Mercury Escape Tower Rocket

[lakeroadster]

Also, if your drawing is to scale, I don't see how your chute and shroud lines can be packed inside the rear tube.

Sorry, somehow I overlooked your post?

A nitrile glove, or a piece of a balloon, stretched over the C-80 recovery bay, holds the chute in place until the motors eject.

I did this on my F-79 Lonewolf... although that was a BT-50H. The ejection charges knocks the cover off, no worries.

With a 30" chute, ground hit is about 16.5 ft/sec.

 

[Daddyisabar]

Gonna be so Purdy after going through beauty school. A good matte clear coat because it will be covered in soot after every flight.

 

[lakeroadster]

62 F and Sunny, much better than the snow 2 days ago.....

Spray Painting the Tri-Motor

The tower strut rods and cross braces will be painted by hand.

 

[Daddyisabar]

62 F and Sunny, much better than the snow 2 days ago.....

Spray Painting the Tri-Motor

The tower strut rods and cross braces will be painted by hand.

View attachment 512411 View attachment 512412 View attachment 512413

HUUMMM... Unmatched the painting skill and patience of the scale modeler IS! Proud of you the Jedi Are.

 

[lakeroadster]

I removed the masking tape and newspaper, the took the rocket out to the shop and ground the round intermediate supports to fit the triangular tower shape.
Now that's what a tower looks like, right there!

I had hoped to brush paint the struts and cross braces today. But the 62 F sunny day yesterday has morphed into show showers today.

Hurry up and wait mode: Engage!

 

[lakeroadster]

Updated Dwg Set, Sheets 1 to 10, of 17, Rev 10

 

[lakeroadster]

Updated Dwg Set, Sheets 11 to 17, Rev 10

 

[lakeroadster]

Hand painted the tower. It needs some touch up, but all in all, she's going to be "purdy".

So what do you think... install the waterslide decals on the capsule now, and let 'em get scorched by the motor's for -in-flight patina, or install them after the first flight? With all the scalloped out areas on the plastic model... I'm wondering just how good they'll look?

 

[neil_w]

With all the scalloped out areas on the plastic model... I'm wondering just how good they'll look?

Micro-sol.

 

[lakeroadster]

Micro-sol.

It sounds to good to be true... I took a photo of the capsule with a No. 2 pencil attached as a reference to gauge the depth of the corrugations. Do you think the MICRO SOL is up to the task @neil_w.? And does the surface have to be painted?

 

[Daddyisabar]

Put the decals on with micro sol then multiple thin coats of Testors matte to protect from soot. If using a krylon or rusto matte you have to use very light coats not to melt decals, they have more solvents.

 

[Daddyisabar]

View attachment 512820


It sounds to good to be true... I took a photo of the capsule with a No. 2 pencil attached as a reference to gauge the depth of the convolutions. Do you think the MICRO SOL is up to the task @neil_w.? And does the surface have to be painted?

View attachment 512822

A gloss paint coat is the best to lay decals on. Dull it up later with a matte clear coat to finish. Putting decals on a ribbed surface is about the hardest thing to do. Put a coat of micro sol on the paint surface then place water slide with a good horse hair brush. Then another coat of micro sol per instructions. I would have stick pins and sharp Xacto knives handy for last minute trims or bubbles you can't get out with the brush. Much focus and patience of a Jedi!

 

[Daddyisabar]

Hand painted the tower. It needs some touch up, but all in all, she's going to be "purdy".

So what do you think... install the waterslide decals on the capsule now, and let 'em get scorched by the motor's for -in-flight patina, or install them after the first flight? With all the scalloped out areas on the plastic model... I'm wondering just how good they'll look?

View attachment 512796 View attachment 512797
View attachment 512801 View attachment 512802 View attachment 512803

Decals on for first flight! Must be completely finished before soot from motors hits those grooves. Would be very hard to clean later. Lots of cotton swabs.

 

[Daddyisabar]

Properly coated decals are very resilient, even after many flights close to extremely hot rocket exhaust.

 

[neil_w]

Do you think the MICRO SOL is up to the task @neil_w.?

I probably typed a bit too quickly with my previous reply… no I don’t think Micro-sol can help fill crevices that deep, especially if they’re Clear-coated waterslides (can’t remember if you said what type they are).

Not sure though.

 

[Daddyisabar]

Micro sol won't fill the gaps, it just helps the decal bond (melt) into the surface. Maybe check some plastic model forums for appling decals on ribbed surfaces. Any instructions with capsule kit?

Maybe a light coat of Testors applied to decal sheet before cutting would help?

 

[lakeroadster]

Micro sol won't fill the gaps, it just helps the decal bond (melt) into the surface. Maybe check some plastic model forums for appling decals on ribbed surfaces. Any instructions with capsule kit?

Maybe a light coat of Testors applied to decal sheet before cutting would help?

No decal application instructions other than placement diagram as shown above.

For paint it states to use black primer on the capsule, and to subsequently "buff" the primer with steel wool for a satin finish. Probably not the best surface to attach decals to. My plan was to put the decals directly on the polystyrene, then use satin finish clear over it, and the tower, for a consistent sheen.

I sent an email to Microscale Industries, along with photo's, to get their thoughts.

 

[Daddyisabar]

No decal application instructions other than placement diagram as shown above.

For paint it states to use black primer on the capsule, and to subsequently "buff" the primer with steel wool. Probably not the best surface to attach decals to.

I sent an email to Microscale Industries, along with photo's, to get their thoughts.

They must assume you are a Master Jedi decal applicator so no need for instructions. I have built the Sherri's Hot Rockets Mercury Redstone and the ribs were shallow enough the decal could lay on the surface. Good luck with those deep grooves.

 

[lakeroadster]

They must assume you are a Master Jedi decal applicator so no need for instructions. I have built the Sherri's Hot Rockets Mercury Redstone and the ribs were shallow enough the decal could lay on the surface. Good luck with those deep grooves.

Have you seen the video of Cece Bibby painting the original artwork on Friendship 7?

 

[lakeroadster]

Not exactly the "yeah or nah" answer I was hoping for from Microscale Industries.....

Hi John,​

​

I would think it would work but I suppose it depends on how deep the indentations are. The decals need to go over a glossy painted surface to adhere well.​

​

Thank you and best regards,​

​

Vickie Hays​

​

Account Executive – Custom Waterslide Decals​

​

Microscale Industries, Inc.​

​

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I did find a great article on how Phil Smith built a super detailed "post re-entry" model of the Friendship 7 Mercury Capsule.

 

[lakeroadster]

I ain't no pin striper, or artist, but what the heck... how 'bout some extreme close ups....

I took a hobby knife and scraped off the bit's of red paint that I accidently got on the BT-50 center tube, then touched up those areas of the tube with a paint brush and some primer.

Perhaps after all the painting is finished and I spray semi gloss on the entire rocket, that should tone down the high gloss on the tower and make it look better. It'll need the protection of the semi-gloss, when it get's blasted with the soot from the engines exhaust.

 

[lakeroadster]

Flat Black Paint

So the plan for finishing the capsule is:

• Flat Black Paint,
• Buff the flat black paint with steel wool,
• Spray Gloss Clear,
• Apply Decals using Micro Sol,
• Distress decals with sandpaper,
• Spray Flat Clear.

I had this bright idea to use high temperature flat black grill paint. Since the rocket will get impinged by the exhaust plume of the motors... why not high heat paint?

Well as it turns out the high heat paint didn't cover well over the gloss black paint on the capsule door. See the shiny door in the 2nd photo.

I had some Testor's Flat Black, so I went ahead and sprayed 2 coats of the Testor's over the high heat paint. That covered everything up pretty great!

 

[Sandy H.]

I love how this is turning out. So cool to see the way you go about your builds and the results you get. One day, I'm going to get my rocket building mojo back in full swing and grab your drawings for some of your designs and go to town. Gotta get a few things off the plate first, but looking forward to some of yours and some of Neil W's builds. You guys have some great design sense that I just can't come up with on my own, no matter how many times I try.

Sandy.

 

[lakeroadster]

I love how this is turning out. So cool to see the way you go about your builds and the results you get. One day, I'm going to get my rocket building mojo back in full swing and grab your drawings for some of your designs and go to town. Gotta get a few things off the plate first, but looking forward to some of yours and some of Neil W's builds. You guys have some great design sense that I just can't come up with on my own, no matter how many times I try.

Sandy.

Thanks Sandy! Your comment is sincerely appreciated.

I think of these threads more as build journals. I can't tell you how many times I've gone back to an old thread to refresh my memory as to exactly how I did something.

Neil's the pro here... I'm just Oddroc Scum

 

[neil_w]

Hmm, looks great but normally you would want to apply the decals onto gloss paint, and then hit the whole thing with a matte clear when you're done. Flat black paint is likely to be troublesome as a decaling surface. I would suggest doing some testing before committing any large decals to the thing.

 

[lakeroadster]

Hmm, looks great but normally you would want to apply the decals onto gloss paint, and then hit the whole thing with a matte clear when you're done. Flat black paint is likely to be troublesome as a decaling surface. I would suggest doing some testing before committing any large decals to the thing.

Neil, Check out Post 142. I'm applying gloss clear over the buffed flat black. Then applying the decals, then sanding, then applying flat clear.

 

[neil_w]

Once again I have failed to study up before posting.

 

[lakeroadster]

Following Phil Smith's advice I burnished the flat black paint on the capsule with steel wool. I didn't understand the purpose until I actual did it. It gives a slight sheen to the flat black, not shiny, but not flat. Kind of a gun-metal look. The photo's below show it pretty well.

Next step is applying gloss clear to allow installing decals. But the forecast is for cold temp's for the next week or so. Hurry up & wait mode... engage.

 

[Paul Howard]

This is the coolest thing I have ever seen!!!

 

[lakeroadster]

This is the coolest thing I have ever seen!!!

High praise indeed.. thanks Paul.