Rocketry Planet
| Lesson 4: Painting and finishing the rocket |
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| Tech Tips Series by Darrell D. Mobley | |
| Saturday, December 22, 2007 | |
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Page 5 of 5 LESSON FOUR: Painting and finishing the rocket At the end of the last lesson, we primed our fin canister and the rocket was ready for final finishing. In this lesson we pick up where we left off and finish this rocket. I had previously selected Krylon Glossy White as my final color with the fins being trimmed in Krylon Glossy Red and Krylon Glossy Black, and the nosecone using Krylon Gloss Red and Krylon Glossy Brown. To begin our finishing process, I sanded the rocket all over, taking care around the joints and details in the plastic parts, using 400 grit wet-or-dry sandpaper in dry mode. With the airframe sanded, I applied three to four good color coats of white over the entire rocket and nosecone, taking care not to get the paint too wet or too dry. Too dry and I have a lot of orange peel to deal with, which makes taping off secondary colors a pain, and too wet, I prove that even Krylon can run, something the can says doesn't happen. They don't know me. I let each coat get dry to the touch, by checking the paint on surrounding areas where overspray accumulated on my painting stand, a super high-tech broom handle drove into the ground a half a foot. When I could touch the paint on the broom handle and it didn't leave a print, I applied the next coat. I let the white dry for over a week before I attempted to mask it back up and paint secondary colors. I have seen masking tape "print" undercoats when they were taped over too early, usually from solvents in the secondary colors soaking through and releasing some of the adhesive on the masking tape. Allowing a long drying time before applying the secondary colors insured the basecoat was sufficiently dry. Once the white basecoat was dry, I started the tedious job of masking up the fins for the two secondary trim colors as well as the nose cone for the red and brown bands. With the airspace at the forward edge of the fins where they join the airframe, I decided to cut some appropriately sized slivers of paper and slid into the opening, then taped it down with masking tape. I masked all four fins off, then covered up the single fin that would get the red secondary color so I could apply the black. On the nose cone, it wasn't too bad masking it up, and the white lower band was actually 3/4" in width, making it a breeze with 3/4" masking tape to get a clean masking job for the bands. I then took care to cover the entire airframe, any areas that shouldn't be exposed to the secondary colors was masked up to prevent overspray from reaching them. After I was through masking, I sanded the exposed areas with more 400 grit wet-or-dry sandpaper using it dry, taking care around the edges of the masking tape, but still knocking all of the gloss off the basecoat. One of the tricks I have heard about when getting clean lines on secondary colors like two- (and three-) toned fins and nosecone bands is to begin the application of the secondary colors by laying down a coat of the original base coat. So I began by painting my masked up fins and nosecone with a single coat of white. Once it was dry to the touch, I then started to apply the secondary colors, again using three to four coats, making sure they weren't too dry or too wet. It took two separate sessions, painting the black fins and red on the nose cone on one day, then two days later, I painted the red fin and the brown band on the nosecone.  As you can see in the photo above, the end result came out pretty well. This is the finished rocket with all of the final decals, rail guides, Aeropack motor retainer, etc. applied and ready to fly. Before I get into the final details, let me point out that I rethought my six foot of Kevlar cord that I attached as a recovery harness. While the six foot may have been sufficient, I decided why limit myself to that short amount? I contacted John Coxx, a supplier of Kevlar recovery products and the excellent Mission Control Altimeter four event recovery controller, and asked him about his 3mm Kevlar Shock Cord. You can find this product here in the Rocketry Planet Auctions.  John set me up with some of this 3mm material and I elected to stick as much in there as I could get while still getting a parachute in the tube. A good fifteen foot just sounded like a better alternative to the six feet I started with. If you haven't looked over John's stuff, I recommend giving it a look.  In the photo above, you can see the detail on the nose cone/payload area. I was very pleased with the way the color separation came out between the colors, and was using simply regular 3/4" masking tape. Using a first coat of the base color before applying the secondary color really does work. I had heard about it for years but never tried it, and the results speak for themselves. I have to tell you, I was very concerned about applying silver paint to all of those simulated fasteners in the payload area. That's a lot of detail to add and my hand isn't as steady as it used to be. As it turns out, my luck worked out for me. I went to the local Walmart in search of one of those Testor's model car paint sets which consists of the handful of bottles of enamel paints with a paint brush. In all of its wrecked glory from pre-Christmas shoppers, the local store was fresh out of the paint kits. I decided to look in the arts and crafts section to see if they had anything I could use.  And there is was. A product by Elmers, called Painters Opaque Paint Markers was hanging there in Silver, item #7330, with a fine point measuring 1.1mm or .043" in tip width. Much like a felt-tip marker, once the tip is depressed so that the paint can begin flowing, it flows out of the tip and onto your work surface. Placed in the simulated fastener depressions and moved in a slightly circular motion, the silver fasteners were knocked out in record time: less than 3 minutes for all. I was shocked, but there they were, and not a stray mark.  All in all, this has been a fun build. I have enjoyed resurrecting the How-To Classroom Series and this project was the personification of what the series was designed to provide: a medium to learn new techniques, try different approaches and share the enjoyment that is our hobby. The Estes D-Region Tomahawk makes a great addition to my arsenal and I think you would enjoy building it even in its stock state. I hope you have enjoyed this class as much as I have. Happy Holidays to everyone and after the first of the year, we'll begin another class where I do some strange things to another classic Estes model rocket kit. Happy flying! KEVLAR® is a registered trademark of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company in the United States. |
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Thanks!
I think it's about time for lesson 2.
38mm motor mount, dual deployment.
38mm motor mount, dual deployment.
Very Nice!
Are there any differences in the kit contents between the regular and collector series HJ kits?
The actual kit picture that I am going to use is attached. I got unlazy.
The actual kit picture that I am going to use is attached. I got unlazy.
Thanks! The HJ is a very good looking rocket. I can't wait to see the end result.
[grin>