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EAC Semi-FireCat and the Crossbow SST in the paint booth.

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And a Crossfire in the Fin Jig.

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I built a Flip-Flyer as well. It went so fast I didn't get any pictures. I did the single piece recovery modification on it.
 
Nice to see some folks are getting stuff done. Can't count myself among them unfortunately.


Morerockets is a mystery to me. Are they officially licensed by Estes? I mean, it's weird that they *and* Semroc are both producing an Andromeda kit right now.

The 'About Us' says they do repro and clones with permission. For what it's worth...
 
Crossfire ISX, and the Estes FireCat in the paint booth.

I sure am glad that I have this paint booth, it has been really handy this winter/spring.

IMG_0476.JPG
 
OK, Estes shuttle glider is done now.
I was going to paint the bottom black, but figured it will only add weight. It's at 44.2 g right now, already porky.

BTW, how are you supposed to trim the weight balance of a glider - balance it for flying into the wind, or with the wind?
Mine glides nicely with the wind, but nose dive into it.

shuttle.jpg

Next up, glue the wings onto the Screaming Eagle, and start another kit.
Either Interceptor, Cosmic Interceptor, Black Star Voyager, or 4" Seawolf?
 
The EAC Semi-FireCat and the Crossbow SST are completed. The FireCat has turned into a Navy drone with the help from what old decals I had left in my stash.

IMG_0499.JPGIMG_0497.JPGIMG_E0511.JPGIMG_0512.JPG

Those are done, Now the Crossfire, Little John Clone, and an Astron Explorer. Should keep me busy for a while longer.
 
The EAC Semi-FireCat and the Crossbow SST are completed. The FireCat has turned into a Navy drone with the help from what old decals I had left in my stash.

Pretty!
How did you get the black paint inside the air-duct/tube?
Did you rattle-can spray it first, or used a brush?

I have another scratch-build rocket that needs finishing touches, and getting uniform paint coating inside the various tubes is my current kryptonite.
 
Since you asked me...

Spray Primer, Spray White, Mask, Spray Red, Remove masking, Brush paint flat black inside the tube, Decal, then the good old Future that I bought 15 years ago for a clear coat. Future is a floor wax that goes by a different name today, don't remember since I have half a bottle left.
That is my typical process for gloss rockets, for flat, I will spray dull cote over the gloss paint. I find that the gloss paint takes decals much better than flat, and then the dull cote makes everything flat.

Goose
 
Neil, o1d_dude, goose_in_co,
Thanks for all of your responses!
I wasn't directing my question to anyone in particular, more towards the great TRF brain trust of folks who are way better at rocket finishing then myself.

Below is a picture of my Kraken-inspired scratch build components, after multiple paths of masking and spraying paint inside and outside of the tubes.
The interior of the larger tube looks half decent, but that's after 5+ coats from various angles, with over-spray finding its way onto the black exterior. I'm pretty certain that if I mask the interior and respray the outside black coat, black paint will find it's way onto the interior surfaces. As to the smaller tube, spraying red inside of it is way beyond my skill level.

Time to give paint brushes a chance, I guess.

tubes.jpg
 
I have not found it to be a problem to mask the inside of the tube to spray the outside. I brush pain the inside first, then tape it up, then do the outside. No issues.

The Kraken tubes are interesting because they have a *lot* of exposed inner area, which looks good sprayed (as in your picture). So you have two choices for the inside:
1) spray the easy parts (as shown), and then use a brush to fill in the rest. Downside: for perfect paint match, you need to use the spray paint for the brush work. I've never tried to brush a large area with it before. Upside: the tube portions in back don't get seen very much.

2) brush the entire inside with the paint of your choice. Downside: the big visible area becomes a good test of your brush technique. Upside: the whole thing is done in one step, and you can choose the perfect paint.

Given your current status it would appear that you're headed for #1. :)

@mbeels, how did you paint your Kraken tubes?
 
@mbeels, how did you paint your Kraken tubes?

1) I first painted the interior and got that to look as I wanted.
2) Then I masked around the inside diameter of the lip (so sticky side out)
3) Inserted a piece of rolled up poster board. *sproing
4) Taped the poster board in place with more wraps of masking tape.
5) sprayed the interior color over the seam to seal off the joint. This prevents any of the exterior color from bleeding under and getting into the interior of the tube.
6) sprayed the exterior color.

full
 
Alright, not the work I'm most product of, but I now have a SpaceX Falcon 9 ready for flight on 24mm motors.
3-foot away pic is below:
SpaceX completed side view.jpg

Gory details here:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/spacex-falcon-9-and-falcon-heavy-builds.159783/
There is no advertised finished weight on the kit, but I found someone else's .rkt file that had it weighted in at 269g.
Mine came in at 229g / 8 oz, and that is inclusive of all the modifications, fin fillets, proper nylon chute (plastic one from the kit went into trash), Kevlar chute blanket, chute swivel, noodle filler in the payload fairing, etc.

She sims to 400 ft on D12, 777 ft on E12, and 1542 ft on F39.
 
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I wish I had the time to work more on the projects I have in my build pile. I went out and bought some spray paint yesterday for my PML kit, but they didn't have the color I wanted. I'm looking for a nice silver paint, any suggestions? I plan on painting the rocket silver and then the nose cone red and the inside portion of the fins red. Silver seems to cover primer pretty easy. I'm getting lazy with my paint jobs. I'm picking base colors that cover the primer in one or two coats and then adding accent colors.
 
I wish I had the time to work more on the projects I have in my build pile. I went out and bought some spray paint yesterday for my PML kit, but they didn't have the color I wanted. I'm looking for a nice silver paint, any suggestions? I plan on painting the rocket silver and then the nose cone red and the inside portion of the fins red. Silver seems to cover primer pretty easy. I'm getting lazy with my paint jobs. I'm picking base colors that cover the primer in one or two coats and then adding accent colors.
I really get good results with Rusto Metallics over one coat of gloss black. I like the chromes for shiny, and the silver or aluminum for a more 50's sci-fi looking silver. I usually do the gloss black followed by the metallic between fifteen and thirty minutes later. For chrome I'll add a second chrome coat about fifteen minutes after the first, so I also tend to spray the first chrome coat closer to the fifteen minute mark to be done within an hour of applying the black. I sort of consider the black and metallic as 'one color' due to applying them in the same session. Any accents I will wait two days before I'll start any masking, so that adds a few days, but the work is doing the masking.
 
I really get good results with Rusto Metallics over one coat of gloss black. I like the chromes for shiny, and the silver or aluminum for a more 50's sci-fi looking silver. I usually do the gloss black followed by the metallic between fifteen and thirty minutes later. For chrome I'll add a second chrome coat about fifteen minutes after the first, so I also tend to spray the first chrome coat closer to the fifteen minute mark to be done within an hour of applying the black. I sort of consider the black and metallic as 'one color' due to applying them in the same session. Any accents I will wait two days before I'll start any masking, so that adds a few days, but the work is doing the masking.
I shouldn't but I'm spraying Duplicolor over Rusto but I'll try it first on a practice piece to make sure it doesn't go goofy. IDK I'll check out home depot tomorrow and see what they have??
 
I shouldn't but I'm spraying Duplicolor over Rusto but I'll try it first on a practice piece to make sure it doesn't go goofy. IDK I'll check out home depot tomorrow and see what they have??
Let us know how the mixed brands works- I haven't mixed, but I think timing is far more critical than anything else, besides mixing say water-based with oil-based- but no direct knowledge of either.
 
I'm looking for a nice silver paint, any suggestions? I plan on painting the rocket silver and then the nose cone red and the inside portion of the fins red. Silver seems to cover primer pretty easy. I'm getting lazy with my paint jobs. I'm picking base colors that cover the primer in one or two coats and then adding accent colors.

This DupliColor Ultra Silver has been super-reliable for me (same for red, black, and white), and is available from your local automotive supply store (AutoZone, PepBoys), as well as off Amazon.
dupliColor.jpg
It goes over anything (any primer, straight plastic, etc), doesn't run, ready to re-coast in under 60 seconds, and fully dries in under 15 minutes.
The coats are light, so don't over-saturate the layer, just spray another one in a minute. 2-3 layers achieve even coverage.

Let us know how the mixed brands works- I haven't mixed, but I think timing is far more critical than anything else, besides mixing say water-based with oil-based- but no direct knowledge of either.

DupliColor over Rustoleum or Krylon primer definitely works well.

My go-to primer right now is Krylon Industrial Tough Coat Light Gray Sandable Primer. It is mix of paint with some gooey substance that builds up volume really fast, and sands easily. Dries fast too.

Granted, I sand the majority of the primer layer (a few times over and over) to even the surface before the color coat goes on, so what's left is about 80% primer saturated cardboard and 20% primer coat.
 
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This DupliColor Ultra Silver has been super-reliable for me (same for red, black, and white), and is available from your local automotive supply store (AutoZone, PepBoys), as well as off Amazon.
View attachment 419570
It goes over anything (any primer, straight plastic, etc), doesn't run, ready to re-coast in under 60 seconds, and fully dries in under 15 minutes.
The coats are light, so don't over-saturate the layer, just spray another one in a minute. 2-3 layers achieve even coverage.



DupliColor over Rustoleum or Krylon primer definitely works well.

My go-to primer right now is Krylon Industrial Tough Coat Light Gray Sandable Primer. It is mix of paint with some gooey substance that builds up volume really fast, and sands easily. Dries fast too.

Granted, I sand the majority of the primer layer (a few times over and over) to even the surface before the color coat goes on, so what's left is about 80% primer saturated cardboard and 20% primer coat.

I'm familiar with those but they are like $10 a can. Looks like I might have to break down and buy a couple cans. I was looking for a silver from them in the 16 oz can.
 
I'm familiar with those but they are like $10 a can. Looks like I might have to break down and buy a couple cans. I was looking for a silver from them in the 16 oz can.

Yep, though they are frequently on sale.
I think I paid somewhere close to $5-6 per can, just as an experiment. And it worked great for me.
If you don't have an auto parts store nearby, the following Amazon link can help, though you will pay closer to $8-9 per can on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KTEG6WI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Another alternative are Tamiya paints.
I am yet to screw up Tamiya coats, but they are even more expensive than DupliColor by volume, though less per each 100 ml / 3.4 oz can:
https://www.scalehobbyist.com/catag...1&u=0&pg=1&ppp=48&sb=stocknumber&so=a&man=TAM
 
Yep, though they are frequently on sale.
I think I paid somewhere close to $5-6 per can, just as an experiment. And it worked great for me.
If you don't have an auto parts store nearby, the following Amazon link can help, though you will pay closer to $8-9 per can on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KTEG6WI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Another alternative are Tamiya paints.
I am yet to screw up Tamiya coats, but they are even more expensive than DupliColor by volume, though less per each 100 ml / 3.4 oz can:
https://www.scalehobbyist.com/catag...1&u=0&pg=1&ppp=48&sb=stocknumber&so=a&man=TAM
Thank you
 
OK, I've been building a few kits, but haven't been posting much lately.
So here are two more finished LP kits to load into the van for the next launch:
Estes X-wing 18mm.jpg

The 18mm MMT X-Wing could use some "weathering" dirt all around, but I will wait for the actual launch day grime, dirt, damage, and repair scars to accumulate before I work on those. For now it's flight ready as is.
For the first time in ages (years?), I did not use any epoxy in construction of a kit. So, at least, I had to use an epoxy hardner can in as a prop in the picture.
Fit and finish of stock Estes parts wasn't great, and required significant adjustment and sanding during assembly, but it is flight ready now.

Estes Interceptor 18mm.jpg

The Interceptor was going to be wrapped with Accur8 vinyl, but I figured out too late that you need to start wrapping it before the fins are glued and filleted. So this kit was finished with Estes waterslide decals and color scheme, which I still like.
I will order another Interceptor #1250 kit (or two?), and will vinyl wrap parts before attachment the next time around.
Fillets were epoxy, as that's the only was I know how to make them look good.
 
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And to partially explain the significant gap in posts, here is a structurally complete HP kit for the next launch as well.
Cosmetically, it may get paint before or after the inaugural flight.
Or maybe no paint and just clearcoat?
Or maybe Monokote instead of paint altogether?
AAD98.jpgAAD98.jpg
 
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