Semroc (Centuri) Excalibur KV-43 Build, Part 7, Prepping For Paint

Here's another rough shoulder on a balsa nose cone. The picture on the left shows the before and after.

On the right - Slide the nose cone out of the tube a bit, wide enough for a folded over piece of 400 grit sandpaper.
Gently run the folded sandpaper around the joint knocking down the rough edge. You should notice a difference in the fit.

The glue fillets are shallow. I like to make glue fillet radius' that match the size of the model. BIG model, large wide fillets. Smaller model, narrow (but still round) fillets.

Before spraying on the gloss white undercoat, a piece of 400 grit was tightly wrapped around a Q-tip shaft. This gave me a round sanding tool. Go light, you don't want to sand into the fin or body tube. This is subtle, you are just knocking down any high or rough spots.

The rocket is tall.
It's easier to get smooth paint coverage spraying smaller segments. This model was separated in two parts and hit with the gloss white.








The fiber fins are still uneven, I'm not happy with the side surfaces. I've done enough smoothing and filling, it's going to stay as is.