Do you spray the nose cone on the BT, or seperate?

[grimlock3000]

I have a few rockets to spray with primer before I paint then with colored spray paint. Should I be painting the nose cones seperate from the rest of the rocket, or just paint everything at once, then run a blade around the edge of the nose cone to seperate it?

 

[BlueNinja]

Paint it all together. It won't adhere the nose to the tube.

 

[teflonrocketry1]

I usually apply the primer to the whole rocket with nose cone attached. That way you can fill any gaps that are in the nose cone to body tube junction. I usually get away with simply removing the nose cone, I don't find I need a knife to separate it from the body tube with just the primer coat. For the finish coat I typically separate the tube from the cone. This way I can paint the very top edge of the body tube and the bottom lip of the cone to help hide the seam. I typically mask most of the nose cone shoulder so it doesn't wider and have the potential to get stuck in the body tube.

Bruce S. Levison, NAR #69055

 

[flying_silverad]

Most of the time I paint them together. I insert the nose cone so there is a 1/4" gap so some of the shoulder gets painted. There usually isn't a fit problem if I have properly fitted the cone before I paint. Of course if it's a diff color...that's another story.