Estes ALCM Rebuild Thread

[caveduck]

Buried in my box o' old built rockets I found an old Estes ALCM Cruise Missile. I originally built it in the early 1980s. Like a few others I built at the time, it fell victim to the poorly aging Testors clear gloss spray.

Situation
I've been wanting to refinish this model for at least a decade. Several years ago I did some experiments to see if the yellowed clear coat could be removed. At that time I had no way to get better decals so I worked on masking the decal areas and wet-sanding the rest. Although I succeeded in removing a fair amount of the clear coat (albeit with an insane amount of work), the project was confounded by the fact that the decal clear film itself had yellowed about as much as the spray gloss.

Here is the model as it appears now. Bear in mind that a fair amount of the worst yellow coating has already been removed.



Decals
Being able to do this project hinges on getting new decals, since the old yellowed ones have to come off along with most of the paint layer. Nowadays this isn't a problem as long as you can get decent artwork to print from. Here's where the first challenge came up.

Over on plans.rocketshoppe.com I found a scan of the correct decal sheet. But I wasn't very happy with it as the particular sheet had unusually bad color registration, and there was a lot of anti-aliasing jaggedness. The latter can happen if the original scan is done at too low resolution - for best results you need to scan at considerably higher than 300 dpi.

At first I considered cleaning up the file from rocketshoppe, though it was going to be really tedious. Then on a whim I had a look through my decal collection and found that I had an actual spare decal sheet....almost.

At some point I cannibalized 3 items from the sheet for another project. I was missing the small star-and-bar, the black oval, and one of the black stripes.

Artwork Cleanup
OK, armed with a good scan of a nearly complete decal sheet plus a marginal scan of a totally complete one, I figured I could get there. In a long Photoshop run last night I stitched together a complete set of art:

• 1200 dpi scan of my sheet
• Yellowed clear zones replaced with white.
• Missing star-and-bar put in by cleaning up and cloning one of the larger ones from my scan and shrinking/rotating it to the correct size and orientation.
• Missing black oval and stripe copied in from the rocketshoppe scan and heavily cleaned up.
• All colors made uniform.
• Dust, dirt and silkscreen flaws removed.

This took quite a while but I'm really happy with the file now. Here's low-res copies of the before and after images:
View attachment 56070
I'll get the full high-res version (1200 dpi, 7K x 5K pixels) up on my site later; meanwhile PM me if you'd like them.

The Plan
Simple. Print a new decal sheet, sand everything off the model, Klass Kote primer and white epoxy paint, new decals, Blair clear spray this time around. It should actually go pretty quickly.

 

[luke strawwalker]

Looks REALLY nice... amazing photoshop work... wish I knew how to do that!

Looking forward to the rest of your restoration...

Good luck and KUTGW! OL JR

 

[caveduck]

Thanks Luke! I'm wet-sanding it now, which has revealed that the underlying paint is cream-yellow all the way down, doesn't sand very easily and has a gray primer underneath. I expected to find K&B epoxy primer/paint. I'm thinking now the whole thing was done with Testors rattlecan paint. Ugh...all that stuff is gonna come off!!

 

[caveduck]

Wet sanding away...there was not any useful amount of primer base under the now cream-colored paint so I'm mostly taking it down to bare plastic.

When I got to the wings I carefully popped and sliced loose the cover plate that holds them down so I could get at all the areas near the hinge assembly. That was easier than it could have been and helped a lot.

In the photo you can get an idea of how yellow the durn thing was by the difference between the sanded and unsanded wings.

There's a fair amount left to do on the port side of the model but one more session oughtta do it.

 

[kjohnson]

Looks REALLY nice... amazing photoshop work... wish I knew how to do that!

It's not that hard to do simple cleanup to get what I would call acceptable results. You can go down the rabbit hole very quickly though, and start redrawing things. Helps to have high quality starting scans.

Here's what I got after literally 5 minutes with the original file. Maybe I'll do a quick tutorial in the techniques section if folks want.


kj

 

[Pem Tech]

Oh man...
I had one of these back in the day, but have no idea what happened to it.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[luke strawwalker]

It's not that hard to do simple cleanup to get what I would call acceptable results. You can go down the rabbit hole very quickly though, and start redrawing things. Helps to have high quality starting scans.

Here's what I got after literally 5 minutes with the original file. Maybe I'll do a quick tutorial in the techniques section if folks want.


kj

That would be great...

Photoshop is something I HAVEN'T learned anything about yet. I reworked some shuttle wraps into "Moonraker 5" one time in MS paint, but it's probably quite different...

And my mother has some O-L-D family photos that have yellowed and gotten 'water spots' on them she wants me to rework and print out for her to take to the family reunion...

Any tips would be greatly appreciated...

Later and thanks! OL JR

 

[caveduck]

About 98% of the yellowed paint is now off. The only areas left are some details around the aft launch lug, the motor tube, and the wing hinge area. Altogether it took me about 4 hours to remove the finish from the model.

On the Photoshop tack, I think it would be great if somebody posted a quick rocketeer's guide to image processing. There are lots of important points but a couple of the most important to me are a) always scan and manipulate at higher res than you're going to print, and b) always work in .tiff or .psd formats. Doing multiple edits on .jpg files can make really icky results; there are some good howtos on the web that show what can happen there. Oh yeah, healing brush and clone stamp are your friends, and anti-alias is not always your friend with regard to line art.

 

[bradycros]

About 98% of the yellowed paint is now off. The only areas left are some details around the aft launch lug, the motor tube, and the wing hinge area. Altogether it took me about 4 hours to remove the finish from the model.

On the Photoshop tack, I think it would be great if somebody posted a quick rocketeer's guide to image processing. There are lots of important points but a couple of the most important to me are a) always scan and manipulate at higher res than you're going to print, and b) always work in .tiff or .psd formats. Doing multiple edits on .jpg files can make really icky results; there are some good howtos on the web that show what can happen there. Oh yeah, healing brush and clone stamp are your friends, and anti-alias is not always your friend with regard to line art.

It sure looks like you know what your doing. Seems to me and others that you should be the somebody to post a quick rocketeer's guide to image processing.

 

[caveduck]

All the final cleanup got done in fits and starts over the last few days and the ALCM made it into a big primer day along with the 3 Constellations. Already it looks better. Maybe it will get another coat since you can still see some dark areas where there's putty underneath. I didn't primer the wings yet and possibly won't since they are completely smooth as-is.

Image processing :y: Man that's a *huge* subject and I'm a total amateur. I'll at least help get the ball rolling by starting a thread over in a more appropriate place (techniques probably).

 

[bradycros]

All the final cleanup got done in fits and starts over the last few days and the ALCM made it into a big primer day along with the 3 Constellations. Already it looks better. Maybe it will get another coat since you can still see some dark areas where there's putty underneath. I didn't primer the wings yet and possibly won't since they are completely smooth as-is.

Image processing :y: Man that's a *huge* subject and I'm a total amateur. I'll at least help get the ball rolling by starting a thread over in a more appropriate place (techniques probably).

Looking good!

 

[luke strawwalker]

All the final cleanup got done in fits and starts over the last few days and the ALCM made it into a big primer day along with the 3 Constellations. Already it looks better. Maybe it will get another coat since you can still see some dark areas where there's putty underneath. I didn't primer the wings yet and possibly won't since they are completely smooth as-is.

Image processing :y: Man that's a *huge* subject and I'm a total amateur. I'll at least help get the ball rolling by starting a thread over in a more appropriate place (techniques probably).

Looks VERY nice...

Are the fins REALLY that big on it?? I never built one (though I wanted to) but those fins are honking huge... WAY oversize.

Just curious... This looks like the 'short version' that came out first. The later ones were longer to hold more fuel for longer range.... too bad they didn't model that one, as this thing could use all the length it could get...

Later! OL JR

 

[mwtoelle]

This kit is an Estes issue of the Centuri version. The major difference between them are the Centuri version has a display stand included and the Estes Version does not. The other difference is in the parachute included in the kit. This is one of the few Estes kits that actually uses Centuri tubes.

The ALCM is based on the AGM-86A prototype and not the AGM-86B operational rounds (needed room for the warhead and more fuel). Besides, the operational missiles don't have the shark mouth on the nose.

 

[caveduck]

Another difference between the Estes and Centuri versions is the decal sheet - as I found out a bit awkwardly when I prepped a cleaned-up scan of the Centuri decal sheet only to find that my model actually had the Estes decals on it. (whew!!) :duck: Rocketshoppe has one and JimZ has the other.

Oh yeah, the model...I got back into action after a round with the flu and did some putty work the last couple of days to fill in a warped low spot in one wing and a leading edge ding. They've been added to my pile of Things Ready for Primer.

 

[modeltrains]

... in one wing and a leading edge ding..

Note: a wing ding and a Wingding are not quite exactly the same thing; and one is a bit more fun than the other :wink:

 

[vigilante]

Hey caveduck, I am going to tackle a host of rockets that need "rebuilt" this fall and winter. Any tips you want to share with me/us?

One question I have is why did you sand with wet/dry paper? You wouldn't want to use this on an all "non-plastic" model(s) would you?

 

[caveduck]

@vigilante - for rebuilds I think you have to make up a lot as you go. You can actually get away with wet sanding paper/balsa models as long as you are careful not to eat through the finish layer into something porous. It helps if you know or have an idea what's underneath the paint.

Sealing tube ends with CA reduces the chance for water uptake...I do that and wet sand tubes all the time with no real problems. Comes in real handy if you don't like how the paint laid out on the surface, or if the paint has turned yellow and has to come off. When in doubt you can fall back to dry sanding, though it will take longer and consume more sandpaper.

 

[luke strawwalker]

I recommend a technique I call "damp sanding"...

I typically use a 440 grit or 600 grit as the final sanding on my rockets before painting (sanding the primer "glass smooth"-- don't worry, it still has MORE than enough 'tooth' for the paint to hold on to). It makes the surface SO smooth that the final color coats go on like silk and flow out perfectly without the need for color sanding (IMHO). Here's how you do it.

Get a bowl of water and keep it where you're sanding, and your sandpaper (I use roughly 2x3 inch blocks of sandpaper at at time and sand everything by hand (without sanding blocks). I usually sand while watching TV, so I set the bowl on the table by my chair and drape an old towel over me to keep the crud off. Have a couple paper towels handy too. Dip the paper in the water bowl, and then shake the excess off. You basically only want a few drops of water spread evenly on the paper. Start sanding, ALWAYS sand in a circular motion, and CONSTANTLY rotate the rocket in your hand very slowly as you sand, NEVER sand in the same spot continuously to avoid flat spots and sand-thrus. Sand easy with VERY little pressure-- let the paper do the work. The sanding will liberate "sanding mud" consisting of the primer you've sanded off the surface of the rocket, mixed with moisture from the sandpaper. About every minute or so, when the paper "loads up", drop it in the bowl, and take the paper towel and wipe the excess "sanding mud" off the rocket. Run your finger over the submerged paper to free the paint particles from the grit, pull the paper out of the bowl, shake the excess water off, and if you start getting too much water, daub the paper a bit on the towel before returning to sanding. Actually you can keep sanding without wiping the mud off that often-- about every third dip of the paper in the bowl is fine. The main thing is, you DON'T want water 'running everywhere'... you need JUST enough water to lube the paper a bit and keep the liberated primer particles flowing out as 'sanding mud'.

It's a REALLY easy process to learn once you get the hang of it and it works VERY well. You can LITERALLY make primer "shine" using this technique. Of course you don't have to take it THAT far (and it's probably better that you DON'T) because all you REALLY need to do is get rid of ALL the imperfections in the surface before you paint, and you'll have a GORGEOUS paint job (if you don't screw up applying the paint!)

I usually inspect the rocket by holding it up at eye level in front of me, with a sunlit window or bright light above and on the other side of the room. This will create a "glint" off the surface of the tubes or fin surfaces that will readily show any imperfections as specks, spots, craters, waves, or breaks in that "glint" of reflected light off the surface-- imperfections FAR too small to see directly, or to feel with your finger... but they stand out EASILY when looking at their effect on the reflection of light off the tube/surface. Once you have it to the point your satisfied, wipe it down with a DAMP paper towel to remove any remaining sanding mud and let it dry THOROUGHLY (overnight usually) and then paint as normal.

I regularly sand balsa fins, un-CA-sealed paper tubes, balsa transitions, etc. with this method and have had ZERO problems-- just terrific finishes!

Later and good luck! Hope this helps! OL JR

 

[vigilante]

Yes this is a great help! Thank you very much!

 

[caveduck]

Dang, luke definitely uses the force, you pretty much described exactly how I do that :wink: Great point about wiping the slurry off the model to keep moisture from going where you don't want it.

 

[caveduck]

The Estes *and* Centuri ALCM decal art files are posted on my site now at https://www.caveduck.com/rocketplans. The Estes one is from my own 1200 dpi scans, the Centuri one is a cleanup of the 300 dpi one on JimZ's site.

Edit: Oh yeah, the main body and nose cone have primer and the sanding is done. Still got a bit of work to do on the wings and wing cover plate. I was a bit shocked to find that the cover plate was apparently a replacement, it seems to be 2 laminated layers of cottage cheese lid styrene. Getting too old - I can't even remember doing that or why it was needed. I must have wrecked the original one.

 

[caveduck]

Finally finished all the prep work and the base coat of Klass Kote gloss white is on. It's gleaming white now - compare to the "before" photo at the top of the thread. Hope I can keep it that way this time around.

I've been round-robin-ing this with work on several other models but now that I can smell completion here I suspect the decals may get printed tomorrow. Heh with so many models in the paint queue I'm forgetting how to do assembly

 

[caveduck]

After I made a test print of the decal art as I had it a couple of days ago, it struck me that there were still a lot of ratty things that were going to be noticeable on a display model. The first fixed-up version (shown below on the left) was a decent representation of the silk-screened original that I scanned, but it had a lot of silkscreen process artifacts. The "Danger" placards were badly mis-registered, the little blue concentric circles were very sloppy, and the black outlines in the shark's teeth were pretty jagged, just to name a few.

In the last several days I've been working on a Star Speeder decal set and it's amazing how different two prints of the same original decal can be. The Star Speeder sheets show incredible variation in screen stretch/distortion and color registration.

After working out how to deal with those things on the Star Speeder art I sat down and fixed all the problems I mentioned for the ALCM and quite a bit more. Result is on the right. I think this one is ready to go on the model.

Partial list of changes in the new art file:

• Blue circles fixed to be actually concentric
• Small blue widgets sharpened up
• Fixed color registration in DANGER placards and made DANGER legible
• Fixed registration in CAUTION placards too
• Fixed color assignment jaggies in shark teeth
• Boeing logo much closer to reality
• Darkened the blue a bit to account for fading

Both files are available in hi-res versions on my site (link given previously).

[Edit] If you use the prev/next buttons to flip between the images you can see the differences easily. Some things shift position slightly due to copy/paste operations...for a lot of things I pull them off into a separate layer, work on them and then paste 'em back when I'm happy with the outcome.

 

[caveduck]

Hooray I'm actually at the stage of printing decals this morning. Let the entertainment begin...especially since I now have a vastly different printer than the one I used to use for this.

So I print the first test page...hmmm...the red comes out as a dull red-orange. OK, somebody in the family (we all use the big computer) reset the printer driver to defaults, causing double color adjustments out of Photoshop. No sweat, red herring problem, case closed quickly. :gavel:

After killing off the driver's color correction it looked better so I printed a couple of copies on decal paper and they came out OK. So far so good. Off to the shop for some clear coat.

On the first try I just used a moderate coat of Blair clear gloss to see if the shortest road to Rome was any good. It actually laid down fairly well over the ink, but beaded up in the non-printed areas (not too surprising given the discussions in other threads). On the good side it dried enough to handle within 20 minutes and did not react with the ink.

Now for the matte fixative. I tried this on the next couple of sheets. One got a medium coat (enough so I hoped not to have to repeat) and the other just the barest dusting.

Two things went wrong with the matte fixative. On the minor side, there was still a bit of beading in the unprinted areas with the moderate coat. OK, no prob, just use a little less. Much more serious, after a couple of minutes it became clear that the fixative was attacking the printer ink and making it bleed. Huh? I thought matte fixative was supposed to go over fragile things to prevent this sort of mayhem. :kill:

[Interlude for more coffee] Naturally this is really an issue with the Canon 9000 Mk2 ink system more than the fixative. I'm going to have a look at the light-dusting sheet after it dries for an hour or so to see if there's any ink bleed. If not I may have a somewhat workable process, but I suspect the 9500 pigment printer might make things a lot easier. My ancient Epson 2200 did not have this problem... :rant:

Of course I could drop back 15 yards and send the file to sandman, but I have a whole string of models in the queue wanting custom decals so it's going to be a lot more fun to thoroughly beat this problem to death. :bangpan:

 

[JPVegh]

I've seen some bleeding from HP and Epson inks also.

 

[caveduck]

Update - even a very light fog coat of the artist fixative causes some softening of the ink edges. Also I saw some tendency of the clear gloss to crack when applying some test decals, and I found some discussion of this problem elsewhere. There's gonna be a hold here while I get some products more specifically intended for coating inkjet waterslide stock.

This will break the "do this with things you can get at Staples and Michaels" convenience but c'est la vie.

Everything left in my paint queue is waiting on this, so I think I can actually go build the Semroc Laser-X that I've been refusing to open.

 

[caveduck]

I got a nice juicy box with a couple of cans of Papilio UV resistant decal clear coat today. The initial test on a scrap decal sheet looks good - it does not attack the Canon ink, nor does it bead up in the unprinted areas. For the first trial I followed the directions (gasp) and used a couple of wet coats with a 5 minute flash time in between.

While I was ordering the clear coat I also grabbed a few sheets of dry transfer (rub-on) decal media. I think I'm going to try that on the Star Speeder to get a more scale-like look with no clear film...for that model I'm planning a flat weathered gray & metallic look.

Now I have a bunch of decals to make for the ALCM and 3 Constellations.

 

[caveduck]

After looking over the white paint I decided this model didn't really need color sanding, so I just went over it with an ultra-fine rubbing compound (Liquid Micro to be specific) on a microfiber cloth. This stuff is fine enough that it won't significantly dull the finish.

I've been doing some tests with the Papilio UV-resistant decal clear spray, printing a couple of more decal sheets as I go along. The instructions say to spray a heavy coat from 3-6" away; I tried that but found it a bit hard to control and I got some bubbles embedded in the surface. I ended up spraying from about 9" and building up enough to get a wet gloss look, which worked much better.

Then I did some decal application tests on scrap plastic with some of the off-color test print decals. The Papilio clear coated decals were nice and tough but still flexible. First I did a few without the use of any setting or lubricating agent, including the CG+stripes decal, which is by far the hardest one to work with on the whole sheet. It went down fine without tearing or cracking, so the anti UV clear passes muster pretty well.

I did some additional tests using the Papilio decal mounting fluid, which is a surface lubricator, not a solvent like Solva-Set. It worked great, giving anxiety-free positioning and made it very easy to chase out air bubbles.

The photo shows the now polished model and most of the supplies I mentioned here.

 

[luke strawwalker]

Where you getting your materials???
KUTGW!
OL JR

 

[caveduck]

@luke - The Papilio decal supplies are from papilio.com. They have a lot of specialty inkjet media and supplies, including both waterslide and rub-on systems.

The Milco Liquid Micro compound I have is no longer available, but you can use any equivalent fine auto finish compound like the 3M stuff, etc. Check out the polishing section of tcpglobal.com for a huge selection. You want the stuff that's designed to take out the scratch marks from 1000-1500 grit, used right before the "hand glaze". Avoid the coarse compound from the corner auto parts store; it will dull the finish a lot and you'll have to use a finer compound afterward anyway.