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John recommends another coat of Clear at this point. I am debating, I clear coated before the decals as instructed before applying them, and it went okay (I went light, the vinyl itself has a very “flat” texture, no intrinsic sheen whatsoever.). The gloss I put on is not very glossy either.Most likely you'll do better with the skins as you go.
But as for small wrinkles like that, don't sweat it. My Ragnarok has a million small mistakes that I made, but that is not what you notice when you look at the final product. I think that the more decoration (decals, skins, etc.) a model has, the less you notice stuff like this, because the eye is drawn to the design rather than the defects, unless someone is doing a close inspection *looking* for defects.
Carry on, this will be great.
As I am approaching the more complex curves, wondering if CA or scotch tape may help if I get some peel back issues.?My own wraps experience is not necessarily going to be the same as yours; I'm pretty well convinced that the particular batch of vinyl used in my skins had a relatively weak adhesive, and that was the source of my misery. I am certainly hoping you won't have that, but even if you do it can be dealt with with CA.
That being said, here's what I can tell you:
1) I didn't apply any clear-coats during the build. The skins were protected initially, then the entire rocket was Future'd at the end. I'm not sure why you'd want an additional clear-coat in the middle.
2) My edges all lifted up within the first few hours. It seems to me that if they stay down on their own for a day, they're good. I don't know if a clear coat will have much effect on holding them down (it might, I truly don't know). More likely, the Future coats will seal the edges, but not prevent wholesale adhesive release like I had. Or maybe it will, who knows.
3) With regards to edges lifting, keep an eye on any edge that is conforming to a tight radius, particularly one that is not adhered to another wrap. E.g., the body tube wraps are not a problem because they seal to themselves at the edges, although I had problems around the fin attachments on mine. If yours are holding in those spots, then you won't have any problems.
4) After initial clear-coating, my skins were not particularly shiny, but definitely not as matte as yours seem to be. I applied 3 coats of Future to mine and the end result is quite glossy. I would expect that a few coats of Future will put a good finish on yours. Note that the Accur8 skins do *not* have the finish problems that my laser-printed decals do. So you won't need a billion coats.
I used both. On the nose cone, which is really quite challenging, I used a fair bit of scotch tap; in other areas I used CA, which did seem to work well to seal down edges.. In hindsight, I wonder if I could have done the nose cone purely with CA, for better appearance. But it's a small matter in the finished product.As I am approaching the more complex curves, wondering if CA or scotch tape may help if I get some peel back issues.?
You could always use conformal rail guides? I know Aerotech offers them with their rockets. They are plastic so not mush weight will be added and they are a lots easier to line up. Just a thought?Okay, I figured I’d take a break from scratch building and build the Interceptor E I bought a while back,
I also got the John Pursley Union Skin (not because I have any particular affectation for the Civil War but because I liked the dark blue color.)
Instructions have lots of warning about exceeding 425 grams.
I am going with mini rail buttons and I have a 6 foot 10x10 rail.
I fly in a medium size field (parking lot essentially with soccer fields on all side). This rocket likely will be flown once, maybe twice, I would like to get it back relatively undamaged.
I’d prefer to stick with the 24 mm motor mount,
Only recommended engine is E9-4.
Seems like Estes website doesn’t even LIST this motor
https://estesrockets.com/product-category/engines/large-engines/
All they have in 24mm is E9-8, or the E12-4,6,8
I am thinking the E12 would be good, was thinking 4 second delay?
So do I need to worry about the weight of the skins much? @neil_w , I think you built a Ragnirak with these, so your input as usual would be appreciated.
Are the Wing Support and Fin Support pieces really needed?
Will it screw up the skins if DON’T put in supports?
For the mini rail buttons, will just screwing them into the body tube be enough? I have the crazy idea of building and finishing the rocket, putting masking tape over the button sites, drilling a small hole in each through the tape, injecting some Gorilla Polyurethane Glue in the holes, covering the holes and allowing to dry hole side down for a couple days (figure that curing might take a bit as no air circulation.). Thought that might give me some thickness or substance to hold the mini button screws in place. ????
Tho
this looks like more work than what its worth?I also tried it on some test fins.
Both of these teams were fairly well sanded about as smooth as I expect I can get with Balsa plain wood. I then painted one fin on both sides. I painted the other Finn only on one side, because I was curious to see whether the latex would cause the wood to Warp. The pictures are laid out After this post. There was no warping of the fin that was painted on one side. The paint did not really seem to do that much as far as filling in the Balsa, but I really didn't expect it would. You can see a side by side of the unpainted side of the sanded Fin and the painted side of the other fin.View attachment 434671View attachment 434672View attachment 434673
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