paint fins or body first?

[bjphoenix]

My last few paint jobs have called for body tube one color, fins another color. I did a "Sandhawk" scheme with red body, 2 white fins, 1 black fin. I painted two fins white (and part of the body), then masked the 2 fins and painted the body red, then masked everything but the last fin and painted it black.

Painting a body then masking a fin is easy, I put the tape on the flat surface of the fin right at the edge of the fillet. Masking a body is much harder, then tape has to cover up the fillet and extend onto the body.

My next paint scheme is Nike-inspired with white body and red fins. I would like to paint the fins first, then mask them, then shoot on the white but I'm afraid it will be difficult to cover the red that way. I thought about first shooting the body with primer to cover the red then putting on the white but this will build up a pretty thick layer. Or I paint the white first and do the more difficult masking before painting the fins.

 

[Nathan]

You should definitely spray the white tube first and then do the red fins. Masking the tube isn't difficult, just takes a little time. Here is a 4 color paint job I did that required a whole lot of tube masking . . .
https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/painting-the-magg-or-how-i-spent-my-summer-vacation.57942/

 

[DeltaVee]

I just completed the finishing of my 25-plus year old Aerotech astrobee d (it sat a while!) Because of the way this model is constructed, and the type of glue used, the instructions call for painting the tube and fins et cetera prior to gluing everything together. I was able to mask off and paint the black white and gray sections very very easily since the fins weren't in the way. I definitely like doing things in this way if possible!

 

[bjphoenix]

You should definitely spray the white tube first and then do the red fins. Masking the tube isn't difficult,

More setbacks for the paint project. This rocket was painted white about 25 years ago but never completed. I finally decided on a paint scheme- I don't know what the original paint was but I think it was not a name brand. I painted it with Rustoleum primer then painted the fins with Rustoleum red. I had problems with the spray can so the red needed to be sanded and re-sprayed. I decided I would prime it all again then paint the body white then the fins last. The Rustoleum primer wrinkled on the tube. I don't know why it waited until the third application to do this. The payload section was to be silver so I sprayed it with silver over the primer and it wrinkled too. All of this paint- primer, white, red, silver is Rustoleum. I'm not sure why it isn't playing nice with each other or with the original white. Being an Estes tube I can't just strip it all off. I'm thinking based on what I've read elsewhere that my best bet is to sand it down and start over with acrylic.

 

[BABAR]

How long are you waiting between coats?

 

[bjphoenix]

How long are you waiting between coats?

It varies. The original white spray was down for 20 years before I messed with it. I put primer over it and let that set for about 3 weeks before I tried spraying red over it, then another couple of days before I sanded that and primed over it. So primer over primer, 3 weeks later, caused a problem. And on the payload section spray color over primer, 3 weeks later, caused a problem.

 

[Nathan]

I think you get the record for the longest time taken to finish a paint job.

 

[AeroAggie]

This sounds a whole lot like spraying lacquer over enamel. Just using same brand isn't good enough to ensure compatibility. Check the chemistry.

 

[bjphoenix]

I think you get the record for the longest time taken to finish a paint job.

I'm not very good with paint schemes. This was a rocket somewhat of my own design but I discovered later that it is similar to a Nike-Cajun. I wanted to come up with a really good paint scheme and seeming that it was a booster and sustainer I thought I could come up with a paint scheme for one and a different paint scheme for the other, but they still had to go together. Well in current times I decided I wanted to finish it and I'm more interested in simple than complicated so I came up with a plan and started painting.

The results I'm getting are somewhat puzzling. I can understand that within the same brand the chemistry can change. I started with Rustoleum primer that I've had for awhile, then bought a new can of 2X primer, maybe they are different chemistry. But what I don't understand is why there are only a couple of spots that show problems, the rest of the tubes painted just fine. I've decided not to try painting the tubes again, just leave them like they are with a few defects. I'm going to mask the fins and try to spray them again. If that works I'll quit while I'm ahead.

I've toyed with getting a spray gun and spraying acrylic but I don't have enough projects waiting to justify that right now.