LOC King Viper III - practical, not perfect

[dixontj93060]

Ever have a fiberglass, fill/finish, and paint job you'd prefer to describe as textured (as in textured paint), when it's not. Don't get me wrong, it'll look good with the "diamond back" paint scheme from 10ft away, still usually I'm a bit more on the perfect side, but life gets in the way and I have to be practical with this one...

 

[jd2cylman]

All the time now days, Tim. If it looks good from 20ft, I'm happy. I hardly ever land on cushy sod, so why get it completely perfect? I try, but if it doesn't happen, meh...

 

[Woody's Workshop]

If it's looks like it was painted to get used, it gets used.
If it looks like a museum piece, it becomes a display queen.
I do my best to make them perfect.
Mostly because that's what I enjoy doing, being a former auto body tech and custom painter.
And I only fly them once or twice, maybe 3 times and then they get shelved.

 

[cavecentral]

Looks better than most of mine.

I get runs everywhere from either impatience with not covering or having the can too close from painting outside and dealing with wind.

 

[Handeman]

I decide on 15 ft. paint jobs a long time ago. As long as it looks good from 15 ft, it's good enough.

 

[Wayco]

I have a LOC Viper III that is giving me fits right now, looks a lot like yours. Mine is in it's fourth coat of primer. When it's warm enough, it comes out good, when the temp. drops below 60* it looks like hanging curtains....

 

[dixontj93060]

I have a LOC Viper III that is giving me fits right now, looks a lot like yours. Mine is in it's fourth coat of primer. When it's warm enough, it comes out good, when the temp. drops below 60* it looks like hanging curtains....

Temp on my pic was 39F BTW.

 

[BDB]

That has happened to me quite a few times lately, and it seems to happen more often on bigger rockets just because its harder to keep a larger surface perfectly smooth. That's part of the reason that I've been experimenting with textured finishes on my larger rockets lately.

I think you were working on a project with spray filler and snakeskin paint. Is this it? If not, something like snakeskin would cover the imperfections (though, in my experience, it creates its own set of complications).

 

[dixontj93060]

Lot's of trepidation on this paint job. In fact the emerald green metallic shown above was coverage of a mistake/poor finish already in trying to get the "snake skin" motif for the LOC King Viper III build. I know lots of people have done this, but the couple of fishnet stockings I found were too thin (net part) so I tried diamond shaped conformable aluminum, real fish net, even chicken wire. None of these got the balance I was looking for in terms of size and balance of the base color versus the top color (scales). Finally I found some material on Etsy that looked pretty good and since this build has taken forever, my goal was just to "make it work." Biggest problem here is figuring out what to do as the largish fins connect down into the three much smaller 54mm MMT's. Finally I settled on just making a large portion of the fillet area a solid that will blend into the "skin" on the MMT and outmost areas of the fins. Here are a few snapshots and I'm clearly not there yet but I believe after I move through all three sides I'll be able to go back and do a mist of top color to do the blending as I'd like to still see a healthy area of the emerald green on each fin. The top color BTW is a metallic burnt orange. Base Duplicolor lacquer, top is Rustoleum Automotive lacquer.

First a couple snapshots with the fishnet still on the parts.



And a couple after the fishnet was removed. Note, below the green looks dull. This is partially because of the random overspray, but more because of the 600 grit wet sanding done before applying the top coat. Once all touchup is completed the shine will be brought back with Future Finish.

 

[rharshberger]

Tim that looks incredible! Thanks for sharing.

 

[BDB]

Looks great to me. The transitions between the airframe and the fins are difficult. That issue is magnified for this kit with the thee aft tubes. Good job, and I really like the metallic burnt orange.

What material did you use for the mask?

 

[dixontj93060]

Looks great to me. The transitions between the airframe and the fins are difficult. That issue is magnified for this kit with the thee aft tubes. Good job, and I really like the metallic burnt orange.

What material did you use for the mask?

It is this stuff: https://www.etsy.com/transaction/1208809764.

 

[les]

linky no worky...

 

[dixontj93060]

linky no worky...

Weird. The link is correct and it shows and works right on the website, but is truncated on the phone app and iPhone Safari. Suggest looking on full website with Chrome or Edge.

 

[markkoelsch]

Personally, I do not care much about paint. It invariably gets scratched/dinged. For me it mostly there to assist in spotting it. If it happens to look ok great- I do not spend much time worrying about paint.

 

[Steve Shannon]

Personally, I do not care much about paint. It invariably gets scratched/dinged. For me it mostly there to assist in spotting it. If it happens to look ok great- I do not spend much time worrying about paint.

That's me too Mark. I love a nice paint job and admire those who do them well, but mine have become day glow orange to help me find them.

 

[H_Rocket]

Day glow orange a Fastjack motors. My key to a successful recovery..

 

[markkoelsch]

That's me too Mark. I love a nice paint job and admire those who do them well, but mine have become day glow orange to help me find them.

Mine are mostly day glow orange or red. Maybe a little black or silver.

 

[markkoelsch]

Day glow orange a Fastjack motors. My key to a successful recovery..

Al, I have not flown a smokey motor in at least ten years. On the AT side in order of preference is Mojave Green, Blue Thunder, White, Redline, and I admit to thinking about flying anDark Matter. That said, I really tend to believe velocity is ones friend and tend to start planning flight at about a 8 or 9:1 thrust to weight.

 

[dixontj93060]

Day glow orange a Fastjack motors. My key to a successful recovery..

OK, I've seen your "Frankenstein" rocket. I'll be honest, bar is not too high in my mind.

 

[dixontj93060]

Now I know why they call it a King Viper--cause it is like wrestling a 25ft King Cobra trying to get that vinyl wrap on the aft section!

And yes, that is a full size pool table. Hangs over on the diagonal--good 9.5' long!

IMG_0253 by Tim Dixon, on Flickr

IMG_0251 by Tim Dixon, on Flickr

IMG_0252 by Tim Dixon, on Flickr

IMG_0250 by Tim Dixon, on Flickr

 

[Zebedee]

That's an awesome looking rocket - love the triple holes. What did you use for fillets between tubes and fins?

 

[dixontj93060]

That's an awesome looking rocket - love the triple holes. What did you use for fillets between tubes and fins?

Fins laminated with 5.7oz carbon. Fin fillet is T-88, plus layer of 4oz Kevlar about 1/3 up, then tip-to-tip 6oz glass. Fillets between tubes is RocketPoxy.

 

[OverTheTop]

Now that's art!

VERY NICE! You'd have to be happy with the outcome. Great job.

 

[dixontj93060]

Now that's art!

VERY NICE! You'd have to be happy with the outcome. Great job.

It's definitely a 10-footer, but it'll look pretty majestic coming off the pad!

 

[LOC]

Ho... Lee.... Smoke!!!!! Nice man. Wow... REAL Nice... Now I have to go back and read the whole thread!!! HAHHAAH

 

[BDB]

Looks incredible!

 

[Todderbert]

Proud Papa right there! Speechless.:eyepop:

 

[jd2cylman]

Do I get to see this take to the sky at Mini Midwest Power? Or will I have to wait until Midwest Power this fall?

 

[dixontj93060]

Do I get to see this take to the sky at Mini Midwest Power? Or will I have to wait until Midwest Power this fall?

Adrian, you know me, I usually fly a rocket only once--it's LDRS or nothin' .