Micro-Maxx Estes Fat Boy, Part 9, Decals & Finished

I thought the FAT BOY body tube decal font was something drawn up by the Estes artists. Turns out it is a legit font named "Bauhaus 93".

The picture below gives an idea how small it is in my hand.

The F. A.T. fin decals fit well with just enough border edge. I drew them up (copied and mirrored) so both sides of the fins would have letters.

Mask the nose cone shoulder and spray it red.

Now that I know the decals fit, the decal PDF is available to Patreon subscribers. If you'd like to build a micro FAT BOY, email me at oddlrockets@bellsouth.net and ask for the FAT BOY decal PDF.

Micro-Maxx Estes Fat Boy, Part 8, Engine Mount & Streamer

The engine mount was slid in until the MMX motor was higher that the trailing edge tips of the fins. I didn't want the model standing on the engine mount tube.

After I was sure of the engine mount position, a glue fillet was applied using a Q-tip. 

The body is short so an upper glue fillet was also applied around the forward centering ring using another Q-tip.

The Kevlar line is tied to the elastic loop in the nose cone base. The loose end was pushed into one of the holes in the shoulder plug.

A plastic streamer was taped onto the Kevlar line one third the way down form the nose cone tie.

Micro-Maxx Estes Fat Boy, Part 7, Mask & Paint

After filler/primer and sanding - 

The model was slid down a painting wand for white undercoats.

The engine mount hasn't been glued in yet so the rocket can slip onto the 18mm motor casing attached to the painting wand. 

On the left, 

Sharpie inked Scotch tape is run down the root edge joints. The leading edge masks are "rounded" by using multiple small pieces of tape.

Before cutting the Sharpie marked tape, wipe off the excess Sharpie ink with a paper towel so no ink gets transferred onto the model.

On the right,

The rest of the body above the fins is taped and blocked with a cut plastic grocery bag.

The fins after the masking tapes were pulled -

I found a picture of the Semroc FAT BOY online and used those colors.

The fins were painted light blue. I had to make a trip to Ace hardware for this "one-time use" color. The nose cone is off the model to be painted gloss red.

Disappointed - Badly Done 3D Print!

I want to build a Estes Sandpiper, Kit #1389. It requires the plastic PNC-50S nose cone with the "finlets" on the side like the larger Jayhawk.

I didn't want to pay a premium for an old unbuilt kit. After having some beautiful 3D parts made for the recent Centuri Skylab build, I decided to have one of the online 3D printers make the nose cone for me.

After a search, I found Jack Hydrazine had submitted 3D files for the PNC-50S nose cone to thingverse.com. Thanks Jack! The hard work is already done . . .

After too many text messages, and a assurance that the sizing was correct, I used PayPal funds to pay for the nose cones. Two nose cones and two bases for $18.00

On the right is what I received. The outside diameter is only .60". It should have been larger, at .976" diameter to fit a BT-50.

Here's a closeup, check out the ridges.  

The finlet trailing edges are rough, looks like my dog chewed on them.

I'm not mentioning the vendor name yet - I'll give them a chance to correct the mistakes.

Micro-Maxx Estes Fat Boy, Part 6, Fin Grain & Body Tube Seam Fill

Before printing the decal (and wasting a decal paper sheet)

A test sheet was printed on 20 lb. copy paper to check the fin decal sizes.

These are a tight fit with an even border around the custom drawn letters.

The fit seemed good and the water slide decals were printed.

Here's the fins after a CWF fill and sand with 400 grit.

Filler/primer spray follows then more sanding to surface with 400 grit.

The fin gluing line had the filler/primer scraped off.

Filler/primer seals the surface. Wood glues won't stick as well on a sealed surface.

After scraping, redraw the root edge pencil lines.

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 42, Painting The Details

The raised, thick cardstock rectangles should have been painted the darker gray and then glued on the model. 

These aren't difficult to mask now, it's just some extra work that could have been avoided if I'd planned ahead!

The rectangles were outlined with Sharpie inked Scotch tape.

Brown tape widened the mask,

Plastic grocery bags covered the rest of the model.

With the masks removed there is very little touchup needed.

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 41, Painting The Impulse Engine Details

I'm not good at hand painting. This light gray impulse engine has straight lines and plenty of curves. I decided to mask and spray.

Here's the top - using many small piece of Sharpie marked Scotch tape.

The view from the bottom.

The thin mask border coverage is widened using brown tape.

Press a Q-tip around the edges to (hopefully) seal them.

A plastic grocery bag covered the rest.

After the tape was pulled - 

As expected, there was touchups.

The final look came out okay.