I've been painting my rockets on my back deck because we were planning on getting it replaced eventually and I didn't care about overspray.

Now, though, our deck is being replaced so I have to make other plans. The garage is out. It's a den/storage room so I don't have space in there to paint (I actually do my building in teh living room but am moving upstairs to the computer room). So I'm stuck with the outdoors. I do now care about overspray, so I want to build something I can use to paint my rockets in and not have to worry about getting spraypaint all over the new deck.

Does anyone have plans for an easily-assembled painting booth? I have access to a large section of canvas painters drop cloth. I am thinking of something I can take apart when I'm not using it, so PVC seems the logical choice.

Ideas, plans, and pictures are welcome.

Thanks!

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Dale Marshall, San Antonio Texas
NAR #90990
Semroc SAM #083

BAR Since 2008
Enjoying model rocketry since 1977.
The Spotted Dragon
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Here's a link to a thread dealing with paint booths from Jan 2010: http://www.oldrocketforum.com/showt...ght=paint+booth

Here are a couple of links to designs provided by people in that thread. Not sure if these are too much for what you are thinking about doing. I've seen discussions on a couple of the other forums regarding paint booths too. I've been meaning to build one myself, but I've just got too many other things going on to make it happen.

http://www.militarymodelling.com/ne...cle.asp?a=3661# (posted by AFlyingMonkey)

http://www.briansmodelcars.com/tuto...ID=23&CurPage=1 (posted by Bravo52)

Here's a low tech design I found just using PVC pipe as a frame and plastic to cover it. No ventilation though: http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Pai...-in-Your-Garage

There's even some YouTube video's on the subject, including this low tech design that I felt could easily double as a workbench for feather collectors: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG3Ij20i7pE Seriously though there are some YouTube videos that might be helpful.

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I plan ahead that way I don't have to do anything right now.

Oh by the way, I'm not here just for the "olde" rocket discussions.

I don't do nearly the builds most of you do, but I've always just poked a stake in the ground (e.g. fiberglass fencepost), stuck the rocket on it (masked appropriately) and sprayed away. It's high enough off the ground that you don't get noticeable spray on the grass, and most spraypaints dry quickly enough that you can move them inside for a final overnight-dry within an hour or two.

Here's what I have:

1. Two home-built sawhorses.
2. A full sheet of 1/4" plywood reinforced with stud grade 2x4 supports underneath for a bench top.
3. More stud grade 2x4's around the edges on top with 1" holes drilled in at regular intervals.

I use 18" dowels to support my rockets during the painting process. When paint is drying I just stick the dowels in whatever hole is nearby.

I spray more gray primer than anything else and it is basically invisible on the concrete patio. When spraying color, I usually put down a canvas drop cloth to catch the drift/overspray.

This is my outdoor work bench for everything. Carpentry, cabinetry, painting, etc.

The nice thing is that it can be disassembled in less than five minutes and stored out of sight when there's a picnic or family gathering in the backyard.

For your purposes as an outdoor spray "booth", a pair of folding sawhorses, a half or quarter sheet of plywood, and a drop cloth will work just fine.

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Kit (aka Cranky Kong)

I'm just a roadie for the banned...

That's my standard method, that or just carrying the rocket outside on a dowel, putting on a coat, bringing it in to dry, and repeating as needed.

However that doesn't always work out so well for me. For example if it's windy sometimes dust or dirt can get into the paint job. During bug season those little pests can end up being part of the paint job. In spring the polin can interfere with the paint job, and in fall the leaves can fall onto the paint job.

But again, I usually do just walk outside and go for it, wth the exception of say a Saturn V or Saturn 1B paint job where I do the painting in the garage. Also if it's winter or the temps are too low I'll move to the garage as well.

I'd really like to have some kind of paint booth to work with, but so far I just haven't been able to make it happen.

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I plan ahead that way I don't have to do anything right now.

Oh by the way, I'm not here just for the "olde" rocket discussions.

I'm kind of in the same predicament. I've been spraying outside this summer when the wind & weather cooperates, but with a messy fall season already here and a winter that doesn't look much better I'm stuck either developing a spray booth I can use in the basement (where our forced-air furnace also lives, unfortunately) or sticking with rockets made from preprinted parts. (Already looking into paper rockets, and Apogee/Sky's scale Chinese aerospace models.)

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BAR after a 29 year absence. Using my plastic, resin & vinyl kit building skills (and my paycheck)
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Living in an apartment in Fairbanks, Alaska (where spray painting outside at -40 during the winter is unthinkable), I'm considering an indoor alternative that may work for others in similar living situations:

Lining the shower stall with clear plastic painters' "drop cloths" would create a relatively large "spray alcove," and opening the bedroom window and the balcony door would provide ample ventilation. (The furnace would have to work a lot harder to maintain comfortable temperatures in the apartment with the door and window open, but I could finish spraying each coat of primer or paint quickly and close them while it dries.)

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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
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All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

Find two folding square card tables or the like at a garage sale - the rattier the surface the better. Grab a poly drop cloth from your local hardware store - clear gives you ambient light to work with. Stack one table atop the other, securing the legs as needed, then drape the cloth over the top table and around three sides of your towering paint booth. Unless the airframe is three feet long you should be fine.

And wear a particulate mask. Unless you enjoy funky colours coming out of your lungs.

Cannot take full credit for this as a Scout Master back in the seventies used to stack two 3 x 8 folding tables during Pine Car builds.

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Gravity is a harsh mistress
SAM 002
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"The complexity of living is eminently favored to the simplicity of not."

Thanks for all of the ideas. Something I just thought of would be one of those portable enclosed clothing racks. Replace the stock plastic with painters cloth and it should do for the types of rockets I build.

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Dale Marshall, San Antonio Texas
NAR #90990
Semroc SAM #083

BAR Since 2008
Enjoying model rocketry since 1977.
The Spotted Dragon
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I like jharding58's (quoted) and Feyd's ideas! Between them, the stacked card tables and the enclosed clothing racks (folding vanity screens might work, too) would allow spray painting of everything from MicroMaxx rockets to smaller HPR models indoors. I heartily concur regarding using particulate masks for indoor painting, as even the fumes from only a few milliliters of curing two-part polyurethane resins have given me an uncomfortable tightness-in-the-chest feeling when there wasn't adequate ventilation to disperse the fumes.

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR