Dr. Zooch - Saturn V build - FINISHED

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It hadn't rained for most of yesterday, so I assumed the rain was gone and I painted the rocket white. It got two coats, the first being light enough to still see some of the gray primer below, and the second fairly heavy but not so much that it dripped.

I considered putting on a third coat and may do that before proceeding.

Here's the entire rocket painted with the second coat of white gloss.

33 White paint.jpg

The middle section of balsa doesn't look super smooth, but that's okay because it's going to be covered with the shroud. The upper balsa piece will have a lot of it showing so I made sure to sand the primer well and the white really went on smooth.

34 LM and CM white paint.jpg

I'm getting excited about how this rocket is starting to look!! Another Saturn V!!!
 
Note: Paper decals are now included in the Saturn V kits (and not yet noted in the instructions as of the most recent printing) because the water slides have turned into such a pain in the A$$. Thus, builders who have trouble with the water slides, can opt to use the paper stick-ons if they wish. The issue is NOT with the builders, rather it is with the production company that makes the paper that the water slides are printed on. Their latest few runs of that paper have a tendency to curl up after being appled. The company that sells the paper has zero customer service and do not return e-mails. Worst of all, they are currently the only game in town. So, I got tired of replacing water slides to miffed customers and decided that paper stick-ons may help as an option.

Additionally: Most Dr. Zooch wraps are now being changed to be more "grain friendly" when rolled in the kits. Believe it or not, I never knew, until recently, that cardstock actually had a grain to it. So now I've altered most of the wrap sheets to reflect this and as time goes by all sheets will be as such.
 
Note: Paper decals are now included in the Saturn V kits (and not yet noted in the instructions as of the most recent printing) because the water slides have turned into such a pain in the A$$. Thus, builders who have trouble with the water slides, can opt to use the paper stick-ons if they wish. The issue is NOT with the builders, rather it is with the production company that makes the paper that the water slides are printed on. Their latest few runs of that paper have a tendency to curl up after being appled. The company that sells the paper has zero customer service and do not return e-mails. Worst of all, they are currently the only game in town. So, I got tired of replacing water slides to miffed customers and decided that paper stick-ons may help as an option.

Additionally: Most Dr. Zooch wraps are now being changed to be more "grain friendly" when rolled in the kits. Believe it or not, I never knew, until recently, that cardstock actually had a grain to it. So now I've altered most of the wrap sheets to reflect this and as time goes by all sheets will be as such.

Thanks for the update. I didn't realize the extra set was stickers until I read this.

I like decals MUCH better than stickers, so I'll probably try them. Can you be more specific about the problem with them curling - is it immediately or weeks later? I'm wondering if the rocket is covered with a few coats of clearcoat would the decals still curl up, or was that only with those that didn't clearcoat?
 
I've had this happen some too... hard not to get glue residue or fingerprints on the wraps sometimes...

Here's a trick I've found that often works...

Take your X-acto hobby knife and gently SCRAPE the offending glue crud away... it doesn't take much, usually, just a few light strokes with the blade held 90 degrees to the direction of the scraping stroke with VERY light pressure...

Thanks! I did that this weekend and it took off most of the smudge. It's not perfect, but it was enough to keep me from wanting to reprint the wrap.

Great tip!! Thanks!!
 
Now that the rocket has been painted I was ready to go to the next step which was cutting out and gluing on the body wraps. The first wrap I cut out was the bottom wrap which has cut outs for the fairings. To mark the tube I cut the wrap but left the fairing cut outs in place until I was ready to add glue. Removing the large triangular sections would make it too delicate to handle without fear of ripping it.

The instructions say to make sure and line up the wrap with the motor clip so that the clip is in between two fairings, so that's why I started with the fairing wrap.

35 lining wrap to clip.jpg

Once I got that one lined up I planned on drawing a line all the way up the rocket to give me a place to start all the wraps. If anyone is reading this while working on theirs - DON'T do what I just said I'd planned on. By the time I was ready to draw the line all the way up it occurred to me that a lot of that line would need to be erased or covered up later - the wraps only go around a few sections of the tube, and don't cover all the way up.

Here is where I started, once the motor clip was aligned in between the fairings, I marked the edge of the wrap.

36 marking wrap.jpg

There's a small gotcha coming up, so read all the wrap marking posts before you start gluing on the wraps just in case you don't notice it.

Once I had the location of the fairing wrap marked to length I needed to create another line for the next wrap location but I didn't want to draw a continuous line all the way up. The instructions say how big the space in between the wraps should be, so I used my small 3 sided engineering scale to simultaneously line up the next wrap (instead of using a doorjamb) and measure off the distance between them. Here's the starting position marked and some of the line drawn.

37 marking next wrap start.jpg

Once that was located I used the next wrap (not yet cut out from the card stock) to mark the width of the alignment line.

38 measuring width of next wrap.jpg

Not having the next wraps cut out helped me line up the alignment line for this wrap with the alignment line from the fairing wrap, keeping everything lined up correctly.
 
I kept going the same way up to the interstage wrap. The instructions specified how much space was in between the two wraps, so I measured it off with the engineers scale which kept the lines aligned. This one needed to be 2 3/8" up, so I make a mark there and drew a short line further up.

39 measuring location and lining up interstage wrap.jpg

Then I used the wrap to mark the correct width of the wrap. I kept all my tic marks inside the measurement so that they'd be covered completely with the wraps when they were glued in place.

40 marking width of interstage wrap.jpg

After that I drew the line between the tic marks and the tube was finished marking up!

41 tube marked for all wraps.jpg

False. There is one more wrap that goes on the top of the tube and I failed to draw an alignment line for it at this point - but it was easy enough to come back and draw it later. The reason I didn't draw it was I started getting sidetracked with the gotcha I mentioned earlier. As I was dry fitting the wraps something occurred to me that was going to keep the printing on the wraps from lining up correctly. Oh no!!!
 
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The problem I noticed had to do with the fairing wrap printing lined up differently than the interstage wrap printing did. The black sections of the interstage wrap should end up aligned with the black sections of the fairing wrap - but when I lined them up together the way they would be if I used the alignment lines I'd just drawn, they'd be off.

To solve the problem I realized I'd have to shift the fairing wrap over slightly. First, I went ahead and glued on the interstage wrap. I smeared a small amount of white glue all over the back of the wrap and then using my pencil line to start the wrap I glued it all the way around.

42 Interstage wrap glued on.jpg

The edges didn't butt up exactly right. According to the instructions they were designed to be slightly longer than they needed to be in order to account for the thickness of the glue holding them on so I didn't worry about it when I noticed this during the dry fit. But when the wrap was glued on there was a very small overlap that I cut away with the hobby knife easy enough. I had to do this with every wrap on the rocket.

With me holding the fairing wrap in place, lined up with the pencil line I made, you can see that the black sections don't line up exactly. They're off by about a half inch.

43 Fairing wrap alignment issue.jpg

To make sure the fairing wrap is on correctly I decided to add a new pencil mark to line up the black sections instead of the edge of the wraps. Here's the edge of the black section on the interstage wrap brought down and marked on the bottom of the tube.

44 new markings for fairing wrap.jpg

I cut out the triangle sections on the fairing wrap, coated the back with a thin layer of glue, and then used the new line to align the wrap to, ignoring where the edge would be.

Here's the same angle as before, showing that the black sections now line up perfectly. Hooray!!!

45 fairing wrap aligned perfect.jpg

It's hard to tell from the picture where the clip now lines up. It no longer lines up exactly between the fairings but it's only slightly off, so it shouldn't be a problem when I put the engine bells in place. It's not lined up with a fairing at all - I didn't have to adjust the bottom wrap THAT much.
 
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After that it was easy to get the rest of the wraps glued in place.

46 all wraps glued on.jpg

The reduction shroud didn't fit the same way it did back when I glued it up and I realized that it was probably the coats of paint that was throwing it off. It was only slightly off, but the bottom shoulder wasn't coming down as far as it did before. To get it to fit better I sanded off all the white paint and most of the primer from the reduction section. Once I'd done that it fit much better!!

47 close up of reduction wrap.jpg
 
The next step in the instructions is to glue on the fairings. But since I hadn't cut them out yet - waiting until I needed them so they wouldn't lose their shape, I had to cut them out first.

At first I tried to lightly score the tube around the fairing with the hobby knife and then go a little deeper each time, but that was taking forever. I eventually found it easier to cut into the tube and using a sawing motion slice out the fairings sides and then bottom.

48 fairings cut out.jpg

Holding one of them up to the rocket I could see what the instructions meant by needing to curl them a little bit more to get the exact correct shape. Even when I did that I could tell that the cardboard along the edges of the printed area would hold the fairing sides up a little too much.

I decided to sand down the cardboard some. So I laid some sandpaper down on the table and ran the fairing back and forth over it a few times. That removed enough cardboard so that the printed paper was glued against the wrap. It also created a lot more flat area on the fairing for the glue to make contact with.

49 sanding fairing.jpg

The fairings were a little tricky to get glued on but just because of the curve. I was almost using the double glue method because I waited until the glue got tacky before pushing the fairing onto the tube for the final time. Eventually I got all 4 fairings glued in place and they seem secure.

50 fairings glued on.jpg
 
Now that the fairings were completed I moved to the other end of the rocket and the Escape Tower. The main ET is a sharp wooden dowel that is glued into the top of the Service Module, and the Command Module is a cone wrap that is glued and slid over the top of the dowel.

So I poured some glue into the hole and pushed the dowel in, pointy end up. Making sure the thing was straight I left it to dry overnight.

51 tower glued.jpg

I cut out the SM wrap and dry fitted it around the SM section of the balsa and found that it barely didn't fit. This was the same issue I had with the reduction shroud - the layers of primer and white paint made the SM section too big. So I started sanding and had taken off quite a lot of paint and tried again. Still didn't fit.

52 SM sanded.jpg

So I sanded ALL of the white paint and primer off the SM section and got it down to bare balsa all over. The wrap fit perfect!

53 SM sanded more.jpg

If I were to build this again I'd mask off this section and never paint it to begin with. That may have even been in the instructions - I'll be a little embarrassed if it is. But I glued on the SM wrap and the edges butted up exactly to each other.

54 SM wrap glued.jpg

The bottom of the SM wrap also fits nicely up against the newly created shoulder of the paint.
 
The Command Module was cut out and glued up next. This was a cone that is made from a curved section of card stock, much the same way as the reduction is made, except for the size. It was large enough for me to be able to glue up while having it wrapped around the dowel and then removing to dry. That way the hole is the correct size. The instructions say to fill it with white glue before moving into place so I tried to do this by sliding the wrap most of the way, turning the structure upside down, and pouring glue into the cone. I put in a lot but didn't fill it all the way up. Nothing dripped out so I guess I did it right, but I was scared this would happen.

55 CM glued.jpg

I then glued the entire CSM/LM section to the third stage tube. It looks like this will be the nose cone that pops off for ejection of the parachute.

56 CSM-LM glued to third stage.jpg

The instructions then had me cut out, fold, and glue the ET structure and engine bell cone. Once everything dries I'll use a brush and white paint to paint the remaining wooden rocket and the engine bell.

57 ET bell glued and awaiting paint.jpg
 
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Mushtang...you are doing a fantastic job on this build thread. Thanks for taking the time to post.

I built Wes's Skylab Saturn 5 back in January. The problem I had with the decals was that they would disintegrate as I went to apply them to the rocket. I am a newbie with rockets, but have built my share of model aircraft and stuff over the years so I kinda feel proficient with decals...as I would try to slide the decal off of the paper they would simply break apart no matter how careful I was. Wes was kind enough to send me another set and I had no difficulties with the new set at all. I think it was just a bad batch. Once they went on, I gloss coated the rocket and have not had any problems with them since.


Thanks for the update. I didn't realize the extra set was stickers until I read this.

I like decals MUCH better than stickers, so I'll probably try them. Can you be more specific about the problem with them curling - is it immediately or weeks later? I'm wondering if the rocket is covered with a few coats of clearcoat would the decals still curl up, or was that only with those that didn't clearcoat?
 
Thanks Rick! I'll probably start with the decals and if any of them get destroyed I'll go with the stickers.

Wes, if you're going to be including stickers with these kits you could also print the A B C D and I II III IV on that sheet. :) Of course that would require a different graphic, but it's an idea.

Wes, another idea. Please consider making a YouTube video of you making some FGP for the nozzle of an F-1 engine bell. I think seeing it done by the creator would be a LOT better for some people than reading about it. There are a lot of people on these forums that have said they failed to be able to make it. What do you think? And if you could snap it up... I'm almost to that step. :lol:
 
Mushtang....Luke Strawwalker had a great tip on his build thread regarding the FGP...he went with an epoxy. I can't make funky glue putty at all....I just glue my fingers together....so I followed Luke's advise and I went to the Home Depot and picked up some Kwikwood epoxy putty....is easier for me and you can shape it and mold it...after 20 minutes or so it starts to set up. just a thought.

Thanks Rick! I'll probably start with the decals and if any of them get destroyed I'll go with the stickers.

Wes, if you're going to be including stickers with these kits you could also print the A B C D and I II III IV on that sheet. :) Of course that would require a different graphic, but it's an idea.

Wes, another idea. Please consider making a YouTube video of you making some FGP for the nozzle of an F-1 engine bell. I think seeing it done by the creator would be a LOT better for some people than reading about it. There are a lot of people on these forums that have said they failed to be able to make it. What do you think? And if you could snap it up... I'm almost to that step. :lol:
 
Note: Paper decals are now included in the Saturn V kits (and not yet noted in the instructions as of the most recent printing) because the water slides have turned into such a pain in the A$$. Thus, builders who have trouble with the water slides, can opt to use the paper stick-ons if they wish. The issue is NOT with the builders, rather it is with the production company that makes the paper that the water slides are printed on. Their latest few runs of that paper have a tendency to curl up after being appled. The company that sells the paper has zero customer service and do not return e-mails. Worst of all, they are currently the only game in town. So, I got tired of replacing water slides to miffed customers and decided that paper stick-ons may help as an option.

Additionally: Most Dr. Zooch wraps are now being changed to be more "grain friendly" when rolled in the kits. Believe it or not, I never knew, until recently, that cardstock actually had a grain to it. So now I've altered most of the wrap sheets to reflect this and as time goes by all sheets will be as such.

Interesting... How does that affect the layout of your cardstock printouts... does it require more wrap sheets?? Just curious...

It would be nice to have them curled the direction that they'd wrap on the final tube... :)

I'm fiddling about on the paper modelers website and learning a lot... LOT to learn... including the "paper grain" that you mentioned (that I didn't know about either!)

Later! OL JR :)
 
Thanks Rick! I'll probably start with the decals and if any of them get destroyed I'll go with the stickers.

Wes, if you're going to be including stickers with these kits you could also print the A B C D and I II III IV on that sheet. :) Of course that would require a different graphic, but it's an idea.

Wes, another idea. Please consider making a YouTube video of you making some FGP for the nozzle of an F-1 engine bell. I think seeing it done by the creator would be a LOT better for some people than reading about it. There are a lot of people on these forums that have said they failed to be able to make it. What do you think? And if you could snap it up... I'm almost to that step. :lol:

As Rick said, I couldn't get it to work when I tried... after a fashion I SORTA could (using mushy kleenex/yellow glue putty, but it tends to get VERY sticky and messy as you work with it...) I've inadvertantly made FGP while doing kits... it's that sorta gunk that builds up on your fingers as you do glue-paper type crafts (like building rockets) that when your fingers start feeling like they have a 'second skin' and you rub them together, the glue goo rolls off your fingertips like a peeling sunburn... but DARN if I could make the stuff INTENTIONALLY... SO, I just went with some epoxy putty junk I had in my adhesives box... it worked very well... I actually made one nozzle exhaust ring from kleenex/yellow glue muck but it was a mess and took FOREVER... I did the other five in the time it took me to do that ONE...

Later! OL JR :)
 
Mushtang....Luke Strawwalker had a great tip on his build thread regarding the FGP...he went with an epoxy. I can't make funky glue putty at all....I just glue my fingers together....so I followed Luke's advise and I went to the Home Depot and picked up some Kwikwood epoxy putty....is easier for me and you can shape it and mold it...after 20 minutes or so it starts to set up. just a thought.

Thanks Rick. I have already planned on following Luke's method if I can't figure out the FGP (I haven't tried yet). Luke is one of the many "people on these forums that have said they failed to be able to make it" that I mentioned in my post to Wes.

I was just hoping the inventor would give a little demonstration in video of how he makes it, which might help me and loads of others.
 
The last picture I posted was the bare wood Escape Tower ready for paint. Shortly after taking that picture I brushed a coat of white enamel on it and let that dry overnight. Last night I went back and put on a second coat. The first coat didn't give it full coverage, the dark wood color showed through so it definitely needed two coats. Here's the ET after the second coat.

58 Painted ET.jpg

I set that aside to dry and began work on the fin sheet. I sanded the small sheet of balsa and then painted a watered down mix of Carpenters Wood Filler on both sides. Then I had to also set it aside to dry.

59 Balsa sanded and CWF drying.jpg

I was able to turn this over a few times while it dried so it didn't stick to the piece it was sitting on and also so that the balsa sheet didn't deform while drying.
 
This post (and at least one other today) will show the benefit to others of people doing build threads. If anyone else is following along on their build maybe seeing the mistakes I make will help others avoid them. Like this one...

While the other pieces were drying I wanted to work on something and the first thing I saw was the graphic bottom of the rocket. It's printed on card stock and needed to be cut out and glued. I used scissors to cut the outside of the circle, going slow and being careful. Then I used a hobby knife to cut out the middle circle. This was a lot trickier but I think I did an okay job. I've found that doing inside cuts like this turns out better for me if I *lightly* scratch the circle with the knife first, and then go around again with slightly more pressure, etc. By the 4th time I've gone around it's cut out.

60 Bottom cut out.jpg

The instructions say to glue the graphic where the black dots align with the engine fairings, and it also mentions that there needs to be a notch cut out in between two of the dots for the motor clip to be able to move. So I cut the notch, smeared glue on the back, and as I was putting it in place - too late to do anything about it - I realized I'd made a mistake.

61 Bottom glued.jpg

Because of my adventures with the wraps and the black areas not lining up, my engine clip was not exactly lined up in between two fairings. But in a rare state of Hatch Blowerness I glued the image concentrating on the motor clip notch instead of the black dots. When I cut out the notch for the motor clip I had forgotten that the clip was off center. Oops. The paper was glued down before I realized what I was doing and it was too late to move it. My black dots don't line up with the engine fairings!!!

62 Bottom not lined up.jpg

The good news is that I can always print another one and glue it over this one before the engines are in place, and nobody but you and I will know that I messed up.

Unfortunately there's another mistake coming up that will be less easy for me to recover from.
 
While reading over the instructions I realized that I hadn't glued the reduction balsa into the 3rd stage tube like I was told to, so I did that before anyone else noticed. I squirted some white glue on the balsa, put on the tube, rotated the tube to spread the glue out, and lined up the seams.

63 reduction glued to nose cone.jpg

In an earlier post I mentioned smudging this reduction wrap and then Luke Strawwalker told me about a method of scratching off the smudge with the hobby knife. So I tried it and it worked pretty good. Here is a close up of the "repair". You can see that in a couple of places I scraped off some of the graphic, but from a few feet away that's not noticeable. It's hard to see in the picture above unless you zoom in. The smudge definitely was noticeable from far away - so I'm happier with this than I was with the way it looked before. Thanks Luke!

64 scraped off smudge.jpg
 
The card stock sheet has 5 sets of engine bells printed on it and you're instructed to build all 5 even though you'll only need 4. I guess the chances are good that you'll jack one up and will need an extra.

65 engine bell sheet.jpg

These are teeny tiny and were tricky to cut out. I was able to cut everything out with scissors except for the center of the upper section, and I had to use a hobby knife for those.

66 engine bells cut out.jpg

I curled each one in the palm of my hand using a small dowel, then I held it to my mouth and breathed slowly into the cone to get the paper slightly moist so that it would curl easier. When it was curled enough I put a dab of glue on the tab and held it until the glue set up.

When I made the engine bells for the Vostok I made a short pointed dowel to form the bells on, and even though these were a little bigger it still helped to use it to put pressure on the glued tab.

It only took about a minute per piece so around 10 minutes later I was done with them.

67 engine bells glued.jpg
 
Now that the CWF had dried I sanded the balsa sheet once again and I was ready to cut the fins out of it. There is a fin cutting guide on the included card stock which I cut out and placed on the balsa sheet. Inspiration hit me that I only needed to cut out two of the fins from the guide.

68 fin guide.jpg

I lined up one edge of the guide with an edge of the balsa and marked those to fins...

69 fins drawn.jpg

... and then turned the balsa around to draw the other two. I did have to cut that second edge straight before marking those two fins.

70 4 fins drawn.jpg

Then I used a straight edge to cut out the fins. A sharp hobby knife really cuts balsa easily and I had to go slow and be careful not to cut too far anywhere. It's like buttah.

71 fins cut.jpg
 
Even though the guide was carefully followed the fins were still *slightly* different, so I stacked them up and sanded all 4 sides together, leaving them exactly the same size and shape.

72 fins stacked and sanded.jpg

I even managed to sand the leading edges to points sort of like the directions suggested.

73 fin sanded to point.jpg

After that I coated each fin with CA to give it strength. That roughened up the surface a bit so I'll have to sand them again before painting them with Steel color.

I held a fin up to the fairing to compare the fin to the Cut Out shape, and the Cut Out isn't large enough to let the fin completely touch the cardboard below. So it looks like I'll have to remove some of the glued printed fairing area anyway.
 
The black areas on the Saturn extend up from the fairing wrap and meet the next section of wrap. To do this the instructions have you paint these with a brush.

To mark the places that I needed to mask I used a straight edge to line up the black area on the fairing wrap and the black area on the interstage wrap, and drew a pencil line. I kept all the pencil lines slightly inside the area so that the black would cover them up.

74 tube marked.jpg

After that I pulled off 3 pieces of Tamyama masking tape and masked off one section for me to fill with black.

75 masked.jpg

After burnishing the edges of the tape I filled the area with black and let it dry for a few minutes and then went over it again with another coat of black.

76 black filled.jpg

When I was done with the black I pulled off the masking tape and moved to the next section.

77 mask removed.jpg

When I was completely finished I went back over the black areas one last time and touched up anything that wasn't dark black. After that was done, the rocket looked really great!

79 all black areas finished.jpg

Oh, but I didn't use paint, I used a black sharpie. The first coat resulted in a bunch of visible lines, but going over it again after it dried removed most of those. The final coloring when it had dried darkened the areas so much that unless you're within inches you can't tell it's not painted!
 
There WAS one problem with the masking that I did in the previous step and I think it had more to do with the tape I used for masking than it did with using a sharpie instead of paint.

When I removed the tape from one section this happened:

78 mask damage.jpg

The tape pulled the top layer of the printed wrap off with it. And it only happened there. Maybe I left the tape on too long? No idea why that one section had an issue and the rest turned out fine. And there's nothing I can do about it short of pulling off the wrap and printing a new one.

However, with the smudge on the reduction, the bottom not quite center, and no telling how badly I'll do on the F-1 engines, I think I'll leave this one for now too. If it were the only thing wrong I might fix it, but by the time I finish, the list of mistakes I make is likely to double.
 
First off- make sure that in going for perfection on the fins- you did not reduce the size. The fin area is key on this kit.

Next- on that wrap where the image pulled off. If you put it on as instructed, with white glue, you can allow it do dry (and I mean REALLY dry) over a few weeks. Then GENTLY run a #11 xacto blade around the upper and lower edge of the wrap where it contacts the tube. Make a small score in the paint. Then simply peal the wrap off and replace it. You have to score the paint so it will not pull off with the wrap. I replace sooted or damaged wraps all the time that way.
 
First off- make sure that in going for perfection on the fins- you did not reduce the size. The fin area is key on this kit.
Thanks. I'll double check them against the fin marking guide later today.

Next- on that wrap where the image pulled off. If you put it on as instructed, with white glue, you can allow it to dry (and I mean REALLY dry) over a few weeks. Then GENTLY run a #11 xacto blade around the upper and lower edge of the wrap where it contacts the tube. Make a small score in the paint. Then simply peal the wrap off and replace it. You have to score the paint so it will not pull off with the wrap. I replace sooted or damaged wraps all the time that way.
I'll see how well I do on the rest of the rocket and how many more mistakes I make. Heh. If nothing else goes wrong I will give this a try in a few weeks. I definitely used white glue on the wrap! Thanks for the tip.

I'll go ahead and reprint the entire card stock scan so I'll have that wrap as well as the piece for the bottom of the rocket.

I'm still hoping you consider making a FGP video. :D
 
hey Mushtang and Luke...thank you for your tips...especially regarding the smudge...I am currently working on Dr. Zooch's SA-203 Saturn 1b....and I got a smudge of steel paint, tiny as can be...on a rolled white lox tank....RATS! :bang:
but thanks to your thread Mushtang and your input Luke..I tried the razor blade and son of a gun if it didn't gently remove that smudge....I mean...it couldn't have stuck out any worse..:eyepop:..right dead smack in the middle of a white tank..I must have gotten it on my finger without even knowing it...was a tiny spot...but stood out like a sore thumb and it was the kinda spot that I was afraid anything I tried to do to fix it would only compound the mistake.......but not any more!! thank you!!!! you guys are both steely eyed missile men

While reading over the instructions I realized that I hadn't glued the reduction balsa into the 3rd stage tube like I was told to, so I did that before anyone else noticed. I squirted some white glue on the balsa, put on the tube, rotated the tube to spread the glue out, and lined up the seams.

View attachment 79948

In an earlier post I mentioned smudging this reduction wrap and then Luke Strawwalker told me about a method of scratching off the smudge with the hobby knife. So I tried it and it worked pretty good. Here is a close up of the "repair". You can see that in a couple of places I scraped off some of the graphic, but from a few feet away that's not noticeable. It's hard to see in the picture above unless you zoom in. The smudge definitely was noticeable from far away - so I'm happier with this than I was with the way it looked before. Thanks Luke!

View attachment 79949
 
First off- make sure that in going for perfection on the fins- you did not reduce the size. The fin area is key on this kit.

We're good. I laid the fins on the cut out guide and took this picture:

80 Fins correct size.jpg

It looks like the fins are all the correct size, or very close to it. Thanks for the warning though, if they'd been wrong I would have wanted to redo them and make sure that part was right!!!
 
Yesterday at lunch I stopped by my local hobby shop and picked up a small bottle of Testors Steel paint, which is recommended by the instructions for painting the fins.

I painted one side and let them dry, then flipped them over to paint the other side. I was careful NOT to paint the edge that will be glued to the fairings!!

81 Fins painted.jpg

They were drying on the instruction sheet instead of my cutting mat to keep any paint off my mat.
 
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