as a stand?


Phil

 

[PWALPOCO]

WIK ,

The Halfords did work out ok , and it was your tip to me , thanks !

The generic stuff was just dire and when I removed it I did cause some abrasion to the BT which Im annoyed at myself about. You do all the "what ifs" in your head but whats done is done.

The Halfords stuff seemed to do ok on areas which I hadnt scuffed during the previous paint jobs removal and now wish I had used it first.

The Pup is currently sat on top the tube they give you to fit the motormount. It fits snugly inside the rocket , so , with the aid of some masking tape I could get the rocket to stand clear of the blue-tac , and was able to rotate the rocket during painting.

Ive bought a B&Q respirator for me while painting the rocket , at £26 it makes sense and a cheap price to pay to protect your health.

Paul

 

[WiK]

The Halfords did work out ok , and it was your tip to me , thanks !

No problem, thats what TRF is all about

Aaah.... I remember that tube well... It always seemed a little pointless to me


What do you do with your AOL (and similar trial) CD's that you dont want?? Well Cydermaster had a brainwave quite a while back. Save all your burn out motors, and CyA them to the centre of the CD ! With the shiny side up, it reflects the bottom of the rocket, and the CD is wide enough to balance well, even with pretty tall rockets on 'em. I have one "display cd " for each rocket, and one "painting cd" for painting. The cd is the red disc underneath the rocket in the attatched pic.

How're the decals going? I almost mucked mine up completely, because the instructions said the decals were waterslide, so of course they were stickers (I only realised that after putting one of the biggest ones in a bowl of water and soaking the stickieness of completely ).

I just paint my rockets on my back lawn on a nice day (none of those at the moment )

 

[PWALPOCO]

You mean the decals Ive got might be contact sticky types and not waterslide. I just had it in my head that they are waterslide versions, Im sure thats what they said in the instructions though Ill have to check again ! As youve pointed out , they may be wrong anyhow !!

How can you tell the difference , just out of interest ?

Paul

 

[WiK]

****!!! You cant attatch a pic when editing a post


I went and took a better pic aswell. And I think I'll put some building instructions in anyway

1. Take an unwanted CD and an expended motor casing.
2. Put the cd on a peice of newspaper (or gluing surface) and squirt a ring of CyA around the outside of the hole in the middle.
3. Take your expended motor casing and place it, nozzle down, on the ring of CyA.
4. Apply pressure until glue has made contact
5. Leave to dry.
6. Slip the rocket over the motor, and your done!
   [/list=1]
   
   And heres one I made earlier
   
   
   
   And here it is with my Pup sitting on it:
   
   
   
   Sorry if the files are a bit big, I made them as small a file as I could.
   
   Phil

 

[WiK]

Originally posted by PWALPOCO


You mean the decals Ive got might be contact sticky types and not waterslide. I just had it in my head that they are waterslide versions, Im sure thats what they said in the instructions though Ill have to check again ! As youve pointed out , they may be wrong anyhow !!

How can you tell the difference , just out of interest ?

Paul

Erm... Well i guess if they are the sticker type, you can peel em off the sheet and stick em somewhere. If they are waterslide, they wont peel off without breaking, so be careful!

Just so ya know, waterslide decals are become less common now. They all seem to be moving over to 'Peel-n-Stick' decals.

Phil

 

[PWALPOCO]

Great

So basically , try one and see what happens ! These have been printed in China , if thats a clue !

Paul

 

[DPatell]

Bah...Linkin Park...:kill:

Nice looking Pup! I always liked the looks of that rocket.

 

[WiK]

Hmmm you askin fer a shootin there :kill:

 

[DPatell]

You need something with a bass-line man...Korn or Mudvayne come to mind

Don't pass up Adema either!

And for the old timers, ACDC!

Ahh...Rock is great

 

[WiK]

Hmm... Puddle Of Mudd, HIM, The Darkness Three Days Grace, Sum 41, Metallica, Good Charlotte, Static X, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Evanescance (sp?), Bowling For Soup, Hoobstank, New Found Glory, erm.... Billy Talent, Lostprophets, erm....

Oh yeah, I dunno if you can call 'em rock, but you gotta listen to The D! Tenacious D are probably (one of ) the greatest bands at te moment

Rock Rocks :kill:

Anyway Back on TOPIC:

Paul, I think mine were printed there too. But that probably means nothing, everything is made in china these days


Phil