Starting the Winter Building Season

[SSenesy]

Just out of curiosity...

Do your building habits/locations change during the winter months? Do you build in the winter at all? Paint?

I usually build in the garage during spring/summer/fall, but trying to get epoxy to cure in an unheated garage in NJ is a failing task. I usually move my building to the basement but leave sanding and other dust-makers for warmer days in the garage. Painting (other than maybe a primer) is put on hold till spring.

What do you do? Any good tips/recommendations?

 

[blackjack2564]

Off season, cooler weather[ this of course is relative to where one lives LOL]
is when I pull out my Micro arsenal.

I can build all kinds of cool stuff on an old MacDonald serving tray, during TV commercial breaks, anywhere in the house with out making a mess.

Get immediate satisfaction & a flying fix ,by just going out in the yard a flying a few. No driving, chasing for miles or hauling tons of gear to a launch site.

There is something to be said about the smaller stuff. Especially when you can have fun building & fly all day for less than a G motor costs.

This is the time I take to go through my bigger fleet, inspect all the chutes & shock cords, replace damaged articles. Tighten eye blots & av-bay sleds, check rail buttons, clean Bp residue from airframes & even wash some of my chutes that are covered in BP residue.
I look for cracked NC's & fillets and just generally take my time to get things ready for next years flying season.
Especially give all my motor cases some TLC & thorough cleaning. They get horribly abused during the season & rarely cleaned up after flying.

One is always surprised when going through all the trays and toolboxes at what you find. Many items thought lost during the season turn up magically found misplaced or "how in the hell did that get there" syndrome.

I remember finding a lost 100 dollar + K- reload in of all places..... the payload section of a 6in rocket. WoW... I knew I had it, spent hours looking, never could locate it, gave it up for lost, THEN off season was going through all the rockets, one by one checking for repairs.

The minute I found it, instantly remember putting it in there: Late in the day, launch almost over, started pouring down rain. Just started shoving everything in anything to keep from getting wet in the back of my truck & totally forgot about that day!

Seems like every winter when readying for next season I always find something major that's been misplaced. This year I wonder what stupid thing I did with my AMW 640 case, but have no doubt it will turn up when sorting things out. LOL

 

[bjphoenix]

I have more time to build in winter because I'm spending less time outside. I have a very small work area in our spare bedroom that is located in the center of our house. With no outside walls, this room stays warm. It can be pretty hot in the summer but in the winter it is very comfortable.

 

[RocketManDan]

I live in Southern CA, but even here we do get rain and colder days. I do all my building from Oct - Feb. This includes all aspects of building/prep and primer.

I always try to get primer on the rockets if I intend on leaving them in the garage. All bare tubes rockets that are built stay in the house until weather permits primer. I had my experience with tubes swelling during a rain storm.

Usually around March I spray the top coats and finish off the rockets.

Then I launch from March/April - Sept/Oct

 

[GaryT]

Me I tend to build 24/7, I work in my basement which is pretty warm due to the furnace being in there as well.

Paint? I paint in there too! I was a painter for 12 years in construction so I've sprayed thousands of gallons of paint, A few rattle cans in the basement is just a drop in the bucket, Yes the WHOLE house stinks and if the wife complains I tell'er to open a window lol.

 

[o1d_dude]

In teh NorCal, we build and paint during the hot, dry summer when the fire hazard is off the charts and rocketry goes into hibernation.

Winter is LAUNCH SEASON!!!1!

I'm looking forward to this Saturday's launch at Snow Ranch. It will be LUNAR's first HPR launch of the winter-spring season. And the Saturday after that is the local SARG launch (LP and MPR). We've got to get our launches in while the launching is good.

 

[JPVegh]

Build year round and fly year round. It's much nicer to launch in the winter though.. It can be pretty miserable in the summer heat.

 

[stantonjtroy]

I build and paint year round. Building is done on the dinning room table so I have to clean up when I have my kids. As for paint, I'm an Aerospace Finishes Tech by trade so I just take it to work. Small rattlecan stuff I do at home when I can.I have been known to shoot from a can outside during a cold winter on a low humidity day just to rush in before it can flash and imideately hit it with a hot hairdryer (Iconfass, I get a little nutty). Not something I do often OR reccomend.