I was able to do a little work today on my Nike. I attached the lower fins to the booster section and to make sure they went on straight I made a jig out of balsa wood sticks. I first drew the top view of the assembly full size and simply pinned the balsa down to locate the bottom plywood shroud and the fin locations. I also marked where the fins were going to contact the plywood shroud, applied tape around this area and then removed the primer from the surface to allow glue to contact wood instead of primer. The end result is a lower shroud with fins attached.

John Boren

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I also finished opening up the tail cone to accept a 1.8” Dia. Body tube to accept the engine mount and recovery system. A couple of 1/8” light plywood centering rings finishes things off. Since I didn’t have a tube long enough I ended up splicing two shorter pieces together which is my there is a short section of tube in the center.

The last two photos show the rattle can primer everyone should be using. You most likely won’t find it locally but it is well worth getting on line. You may try your local Ace Hardware store since I’ve been told they used to carry it. It dries in only ten minutes and sands so easy you can actually sand it off with 0000 steal wool. It doesn’t clog up your sandpaper it simply comes off so easily it’s hard to believe. One photo shows the part number of this primer. As you can see there are two versions of the can, not sure which one is current so I’ve included both.


Here is link to purchase this primer on the web. There are of course other places as well.

http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/m....campaignId=T9F




John Boren

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Thanks for the primer tip. I haven't seen that stuff before.

Greg

I haven’t had a lot of time this past week to work on my Hercules but I’ve got just about all the parts completed except the move able surfaces on the upper stage. Not wanting to have a fin break off on the booster stage, I went ahead and added a half inch wide strip of ½ ounce fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin over the fin joints. Not sure how much the photo will show but by the time you sand and feather out the cloth you can’t really tell it’s there. I still have many more coats of primer and sanding to add to the upper stage but I think I will do most of this after I add the upper stage fins in place. Why sand a perfectly easy to get to upper stage when you can add the fins and spend hours sanding around them to get things to look nice. The only good thing about this is that I will be working on the fin body joints at the same time I’m feeling in any imperfection of the main body.

My next post should have the upper stage fins in place.

Have a great fourth of July.


John Boren

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#341 is acrylic enamel. I've never seen anything outside of lacquer dry that fast.

http://www.kpg-industrial.com/produ...h_coat_primers/

__________________
I love sanding.

I have made a good deal of progress on the Nike Hercules since my last post. As you can see I’ve mounted the sustainer’s fins and only have to prime and sand several more coats of primer to get it ready for White primer and then the color paint. I’m still working on the moveable surfaces for the sustainer and they will then be mounted as a completed unit. I plan on painting the booster parts all separate so I won’t have to mask anything.

I am still in need of the CG location of the sustainer since I’ve purchased electronics to stage the model. It someone has done this I would love to know what scale your model was and the distance it was from a given point on your model so I can figure out where it needs to be on my model.


John Boren

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Geeze ,I have not seen this post for some time.....WOW....it`s looking great John.You `ve come a long way on this build.

I love it !!


BB

I can't wait for the kit!

Me too !!



BB

John, What brand of paint do you use for the top coat?