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  #21  
Old 01-13-2012, 02:55 PM
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A little more progress on the Mercury Atlas...
The escape rocket nozzles get painted red on the backside, since it would be VERY hard to paint them once they're glued on the escape motor... The fronts will be painted afterwards...

Once dry, the nozzles are trimmed on their pointy end slightly at an angle to promote a good bond when glued to the escape motor, and then a daub of glue is applied to each and the underside of the motor can, and allowed to dry. Then another daub of glue creates the double glue joint and the nozzles are stuck in place... They lock in place within seconds...

Another shot of the nozzles...

And another shot... coming along pretty well... once the glue dries, they'll get their final brush coat of flat red inside and out...

Meanwhile, despite the cold (well below freezing last night) I managed to shoot the main Atlas booster with primer... it's maybe 60 outside, so I brought it inside to dry... it'll be probably tomorrow before I can sand it though...

Later! OL JR
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  #22  
Old 01-13-2012, 10:07 PM
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Things are going slowly... the cold weather really put a crimp in my primer drydown... I can still smell it quite easily... Maybe late tomorrow I can sand it... we'll see...

I did get the tower finished... painted the nozzles inside and out...

Got the shock cord made and ready to glue in...

Guess I'll work on the world-famous Dr. Zooch trash-bag parachute...

Later! OL JR
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  #23  
Old 01-15-2012, 09:29 PM
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Well, after waiting a day or so for the primer to harden, it was finally hard enough to sand... filled the tube spirals and grain on the balsa fairings, and did a bit of touch-up with some Bondo spot putty and sanded that down... ready for another light coat of primer, just to cover the spots where the primer was sanded through, and the sanded spot putty...

Painted the upper LOX tank conical section (balsa transition) with a couple coats of flat white... ready to glue the Freedom 7 Mercury capsule on top...

While the second coat of primer dries on the rocket, I couldn't help but test fit the finished Atlas tank section and Freedom 7 on top of the Atlas body...

Picked up some Valspar "Metallic" Silver today at Lowe's for the lower sections and fairings of the Atlas... the rest of the rocket (LOX tank sections) will be flat white... not messing with the "chrome in a can" mess again...

Later! OL JR
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  #24  
Old 01-16-2012, 06:21 PM
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Really nice job with that tower, JR ..... the rest too, for that matter. Assembling all those little bits takes steady hands and lots of patience!
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  #25  
Old 01-16-2012, 10:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wilsotr
Really nice job with that tower, JR ..... the rest too, for that matter. Assembling all those little bits takes steady hands and lots of patience!


Well, thank you wilsotr... I appreciate it!

At least we can agree on SOMETHING... (like those itty-bitty towers being hard to do... LOL

Have a good one!
Later! OL JR
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  #26  
Old 01-16-2012, 10:13 PM
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Lil more work done, despite the high winds out here today and cloudy conditions... actually remarkably warm today (got up to about 73 or so-- unheard of for January!-- makes me shudder to think what things will be like in a couple months or so! ) Having to run the A/C in the house just to keep it from getting too stuffy... it's too early for this crap...

Anyway, I picked up some Valspar "Metallic" 85052 Silver yesterday at Lowe's, and shot the rocket with two coats... well, first I did a compatibility test with the paint on the Rustoleum primered bit of spare BT-60 I installed above the Atlas to keep paint out of the rocket body itself (and nosecone shoulder area). This new paint says "recoat anytime" and "quick drying" and the contents on the back list "acetone, ethylbenzene, xylene, petroleum distillates, aluminum, and psuedocumene." Nowhere on the can does it say what the formulation is, whether it's an enamel or a lacquer... but the "quick drying" and "recoat anytime" tells me that either it's a lacquer or it's a HOT enamel... So, rather risking alligatoring the whole rocket, I decided I better do a compatibility test firsthand... after a thick first coat on one side and lighter on the other, and then a pretty heavy second coat (I figured the heavy first coat would be the most likely to attack the underlying primer, and that a light coat might actually work, so I tested both, THEN put a pretty heavy coat on again just to see if it would cause problems with the first coat or underlying primer then-- spaced about 15 minutes apart.) Both coats went on well with no real problems, and dried pretty smooth and even. I have to say, I LOVE the paint, but I DESPISE the stupid "locking can nozzle"... it's innovative, in a way-- you twist the "trigger guard" part surrounding the nozzle to "unlock" the can trigger, and twist it back when you're done to "lock" it again and prevent something from unexpectedly mashing the button... The nozzle itself seems to be the problem-- it's VERY crappy-- it sorta "sputters" or "spits" the paint out, in a mish-mash of VERY coarse almost globule-like droplets, but also a lot of "fines" and mist which the wind of course whipped everywhere today, despite be going behind the house out of the wind to spray... I put a coat on the rocket and thought it REALLY looked crappy-- globby and messy looking, and went over it again because it looked somewhat pebbly or sorta like "dry spray"... Then I thought it was on TOO thick and likely to run, so I was pretty disgusted. I have an old motor casing firmly taped to an old curtain rod I use for a spray handle, and I figured I'd have to "rotisserie" the rocket for a half hour like I did the last Atlas I did, when spraying it with the dreaded Krylon "Chrome in a Can" which turned out to be an absolute nightmare... that stuff went on kinda sloppy and too heavy, but it was VERY runny and it took some VERY careful manuevering of the rocket to keep it from running! Well, I have to say, I was VERY PLEASANTLY SURPRISED when, over the next couple minutes, the stuff seemed to lay down and flow out quite nicely, eliminating the pebbly globby-looking surface when it was first shot, and after about a minute of rolling the rocket on the paint stick it looked like it was well set-- and safe to stand up to dry. I put the rod into a box on the porch to stand out in the wind and dry, while I returned to doing laundry. By the time I got another set of clothes hung on the line, I checked on it and it looked REALLY good... Almost decided not to give it a second coat, but then I thought about it and figured I should just to ensure everything was well covered, so I took it behind the house and shot it again. Same story-- looks too dry and pebbly, then the second pass makes it look to wet and globby, looks like it's thick enough to run, but it doesn't... rolled it 30 seconds or so and stuck it back out to dry, and went in the house. Came back about 20-30 minutes later, and it looked DRY... so I gingerly touched it in an inconspicuous location, and it WAS DRY! Now, maybe it was the 72 degree southwest wind blowing 15-20 today that dried it that quick, but still... that's pretty darn good!

I brought it inside and stuck it, still on the paint stick, in the corner out of the way... I could still smell the smell of paint, so obviously it isn't CURED, but it was dry to the touch, and layed down really well... sort of a "satin" aluminum look-- not quite "chrome" but not just a "metal flake silver paint" look either... it LOOKS like brushed aluminum...

Here's the pics... it was cloudy so the second one is a bit underlit... probably should have gone out in the yard at the least...

Once I can't smell the paint anymore, I'll mask it and paint the LOX tank a frosty-flat-white...

Later! OL JR
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  #27  
Old 01-20-2012, 04:09 PM
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Still got to make the tanks frosty... so another coat, this time flat white. That's why I want to make sure the aluminum is REALLY dry... Have to mask off with Tamiya tape around the LOX line and long fairing, then around the body tube just above the short fairing tip.

I did a slight goof and glued the capsule adapter onto the balsa transition (LOX tank conical section) before I painted either of them. A steady hand with a sable-hair fine point brush and Testors flat black took care of the adapter section... and the red-ringed capsule adapter ring that attaches the capsule to the adapter section (the multi-layer paper band the capsule butts up against). But the conical upper tank, being flat white, had to be sprayed to look right... SO I broke out the Tamiya fine-line tape I bought at the hobby shop last time I was in Sugarland and gave it a whirl... folks on here have raved about how good it is, and they're right... I put a wrap around the bottom of the adapter section over the corrugated mylar, and using a slightly sanded (rounded) pointed tip of a bamboo skewer, carefully burnished the tape down into every corrugation in the mylar, and around the long line fairing coming up the side of the adapter from the conical LOX tank transition below... then I went over that with some blue painters tape just to cover the rest of the transition and keep the paint off it, popped an old Alpha III nosecone into the adapter and ran some tape around it to seal the adapter section off completely. Also ran a wrap of blue painters tape around the transition shoulder where it slips into the top of the rocket. Then shot the LOX tank balsa transition with Walmart Colorplace Flat White... I LOVE this paint! (and it's nozzles!) At 99Cents a can it's hard to beat, and does a good job! I shot a couple coats of white on the transition and let it dry... Soon as it had tacked up really well (hour or so) I peeled the tape off it, pulled the nosecone off and carefully pulled the tape off the adapter section, since the blue tape is a little stickier and I didn't want to risk peeling paint off the paper band or the mylar, and then carefully peeled the Tamiya tape... it did a terrific job and I've got a clean black/white line like I had done it the way I was supposed to-- paint the mylar capsule adapter black and paint the LOX tank white (or silver if one is so inclined) and THEN glue them together afterwards...

I finally glued the Friendship 7 into position atop the adapter, carefully clocking it to the fairing line coming up the transition and adapter...

Tomorrow it's check cows, and hopefully after I get back, get the masking done and ready to paint the upper rocket body LOX tank flat white with frost... Plus I need to get started with painting the Flame Fins...

Later! OL JR
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  #28  
Old 01-20-2012, 04:10 PM
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Did something rather stupid...

Masked the rocket off to paint the frosted white LOX tank, which means masking off around the LOX line (which must be insulated since it didn't frost over) and the long fairing on the "right" side of the booster, which doesn't frost over either obviously... Gave it a couple coats of white paint and brought it inside, let the paint harden up a little while, and then pulled the masking off... without realizing that I had painted it GLOSS white, not FLAT white like I did the conical upper LOX tank section (balsa transition) a few days ago...

SO, I had to REMASK it and reshoot it with FLAT white...

HOPEFULLY it'll be ready to unmask in a little while...
In my defense though, the Walmart Colorplace paint uses little stickers affixed to the can to tell you the color, in conjunction with the cap finish and color... I guess I mixed up a gloss cap with a flat cap, and the stickers tend to dry out and fall off... so I took the Sharpie pen and wrote "FLAT" on the flat can and "GLOSS" on the gloss can...

Later! OL JR
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  #29  
Old 01-20-2012, 04:13 PM
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Okay...

SO, I'm finally pretty much finished with the Friendship 7... Glued in the shock cord "teabag" mount per the instructions, with its embedded kevlar shock cord, which the other end is tied in a loop, to which the length of elastic cord is tied, which is subsequently tied to the nosecone screw eye, itself having been screwed in with yellow wood glue to ensure it stays put... The standard Dr. Zooch trashbag parachute went together as usual, and is ready to go... I finished the flame fins and painted them white, then followed up with a dusting of yellow and then pumpkin orange to give a 'flame-y' effect sorta like I've seen in some other Zooch builds on TRF... thanks for the great idea, fellas!

The paint is finally dry, just now needs to finish curing over the next few days... today is QUITE warm for this time of year (SCARY warm-- 77 degrees!) and VERY windy, with heavy clouds coming and going, letting the sun peek through every so often... IOW not a particularly good day to photograph outdoors, but I don't think the weather's promising to be much better for the coming few days, so c'est la vis...

Here's the glamour shots on Pad 14Z ("Z" for Zooch!)...

Later! OL JR
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  #30  
Old 01-20-2012, 04:17 PM
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Here's a few more pics... the silver paint looks kinda wonky in the overcast, dunno why... shines like a new dime in sunlight...

Later! OL JR
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