Painting damage repairs

[Rocketmaniac]

At our last launch my Expeditor got damaged on landing...... It took a pretty big hit on a paved road and crushed the top part of the 4" body tube....... I choose to add a couper and a short section of body tube....... The repair has gone nicely, I just need to add a little bit of puddy to the damaged area and sand it down.......

My question is this........ What is the best way to paint the new body tube and the damaged area? Should I mask off the good part of the body tube and primer and paint the top end like I did when I built the rocket or should I try and blend the new paint with the old paint?



Here is a pic of the repair......

 

[Austin]

RM,

I would probably mask off the lower part, then at least primer and maybe paint the upper. During primer, you can temporarily remove the mask to fill/blend the seam.Once the upper had a good coat of paint, I would remove the masking, hit it with some fine wet-sandpaper and paint the final coat, overlapping the seam a bit.

The reason you want to maks is to use primer/first coat to build up the bare tube to the same thickness as the finished one below it that already has layers of primer and paint on it. Otherwise, you risk getting a bump.

Carl