How have yoru building techniques changed

[CQBArms]

In looking back over the last three months, I can see that my techniques have changed a good bit (due to the great advice of the forum).

Building a rocket a day (in a couple hours from bag to pad, painted) is neat but it doesn't lend itself too much to some of the high quality builds I have seen.

I now fill my tubes, I let the glue dry before painting , I sand a lot better and have actually thought about wet sanding (god help me), I will clear coat a rocket. Fillets are not just something you eat. Slowly but surely my skills are building. I did get lucky on some of my early kits in that they looked pretty good...but it just raises the bar for the next one.

What about you?

 

[TeenRocketNerd]

When I started out, I didn't fill tubes or balsa... mainly because I didn't have the sanding sealer called for to seal fins, and didn't know that one could fill the spirals... Since then I've become a filling freak! Everything gets filled and sanded down with 220, 400 down to 800...I also used to use epoxy for things that definetely did not need it... I still overbuild, but not as bad as I used to.

 

[judo]

I paper and press my fins, mostly.

I use wood glue almost exclusively over white.

I will make two or three small fillets vice one thick one. Wood glue is strong but it shrinks a bunch and is prone to air holes.

I use 1/16" balsa under my launch lugs as a stand off.

I fillet my launch lugs with wood filler.

 

[jflis]

Heck, when I started I tried cutting fins out with scissors and "sealed" them with magic marker... LOL

 

[astrowolf67]

When I first started building, there was only two glues that I used, CA, or Weldbond White. There was no sanding, no filling, no priming, just slap some paint on and go.

Now, I use epoxy, CA, and Weldbond, with epoxy being my main adhesive. I fill, prime, sand, and try to achieve the best possible finish I can. As others have stated, my goals have gone from getting it built as quickly as possible, to taking my time, yielding a much better looking, and durable model.

Just what I've learned in rocketry, has taught me not to give up on any projects, or repairs. I've learned how to adapt, modify, and overcome road blocks. I've used rocketry building techniques, many times over, to repair broken things, or modify things to my liking. Not too long ago, the trim panel around my laptop's screen broke in both lower corners. Thanks to my rocketry experiences, I removed it, carefully CA'd it back together, then laid some fiberglass on the inside. Fixed it!

 

[Stizzealth]

My techniques have improved, but noy my ability to use them. I apply fillets, but not very well. I have a tough time gauging paint dry times, strength of parts, etc...

So I'm trying but failing to improve, pretty much. One major part of it is lack of materials, really. I have wood glue, white glue, epoxy, an x-acto knife and a ruler as my materials and tools. And primer and paint. If I could only get my ahnds on some fill-n-finish.

 

[Jeff]

I started adding microballon filler to epoxy for fillets and shaping them with 1" pieces of pvc pipe. What an enormous difference in quality.

 

[SCIGS30]

I came back to rocketry after a long break and tried all the new techniques I could find. The funny thing is I ended up going back to my old ways of building; Not filling spirals, back to using aerogloss on fins and still using plain old wood glue nothing fancy. I am using all the new microscale products for decals and using primer.

 

[Motörhead]

Originally posted by astrowolf67
When I first started building, there was only two glues that I used, CA, or Weldbond White. There was no sanding, no filling, no priming, just slap some paint on and go.

Same with me but I only used CA .... even for motor mount installation and fin fillets!!! The Big Bertha which was my first skill level 1 build was an aesthetic disaster but nonetheless flew until I lost it.

Now I've become quite adept at using both white/yellow glue and epoxy in addition to CA and have learned to properly align fins using only the naked eye. I've also learned to properly seal, sand, prime and paint my rockets with a consistent, even hand. Since purchasing FlisKits and Thrustline rockets, I've also learned how to properly cut out and shape balsa fins.

A few techniques I'm yet to learn like filling body spirals but I've never bothered, for so long as the spirals aren't deep they don't worry me. I've also still got a little way to go with waterslide decal application but I'm getting there.

Most importantly, being involved in model rocketry has helped me gain much extra confidence in everyday tasks and taught me to keep going until the job is finished.

Regards ...... Pete

 

[Stymye]

How have your building techniques changed

I'm alot more patient. In the beginning I didn't care for building the rocket , just flying it.!

now I try to build light yet strong and have developed a technique along the way to get a great finish in the process
without adding much more work to it.

my technique has completey changed

 

[Micromeister]

As we gain confidence everyone's "techniques" change. I try hard to learn something new every day.
Experimenting is a large part of the fun of modeling..regardless of subject, or prototype.

My techniques are alway changing

 

[JRThro]

Originally posted by jflis
Heck, when I started I tried cutting fins out with scissors and "sealed" them with magic marker... LOL

Sure, but the X-Acto knife hadn't been invented yet, had it?

 

[jflis]

Originally posted by JRThro
Sure, but the X-Acto knife hadn't been invented yet, had it?

oh, that's just cold LOL

Actually, I was going to comment that...

"the only glue we had was Elmer's and when we ran out of that we got the milk out and made our own! And when we ran out of that we got the cow out and..."

LOL (actually, i have done this (making glue - mom taught me)) LOL

Heck, I remember a day when you had to actually sand and fill your own nose cones! You had to cut fins from sheets of balsawood with a "Fin Pattern", if you can beleive it! Heck, we even had to assemble our own parachutes from sheets of colored plastic, a length of string and some sticky tape circles...

kinda like now

See how I came full circle on that one???

kewl

 

[Micromeister]

Originally posted by jflis
oh, that's just cold LOL

Actually, I was going to comment that...

"the only glue we had was Elmer's and when we ran out of that we got the milk out and made our own! And when we ran out of that we got the cow out and..."

LOL (actually, i have done this (making glue - mom taught me)) LOL

Heck, I remember a day when you had to actually sand and fill your own nose cones! You had to cut fins from sheets of balsawood with a "Fin Pattern", if you can beleive it! Heck, we even had to assemble our own parachutes from sheets of colored plastic, a length of string and some sticky tape circles...

kinda like now

Jim:
in many respects I still perfer cutting my own fins and turning my own nosecones, transititions and whatever else I need to make a model. Scratch building a new design, Cloning or scaling an existing kit or OLD favorite But than again I seem to recall sharpening flint rocks to cut the balsa from the logs

See how I came full circle on that one???

kewl

 

[CQBArms]

Stizzealth I think the concept of "skills v desire or ability" was a good one.

I think slowly my ability to actually do what I want to do is coming along.

 

[GlennW]

As a kid building rockets I didn't know about or care about sanding sealer or primer, or for that matter getting the fins to line up right. As an adult I obsess over every detail of the build and finishing, and the slightest imperfection gets to me. Sometimes I wish I could go back to not caring so much, life (at least in rocketry) would be a lot easier!

Glenn

 

[SCIGS30]

Glen, I agree with you 100 percent. When I got back into rocketry I started filling spirals, trying to make a scale like finish with painting.....all I did was drive myself crazy and did not complete any rockets......Now I am keeping it simple and finishing my rockets in a few days, so now I can fly more rockets and I don't have any unfinished rockets sitting around.

 

[cjl]

Mine have definitely changed over the years. I've gone from impatient, throwing rockets together to carefully assembling them, and the results show it. My rockets now turn out a LOT better than they used to

 

[limd21]

As my own life schedule has gotten ever more jam packed with activities of all sorts, my building techniques have changed.

Because of this, I've found you can build nicely finished rockets and build them quickly. For me, being able to do this revolves mainly around using materials that reduce or eliminate waiting times. For adhesives this means instant CA, quick cure epoxies (I can make eight nicely shaped fillets in under 20 minutes - ready to paint). Water-based paints and primers that can be "heat set" with a hair dryer, allowing multiple sandings and recoats all in a single session. I laminate fins with paper and spray (3m 77) adhesive. High build water-based primer is used to fill spirals an balsa nose cone grain.