Friday, May 27, 2011

Estes Saturn V Build Part 46 Masking

Oh boy - here comes the fun!
The first mask should be the easiest - the upper 2nd stage wrapper.
I'll be doing each masked section separately.

If I were to mask the entire rocket in one sitting, some of the taped areas might come loose after sitting too long.

This is a big hard project to mask! Take your time, plan ahead.

With all the complex surfaces involved, chances are that some areas will give you problems and require touchup.

This is the first piece of Scotch tape used in the mask.
First the tape was colored with a black marker so it could be seen against the white. A new, clean edge was cut with a straightedge on my patio glass door. I never use tape as it comes off the roll. A new edge is always cut.

The vacuform wrap seams were masked first.
There is no way to get a good painting seal by trying to press any long strip of tape into this recess. It'll take some smaller pieces to get a clean mask.

On the other side of this wrap you run into the flat wood tunnel.
There are three pieces of Scotch tape here. Two thin strips on the sides of the tunnel, one wider piece over the top.

Again, all three pieces were cut by laying the tape on glass, blackening the tape with a Sharpie pen then cutting clean edges with a straightedge.

Finally, a long piece is rolled around the tube centered on the flat raised line.

The long piece of tape (above) shows a thick line and a thin line below it. That thin line is just an black overlap from another piece I cut from it. Disregard the lower line.



Masking tape is layed on top of the scotch tape to extend the mask. Still more copy paper is taped to that. Whew!


Time spent on build: :45
Total time on build so far: 45:30

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