Do you finish your rear centering ring?

[NjCo]

A lot of us spend hours and hours getting the finish on our rockets just right. We sand and sand until our arms are about to fall off. We carefully select our paint, mask and spray then repeat the process over and over. We wax and polish our creations to give them just the right amount of shine. But with many people it seems there is one place that we seem to avoid, the rear centering ring. About the only finish I've seen there in most low power rockets is a smattering of stray spray from the colors used on the body. I guess everyone follows the old notion 'Out of sight, out of mind.' Hardly worth the effort really since the area will just accumulate burn marks and powder residue. Or is it?

So do you finish the rear centering ring? If so, how do you typically finish it? If you don't finish it is there a particular reason why besides wanting to get the blasted thing in the air as quickly as possible?

 

[DexterLB]

do you finish the rear centering ring?

No. I'm too lazy

 

[AKPilot]

If I went through all the effort for everything else, not doing something right simply drives me nuts.

I still hold the philosophy that if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right!

 

[dixontj93060]

Typically finish with black 1200 degree paint.

 

[Rocketcrab]

Kinda depends on the model for me. Generally I do finish the rear end on larger models, on smaller ones no. Obviously yes on scale or scale-like models.

 

[The EGE]

Most of my rockets are either minimum diameter, or else the aft CR is too small to bother with.

I don't bother to finish the rear CR on my Goonies and the Nantucket Sound.

For my Mozzie, I sanded the ring and applied a single thin coat of wood glue.

For my Cosmodrome Nike-Apache, I put three layers of wood glue on and sanded it to 'shiny'

So: mostly I don't bother, unless it's a large rocket that I'm trying for a perfect paint job on.

 

[luke strawwalker]

Depends on the rocket... if it's a semiscaler or a rocket with a wide centering ring (BT-60 and up) I make sure it's AT LEAST got a good coat of white paint or whatever base coat it's supposed to have. Semiscalers usually get nozzles or something back there for dressing it up, and of course that gets done with as much attention as the rest of the rocket gets. For simple sport rockets though, a coat of white or black paint usually will do.

I HAVE put hi-temp paint back there, foil tape, coated with epoxy or yellow glue, whatever back there to give a little heat resistance on some REALLY wide rockets (BT-101, sometimes 80) because there is SO much heat from plume recirculation back there, but for most model rockets it's not really necessary. For longer burning MPR/HPR motors it's probably nearly a must.

So, like so many things in life, I guess the 'right' answer is-- IT DEPENDS! :roll::roll::roll:

Later! OL JR

 

[Micromeister]

totally depends on the model and it's use.

Just so ya know if your really spending that much time sanding your very likely waisting a lot of time. anything beyond 320 grit on anything other then the finial top color coat really does nothing for the finished product. Which is where all the very fine grits and true Wet sanding comes into play.
If you'd like to know more drop me e-mail

 

[tibadoe]

Don't spend a whole lot of time finishing on the rear centering ring. Spray some paint either the color of the model or black - just depends.

 

[NjCo]

totally depends on the model and it's use.

Just so ya know if your really spending that much time sanding your very likely waisting a lot of time. anything beyond 320 grit on anything other then the finial top color coat really does nothing for the finished product. Which is where all the very fine grits and true Wet sanding comes into play.
If you'd like to know more drop me e-mail

Yeah, 320 is as high as I go and my finishes come out looking just fine. If I want super shinny I just use a coat of Future. I was exaggerating just a tad. But sometimes it sure does seem like my arm is going to fall off! I remember seeing someone not too long ago mention some ridiculously high grit sandpaper and I just had to shake my head. There is certainly a point where unless you are using an airbrush you will not see any difference in your finish.

 

[cjl]

Honestly, why bother? It'll just get toasted on the first flight anyways...

The exception to this is a couple of my HPRs which have a fairly sizable centering ring at the rear (especially my Deuce). For the most part though, it just gets a quick shot of spray paint, with no real concern for filling and sanding beforehand.

 

[terryg]

Yes, but not a very heavy coat of paint, since I do not want to get any into the motor mount tube by accident!

 

[thunderdog]

Hi All,
I always install mine with epoxy and coat with same thats about it! :clap:

 

[Queeg500]

It may or may not get burnt so, dismissing that uncertainty, always finish it because that shows you cared.

 

[MarkII]

Mine are often too deeply recessed to be easily seen or finished. I have never built a rocket that had the aft CR installed flush with the end of the airframe, so putting a finish on it is seldom relevant or even possible. Much of the time, you can't see the CR unless you have the rocket up close and are looking straight in. But in the few instances when they actually show, yeah, I paint them.

MarkII

 

[Gillard]

i paint it the same as the rest of the rocket, but that is about as far as i go.
i have found a basic relationship in rocketry over several years: The better the rocket is finished, the more chance it has of hiding in a tree, suffering a CATO, coming in ballistic.

 

[Peartree]

Yes, but not a very heavy coat of paint, since I do not want to get any into the motor mount tube by accident!

I just stick an expended motor in the back when I paint. I learned that after sanding the paint out of the inside of one too many motor mount tubes.

 

[rosko_racer]

If I can get to it, yes. Usually I give the end of the BT and the exposed CR a coat of CA then sand the BT. Once the rocket is painted I either coat it with black paint or any other dark color.

 

[Boosterdude]

It really depends on the model on how far I go. If they are recessed I don't go overboard, if it is flush with the BT I'll finish it off.

 

[Intruder]

For "average" models, the CR happens to get painted by over spray from painting the rest of the rocket. For special rockets, I finish the CRs on purpose