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Old 10-16-2016, 12:42 PM
Mad City Flyers Mad City Flyers is offline
Intermediate Rocketeer
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Madison
Posts: 70
Default V2 Finished

Finishing turned out to be a bit of a PIA. I learned a hard lesson about Laquer vs Enamel paints.

I started the finish coats using a Valspar Laquer paint because the yellow seemed a better match for what I saw online for the US White Sands Missile Range V2.

Problem was that even after 3 days of dry time the paint was not hard enough to avoid scarring by the tape I used for masking. I tried a different masking approach which was to use electrical tape for the edges and then 3M painters masking tape for filling in the larger areas.

When I removed the tape it was a horror show of ridges and discoloration. UGGGGHHH.

So back to the drawing board. Let the finish dry for another 3 days and then wet sanded with 600 to 1500 grit paper to knock down the ugly ridges and prep for repainting.

Went back to Rustoleum gloss enamel for the yellow and black with much better results. I guess the lesson learned is to DFWWW.

Last steps will be:
  • load with the J415W motor and case, recovery harness, AV Bay, drogue and main chute to determine the Cg point. I'm guessing that a little nose weight will be required. This will be done by adding steel shot and enough Rocket Poxy to cover it to the nose with the 1/4" all thread in place.
  • drill sheer pin holes (3)
  • ejection charge test

Still on timeline for Midwest Power 14

Cheers,

Matt
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