Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Estes Saturn 1B, #7251 Build, Part 32, Decals!

The instructions don't mention this - 
The rocket is still painted with gloss paint to allow a good adhesion of the decals. 

Note I didn't glue the silver Service Module tube onto the rocket yet - that will be glued up after the dull coat is sprayed on the white and black areas. Don't spray any of the silver areas with a dull coat.

Notice the small UNITED STATES and Flag decals. Two are set on a straight line, the other two are curved. The curved decals go on the conical Command Module. The straight line decals go on the silver Service Module.
That one curved decal ends up going over the molded line in the CM.





The four U S A decals are centered in the open area between the wraps and center directly over the vertical white bands on the middle corrugated wrap.






The mission number SA-206 decals also have a white background. These go underneath the vertical UNITED STATED decals.
Plan ahead! Set these down first to better center the tall UNITED STATES decals above.

TIPS: Keep a wrap of paper around the body as you work. Finger oils and dirt can be transferred onto the paint. 



After the first vertical UNITED STATES decal was centered and placed - 
TIPS: A wrap of paper was taped around the body to help line up the tops of the other three UNITED STATES decals.

Build time:
Place decals: 60 minutes
Total build time so far: 24 hours, 55 minutes

3 comments:

  1. I need clarification about the vertical United States decals that go onto the fuel tubes. Do these have a white background? I just want to be sure.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Jimmy,
      The vertical UNITED STATES decals do have a white background, so you could build a model with alternating black/white booster tubes.
      That being said - I don't know how opaque the white background is over black paint. Decals printed in China are thinner and I feel the ink is not as dense.
      If you wanted to do a Saturn 1B with the black/white tanks - You would also need the previous mission decals (like the SA-205) to do a accurate scale model. I've suggested to Estes that they add those to their decal sheet for a build option.

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  2. Thanks for the info! I will test a scrap piece of the decal sheet on a spare black painted tube to see how it looks.

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