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  #1  
Old 10-13-2020, 11:22 PM
DavidQ DavidQ is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Washougal Washington
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Default Interceptors and siblings - Vindicator

The Vindicator was Estes 1367. It was obviously made to be similar to the Interceptor.

It used a similar nose cone - the 55B, which is a blow mold version of the Interceptor's 2-piece 55EJ.

It follows a similar fin pattern - wings with long strakes, skids, and vertical stabilizers with short strakes. But, no pods or pokey things on the vertical stabilizers.

It had ridges around the engine mount. These were glued balsa, and not plastic like the Interceptor.

A few reused decals, like the numbers on the nose, the cockpit windows, fuel caps, and wheel wells under the wing, and some of the decorations.

Of course I built this from scratch. I had already made a mold for the 55EJ nose cone, but decided not to use it for this model. Instead, I drew it up and 3D printed it. I left out most of the fine details, but I did add the gun ports and the cockpit.

I made the fins with 3/32" basswood. It is a cleaner grain pattern and stronger. But heavier, so I bumped the engine mount up to 24mm.

I first glued the fins. It looks like I used yellow glue. I might have cheated, but decided to simply space the fins equally
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  #2  
Old 10-14-2020, 05:21 PM
DavidQ DavidQ is offline
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After I primed it with the build up primer, and sanded it, I went ahead with painting. The instructions recommend painting it two-tone. The top is to be light sand, and the bottom is to be sky blue.

I couldn't find those exact colors. Which means, of course, that creativity gets an opportunity.

I did find "morning sky" from Krylon, and "sand" from Rustoleum. Close enough, I figure, as they have the words on the labels.

One concern is that the blue was a "chalky" paint. Not that it lets off chalk when you rub it, but it has a chalky feel. I.e., it is really flat. The sand was gloss. Quite a mismatch. So, I decided that after the paint was dry, I'd clear coat it with matte to make it look consistent.

Also, since decals were to go on the blue, and it was chalky, I decided to clear coat before applying the decals and after.

The instructions said to paint one color, let it dry, and paint the other. But, I've had bad experience in painting over paint - they like to krinkle. So, maybe being over paranoid, I painted the blue, and let it set up for 15 minutes. Then, I painted the gray. I went back and forth while the paint was still wet, painting each surface and touching up some overspray as I went.

I'd not done that type of painting before, and was pretty happy with the results.
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  #3  
Old 10-14-2020, 06:24 PM
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neil_w neil_w is offline
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Man, you're brave using that chalky finish paint. I would have no idea how well it would take to clear coating before decals.

Doing both colors in one session works totally fine *if* you can control where the second color is going without proper masking.
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Old 10-14-2020, 06:59 PM
DavidQ DavidQ is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by neil_w
Doing both colors in one session works totally fine *if* you can control where the second color is going without proper masking.

I followed the measure twice, cut thrice, school of thought.

If I painted in the wrong place, pick up the other can of paint and paint over it. If there was another overshoot, do it again, this time with a smaller squirt. Repeat.

There was a very small amount in the wrong place by the time I was done, but not enough that I wanted to keep going.

I just didn't want to mask and risk sharp edges, wrinkly paint, or paint sticking to the tape.

Actually, I read about the chalky paint before buying and using it. I was worried that it would be like chalk and flake or come off. That's just a marketing word. It's really the same as a flat paint, from what I can tell.
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Old 10-14-2020, 07:08 PM
DavidQ DavidQ is offline
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So, here I was all worried about getting krinkly paint from shooting the mismatched Krylon and Rustoleum paints. I should have been looking for my nemesis elsewhere.

I waited until the next day, but not a full 24 hours, to apply the clear coat. Having used so much floor finish as clearcoat, I forgot that clearcoat from a can has the same dastardly properties as paint from a can.

I did a light mist over the entire rocket. Of course, being that there is more surface to cover near the fins, it got a bit heavier of a coat. Just heavy enough to free the krinkly demons. Luckily, it was only on the sand colored surface, localized near the fins.

So I let it dry for a week this time before deciding how to fix this setback.
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  #6  
Old 10-14-2020, 11:21 PM
DavidQ DavidQ is offline
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AFter I thought about it, my plan was to lightly sand the wrinkles with 400 grit, and lightly shoot it again with the sand colored paint. I've done that before, and reshooting caused more wrinkles. So, I figured I'd shoot light coats.

When I started sanding, I noticed that the wrinkles were disappearing, and I wasn't seeing the primer beneath. So, I changed my plan, and just sanded off the high points of the wrinkles.

I then shot a light coat with the clearcoat. When that dried, I sanded lightly, and repeated the process. After about 4 layers and sandings, most all of the wrinkles were gone. Some remained in the fillets, but I was concerned about over sanding in the tight space.

It smoothed up pretty well. Good enougy, I figured, for a non-glossy matte finish.
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  #7  
Old 10-14-2020, 11:33 PM
DavidQ DavidQ is offline
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On to the decals. I redrew them to get crisp edges. And, I borrowed some patterns from the Interceptor.

This rocket had color decals which I could make on my laser printer. But, the decals also had white backgrounds. I have white decal film, so that wasn't the problem. It was getting a good shape.

I've tried printing the decals on white, and carefully tracing around them with my knife or scissors. Such a ludicrous idea - there is no way I could cut out fine details like that.

So, my approach is to print the decals on clear film, and cut out a blank piece of white decal film, and tuck it under the color decal. If I make the borders wide enough, I can have enough tolerance to get the white correctly placed.

For the white, I used Papilio White Bake-on Waterslide Decal Paper. This white is really, really thin. But, it is also really, really fragile. It can take a little bit of work, but once it starts to crack, it can fall apart. So, I try to be really carful with it. The clear is Papilio Clear Bake-on Waterslide Decal Paper. This is much more robust, thin, and flexible. I like it alot.

In the photo is a the Vindicator decal on the underside of the wing. I've place the color decal where it goes. I've also set the white spot on top of the decal to show the two-part decal process. The second photo is after I lifted the edge of the color decal with a wet brush, and slid the white spot in place. After jockeying them a bit, I closed down the color decal and blotted it in place.
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  #8  
Old 10-15-2020, 07:37 AM
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neil_w neil_w is offline
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That looks really good. Did you have any issues with the decals laying down on the slightly bumpy surface? Doesn't look like it from the pics, or else a decal solvent was employed.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidQ
So, my approach is to print the decals on clear film, and cut out a blank piece of white decal film, and tuck it under the color decal. If I make the borders wide enough, I can have enough tolerance to get the white correctly placed.

I believe that in many situations that is the only viable approach. It makes decal planning a whole activity unto itself. I'll be trying this for the first time fairly soon on a current build-in-progress.

Quote:
For the white, I used Papilio White Bake-on Waterslide Decal Paper. This white is really, really thin. But, it is also really, really fragile. It can take a little bit of work, but once it starts to crack, it can fall apart. So, I try to be really carful with it. The clear is Papilio Clear Bake-on Waterslide Decal Paper. This is much more robust, thin, and flexible. I like it alot.

What's the deal with the "bake-on" aspect of it?
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  #9  
Old 10-15-2020, 10:31 AM
DavidQ DavidQ is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by neil_w
What's the deal with the "bake-on" aspect of it?

The waterslide decals are mean for people into ceramics. You print a design on this, stick it onto your finished pottery, and bake it in the oven at about 500F. The plastic melts into the bisque or glaze (I guess, or maybe melts away) and leaves the ink.

I got it sort of by accident. For one of my orders, they were out of white decal waterslide, so I got the bake on. I found it was much thinner. So, I got the clear bake on water slide, and found it was also thinner. So, I've opted for that rather than their regular water slide decal paper.

One difficulty I've had with the white is that it loses its adhesive quickly if you move it around very much. This can cause large decals to delaminate. Small decals have been fine. So, for large decals, I mix up about a shot glass of water to a hefty squeeze of Elmers Washable Clear School Glue. I'll wet the surface with that, and it holds really well.

It's what I did for the decals on the wrinkly section of the Vindicator that I had to sand down.
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  #10  
Old 10-15-2020, 11:54 AM
DavidQ DavidQ is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by neil_w
I believe that in many situations that is the only viable approach. It makes decal planning a whole activity unto itself. I'll be trying this for the first time fairly soon on a current build-in-progress.

For some rockets, I've done a really extreme solution. The Colossus, for instance, had metallic bronze/copper in the decals as highlights. For those decals, I printed them in clear, soaked them, and let them dry upside down. Then, after they dried, I used a tiny brush and painted the backside of the decals with the bronze paint. After that dried, I applied the decals with a touch of glue.

That one was silly, because I've crashed and repaired that rocket too many times, always being careful to save the decals for the next iteration.
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