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A Fish Named Wallyum
06-06-2007, 12:17 AM
This idea hit me after talking to Carl one night before NSL last week. I thought I'd buy the new VF-261 kit when I arrived on Friday, build it one Friday and Saturday night, and paint and fly it on Sunday. I figured that I'd at least get it flown nekkid, but as things turned out, I got everything done but the final strip and decals.
I had two or three steps done before I remembered to start taking pictures. :rolleyes:

A Fish Named Wallyum
06-06-2007, 12:29 AM
Overall it was an easy build, but there were two steps that caused me a bit of difficulty. One was making aerodynamic shapes out of balsa dust. That one just ended badly, and we'll leave it at that for now. :rolleyes: I also had trouble drawing straight lines on the boat tail, but I managed.

A Fish Named Wallyum
06-06-2007, 12:37 AM
No pics of the finishing process. Oopsie. Suffice to say that my hotel room was quite the dump, to the point that I did all the finishing and priming in the room. (The bathroom made a pretty good paint booth.) I di the final painting on the field on Sunday, just before the flight. Never thought to get anyone to take a picture of me painting. Double oopsie. Silver all over with a black rudder. I'll get to the stripes and decals one night this week.
In the end, I managed one flight on a B6-4. MAN, did this thing scoot. Even though the field was big enough for the C6-7, I wasn't tempted in the least. I didn't see any of the B6-4 flight! :eek: I didn't even want to think about the C6-7.
Recovery occurred quite a ways downrange, and frighteningly close to the gravel path. The rudder was loosened by the impact with the ground, but it was a quick fix. I think I might try to get a flight in this weekend on an A8-3 at B6-4 Field.

PaulK
06-06-2007, 09:39 AM
No pics of the finishing process. Oopsie. Suffice to say that my hotel room was quite the dump, to the point that I did all the finishing and priming in the room. (The bathroom made a pretty good paint booth.) Hey, that is a great idea! With the humidity here in the summer, I need an air-conditioned paint booth with exhaust fan; maybe I'll save up a few models, rent a room for a day, and paint away. How did you keep paint dust from settling all over the room? Cool model by the way. I'm hoping mine will show up on the doorstep today. Could you elaborate on the part about making aerodynamic shapes out of balsa dust? :confused:

ghrocketman
06-06-2007, 10:25 AM
Spray painting in a motel room ????
That's a good one....I hope you paid via cash and not credit card so they can't try adding a "cleanup fee" onto your bill.

A Fish Named Wallyum
06-06-2007, 04:23 PM
Hey, that is a great idea! With the humidity here in the summer, I need an air-conditioned paint booth with exhaust fan; maybe I'll save up a few models, rent a room for a day, and paint away. How did you keep paint dust from settling all over the room? Cool model by the way. I'm hoping mine will show up on the doorstep today. Could you elaborate on the part about making aerodynamic shapes out of balsa dust? :confused:

It worked pretty well, and the fact that the hotel room had apparently seen action as a Port-O-Let in a previous life made me not care where the dust settled. I mean, it's not like they CLEANED or anything.
Did I mention that my hotel was a carpeted septic tank? :mad: ;)
As for the balsa dust, I tried it as Carl wrote it, but in the end it looked like I wiped a booger on the fin. I don't think it suffers without the aerodynamic shapes. :rolleyes:

A Fish Named Wallyum
06-06-2007, 04:24 PM
Spray painting in a motel room ????
That's a good one....I hope you paid via cash and not credit card so they can't try adding a "cleanup fee" onto your bill.

Clean was obviously not a priority in this place. :mad:

stefanj
06-07-2007, 12:00 AM
The Semroc site has a PDF of the VF-261 instructions. You can see details of the "aerodynamic shape" there. Essentially, you use tissue or balsa dust plus glue to make a putty to make a little nosecone-shaped dingus for the front of the fin-tip launch lugs.

Several layers of Fill n' Finish, with CA or Minwax wood hardener wicked on for durability, would make the part more sandable.

A Fish Named Wallyum
06-07-2007, 12:27 AM
The Semroc site has a PDF of the VF-261 instructions. You can see details of the "aerodynamic shape" there. Essentially, you use tissue or balsa dust plus glue to make a putty to make a little nosecone-shaped dingus for the front of the fin-tip launch lugs.

Several layers of Fill n' Finish, with CA or Minwax wood hardener wicked on for durability, would make the part more sandable.

That's what I tried to use, but my dingus didn't look like any dingus ever seen in this galaxy. I mentioned my difficulties to Carl and Sheryl at NSL on Saturday and Sheryl seemed to agree with me that it was a bit of a stretch. :rolleyes:
Geez, if you'd have seen the screw up I almost had on Friday night, you'd agree that my VF-261 was best left dingusless. Good thing my yellow glue hadn't "grabbed" yet. :o

conleyt
06-07-2007, 07:59 AM
I picked up this kit at NSL. I haven't had a chance to build it yet, but I'm planning to try epoxy putty for the "fin tips". It may look like crap when I'm finished, but I'm gonna give it a shot! :D

Tom C.

chanstevens
06-07-2007, 09:35 AM
That's what I tried to use, but my dingus didn't look like any dingus ever seen in this galaxy. I mentioned my difficulties to Carl and Sheryl at NSL on Saturday and Sheryl seemed to agree with me that it was a bit of a stretch. :rolleyes:
Geez, if you'd have seen the screw up I almost had on Friday night, you'd agree that my VF-261 was best left dingusless. Good thing my yellow glue hadn't "grabbed" yet. :o

Sounds like a good application of one of those Flis micromax nose cones, which slide right into 1/8 lugs quite nicely...

conleyt
06-07-2007, 11:09 AM
Sounds like a good application of one of those Flis micromax nose cones, which slide right into 1/8 lugs quite nicely...

OOOH.....I have some of those cones at home. I'll have to give them a try.

Tom C.

sandman
06-07-2007, 11:19 AM
I started an upscale.

I glued scrap balsa on both sides and just sanded the nose cone shape.

sandman
06-07-2007, 01:33 PM
Sitting around my office today waiting for fax's and phone calls i completed both of them.

Easy builds.

I have since fixed the angle on the wing tubes.

ghrocketman
06-07-2007, 02:07 PM
Is the balsa tailcone on this one the one that was going to be used for the cancelled Semroc clone of the BT-55 based Estes V-2 ?

A Fish Named Wallyum
06-07-2007, 02:48 PM
Is the balsa tailcone on this one the one that was going to be used for the cancelled Semroc clone of the BT-55 based Estes V-2 ?

Carl mentioned something about the ease with which one could create a V-2 out of this kit, so I'd say yes. :cool:

DeanHFox
06-07-2007, 07:46 PM
I started an upscale.
Sandman --- you know those "resin teardrops" you did for the upscale Constellation? Do you have any extras laying around? I'd be curious what the VF-261 wings look like with "teardrop pods" instead of the "landing lugs" approach...

(I realize it's not true to Vern's design, but it *does* result in a design that looks closer to the "Luna" profile...) If it looks good, it might make a nice "variant" and result in another sale for Carl & crew. :)

sandman
06-07-2007, 08:25 PM
Sandman --- you know those "resin teardrops" you did for the upscale Constellation? Do you have any extras laying around? I'd be curious what the VF-261 wings look like with "teardrop pods" instead of the "landing lugs" approach...

(I realize it's not true to Vern's design, but it *does* result in a design that looks closer to the "Luna" profile...) If it looks good, it might make a nice "variant" and result in another sale for Carl & crew. :)

Those "tear drops" would be way way too large for this model. Try turning some smaller ones out of scrap balsa with a 1/8" wood dowel glued into it.

Turn them on a Dremal.

I just glued scraps on either side and sanded them to shape. Easy enough to do.

DeanHFox
06-08-2007, 10:08 AM
Those "tear drops" would be way way too large for this model. Try turning some smaller ones out of scrap balsa with a 1/8" wood dowel glued into it.

Turn them on a Dremal.

I just glued scraps on either side and sanded them to shape. Easy enough to do.
I'll give that a try. Actually, I was thinking that the resin drops might be "in scale" to your upscaled version...but this other method will let me make them more "elongated", like they were on the original "Luna". :)

Thanks for feedback!

sandman
06-08-2007, 03:14 PM
I'll give that a try. Actually, I was thinking that the resin drops might be "in scale" to your upscaled version...but this other method will let me make them more "elongated", like they were on the original "Luna". :)

Thanks for feedback!

This way you can make them any size you want! :D

Do this. Make two, one for each wing exactly the same size. The fin pod could be a different size if you want, that wouldn't matter.

Carefully cut them in half with an exacto. Do a bunch of light cuts until you cut through it.

Trace out the fin and lay the pod in place on the wood and trace the outline onto the fin like for the constellation fins.

After the fin is cut out glue the pod halfs on.

DeanHFox
06-09-2007, 10:37 AM
Neat idea with the "cut the pod in half" technique. I was going to carve a piece of the outer fin away and just glue the pod "onto" the wing. I think your way will look better...more "blended" into the fin. :)

lessgravity
06-22-2007, 12:30 PM
I finished this rocket about two weeks ago. Here is my VF-261 (http://rocketry.wordpress.com/2007/06/07/vf-261-verns-fantasy/)

I am also working on an upscale. I found a possible solution to pods in my upscale. Have you ever seen those long fishing bobbers? They are usually bright orange - not the plastic ones -but the foam core type? I rounded off one end of those to create the teardrop shape. They are only about 3 for a dollar in the fishing tackle section of your local department store.