Fluxion, a Planetary Defense Fighter

[boatgeek]

I used a red Sharpie (real deal name brand Sharpie) to crudely write THUNK on my finless rocket, then clear coated it with Rustoleum American Accents 2X Ultra Cover Semi-Gloss Clear. No drips, no runs, no errors.

I used 3 light coats, about 10 minutes between each coat. And I always put the paint can in a "Big Guzzler" cup and fill it with 120F hot water, then let it heat soak for 10 minutes before spraying.



View attachment 581478 View attachment 581480

I’ve got a piece of 18mm tube coated in silver metallic and with sharpie test stripes. It’s just waiting for me to buy some clear coat to do a test. More info as events warrant…

 

[BABAR]

I’ve got a piece of 18mm tube coated in silver metallic and with sharpie test stripes. It’s just waiting for me to buy some clear coat to do a test. More info as events warrant

a test with Future might be good too, as long as you're at it.

 

[BEC]

Yeah….that’s my clear coat of choice.

I saw @boatgeek this evening in front of Metz Middle School in Manassas, VA. He’s out here for the TARC final tomorrow.

It’ll likely be chilly enough for me to need the red jacket in my avatar pic in the morning out at the Great Meadow.

 

[boatgeek]

I’ve got a piece of 18mm tube coated in silver metallic and with sharpie test stripes. It’s just waiting for me to buy some clear coat to do a test. More info as events warrant…

I had a surprise couple of hours without family obligations today, so Fluxion moved a few steps forward.

First of all, the sharpie-clear coat test was ... interesting. I just hit it real lightly and didn't get any runs. What was odd was that the ink color markedly changed. Both blue and green got a hair lighter, and the red both got lighter and turned a bit orange. I'm not at all sure what's going on there. Before clear coat, I thought that blue was too dark, and red and green were just perfect. Now I'm pretty sure I want to stick with blue, though I might use some green in places.

In a series of mixing 5-minute epoxy, I also...
Glued the central pew-pew sticks to the fin assemblies
Glued the aft centering rings to the outboard pew-pew sticks
Glued the shock cord to the MMT and tacked the forward centering ring in place.

The main fin assemblies need a bit of filleting and filler, then they'll be ready to paint. The outboard pew-pew sticks need to have the remaining cap and greeble glued on, then they can go to paint as well.

No photos at the moment, but I'll update down the road.

 

[lakeroadster]

I had a surprise couple of hours without family obligations today, so Fluxion moved a few steps forward.

First of all, the sharpie-clear coat test was ... interesting. I just hit it real lightly and didn't get any runs. What was odd was that the ink color markedly changed. Both blue and green got a hair lighter, and the red both got lighter and turned a bit orange. I'm not at all sure what's going on there. Before clear coat, I thought that blue was too dark, and red and green were just perfect. Now I'm pretty sure I want to stick with blue, though I might use some green in places.

What brand / type of paint, and what brand / type of clear? Real Sharpie markers?

Details man... we need details.

 

[boatgeek]

Patience, grasshopper. All will be revealed.

 

[lakeroadster]

Patience, grasshopper. All will be revealed.

That's what the Chinese Doctor told his wife about his new practice when she said "When will you ever turn a profit"?

 

[boatgeek]

What brand / type of paint, and what brand / type of clear? Real Sharpie markers?

Details man... we need details.

Progress! And Details!

Before we get to fascinating interactions between Sharpie and clear coat, the outboard pew-pew sticks are primed. I think I can touch up sand them and get a coat or two of silver metallic on tonight, which means that they'll be ready for Sharpie-ing tomorrow or Wednesday.

On to markers. For starters, the clear coat is Rustoleum Crystal Clear Enamel. All markers are name brand Sharpies, colors as shown below in the pictures. My first round was to make three T-shaped lines with red, green, and blue so that I could establish whether a light coat of clear would make the ink run. Second round today was to make a second line in the same color to the left of the T to establish how much of the color change was the clear coat causing fading and how much was just how the color went on. I also added two new colors (purple and magenta) to see how those perform. I re-coated with clear coat after taking these pictures, though I don't have results photos from that. Results were...


Red and magenta: I thought that the red faded quite a bit with the initial application of clear coat, though the difference isn't super-obvious in the picture. The red seemed much more faded after the second coat of clear. The magenta held color under one coat of clear.


Blue and purple: Blue holds color with one or two coats of clear. The purple was much more lavender when drawn on, and nearly disappeared under the clear coat.


Green: There's an unfortunate reflection of the sun in the picture, but green held color under the one or two coats of clear coat. I thought it went on darker in the first place, but that must have been an illusion. It does go on significantly lighter than you'd expect--this is a standard dark green.

Conclusion: I think there is something odd happening in the CMYK absorption spectrum with the clear coat, since some colors are completely unaffected by clear, and some are noticeably changed. I'm guessing that this is due to whatever Rusto uses to absorb UV/minimize yellowing. I also think it's possible that the clear coat below may change the appearance of the color above.

 

[boatgeek]

The outboard pew pew sticks are now silver metallic.

 

[BABAR]

The outboard pew pew sticks are now silver metallic.
View attachment 588881

So they are now sorta pew-ter?

(Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

 

[boatgeek]

I’ve made quite a bit of progress on Fluxion over the last few days:

Pew-ter sticks are fully decorated with blue Sharpie. I had to put a thicker coat than I wanted to get full coverage, so the metallic doesn’t come through as well as I’d hoped. No big deal though.

Particle scoops and conduits are on the fins.

Rail guides are installed.

A general coat of fairing goop is on and mostly sanded off again.

Here’s the current status with one pew-pew stick in place but not glued.


My current planned pain scheme:
Nose cone: TBD
Body: silver metallic forward of the fins
Fin area: royal blue
Particle conduits and center pew-pew sticks: silver metallic, conduits have light blue Sharpie
Tips of center pew-pew sticks: magenta Sharpie

We are all on track for a Labor Day weekend launch.

 

[BEC]

We are all on track for a Labor Day weekend launch.

So a debut at Sod Blaster V?

 

[boatgeek]

So a debut at Sod Blaster V?

Should be, likely Saturday or Sunday. I don’t think I can get on to 60 Acres before then.

 

[jqavins]

Pew-ter sticks are fully decorated with blue Sharpie. I had to put a thicker coat than I wanted to get full coverage, so the metallic doesn’t come through as well as I’d hoped. No big deal though.

It comes through enough to give the blue a good luster. I love it exactly as it is. If this is not what you hoped for then I, for one, must consider it a happy accident.

 

[boatgeek]

I painted much of Fluxion’s fin can blue last week, so now it’s time for silver. First was masking, with what felt like an entire roll of fine line tape:



Then came a seal coat of blue followed by silver. Here’s the current status, tape to be pulled tomorrow.

 

[BABAR]

I painted much of Fluxion’s fin can blue last week, so now it’s time for silver. First was masking, with what felt like an entire roll of fine line tape:

View attachment 593422

Then came a seal coat of blue followed by silver. Here’s the current status, tape to be pulled tomorrow.

View attachment 593421

Well, the day Lillies look nice….

 

[boatgeek]

I spent an utterly inordinate amount of time this week on the name decal for Fluxion. Fonts, line drawing vs. a formal font, the laser hazard symbol, where the horizontal bar went relative to the rest of the text, etc. all changed a few times during design. After using two different CAD programs (AutoCAD and Rhino), it's finally done and off to Stickershock. All of this was complicated by my putting a seam between blue and silver where I had a tube joint. That made the seam disappear, but only left me about 6" of rocket length to work with and still keep the logo on the silver. BT-70 also is pretty small, so I didn't have much height.

Without further ado, here it is:


Ignore the fine gray lines--this will all be cut from blue vinyl to (mostly) match the paint. Glamor shots will have to wait until I get the decals on.

It's going to be hot* here for the next few days, so I'll make sure to bake Fluxion well to ensure good clear coating later.

* Hot for Seattle. Not hot for anywhere not populated by weather wimps. The high for the week is still predicted to be under 90.

 

[neil_w]

That looks really good.

 

[boatgeek]

That looks really good.

Thank you! I feel like mass media doesn’t adequately show the frustration and iterations of graphic design (or engineering design for that matter). It’s always the actor spending five minutes on a sketch pad or computer and a fully formed design pops out.

 

[boatgeek]

Gentlebeings, we are pleased to announce that Fluxion is a fully operational weapons system. Not only that, but on it's maiden flight, Fluxion successfully intercepted and neutralized a descending rocket and returned for a perfect landing. The incoming rocket fell harmlessly to the ground in pieces. Inquiries may be directed to our sales department; production slots are filling rapidly!

 

[boatgeek]

Fluxion flew successfully on an F51BS at Sod Blaster V over Labor Day weekend. It was a very nice flight, very straight with minimal spin. I knocked the delay down by a second from the sim to account for the scoops and ducts on the fins, and that ended up being just perfect.

As it was going up, it visually (to me) crossed paths with a rocket descending under chute. I'm sure it was quite a ways away, but it was a nice effect for a planetary defense fighter. From the picture above, it's hard to believe that we were flying on a sod farm. In a month or so, this will all be green grass.

 

[jqavins]

Did it actually stick the landing like that? I don't see any other landing marks in the sand.

 

[neil_w]

Flight + landing: Nice!

Not getting beauty shots of the finished rocket: Not so nice!

 

[BABAR]

Pew! Pew!

congrats!

 

[boatgeek]

Did it actually stick the landing like that? I don't see any other landing marks in the sand.

In an utterly delinquent reply: yes: it stuck the landing as shown.

Here's a glamor shot on the rail for flight last weekend at 60 Acres.


@DirkTheDaring 's camp is just above the nose cone in the picture. It was another good flight on an F51BS, though it didn't stick the landing.