Semroc Micro Mars Lander, KMX-02, Part 15, Decals B

There are decal dots that go on the raised area rectangles.

On the left I've set down a small drop of water to allow the decal to slide for positioning. The little bit of water was set down using a wet Q-tip.






The roll pattern decal needed to be trimmed where it ran into the launch lug. A single edge razor blade trimmed the edge at the launch lug joint.

The very small Martin Marietta name decal sits under the trim piece. Notice how close the clear edge is trimmed to the top so it can be fitted close.







With all the handling, the silver paint rubbed off the edges of the antenna dish. You might want to paint these after all the decals are in place.

Semroc Micro Mars Lander, KMX-02, Part 14, Decals A

On the left is the kit face card picture.
On the right is a dry fit of one quarter panel. It ends up being spaced too high.

The three images had to be cut  and individually placed.

The two panels with the American Flags fit fine without cutting them apart.





These squares had to be cut to fit around the low end of the raised rib below the silver antenna dish.


I made a small hole using my rotary punch, then cut down the sides making a "U". In the upper picture, the punched decal is actually held upside down.





Some of the decals are tiny.
TIP: Pick up the decals with tweezers. Dunk them, then float the decals on the surface of the water for soaking.

Semroc Micro Mars Lander, KMX-02, Part 13, Final Assembly

The legs were glued into the housings. Be sure the root edge of the fit is flat against the tube inside.

You could certainly glue the legs on first and the housing around it (as the instructions show) - but I thought the color masks would be difficult.





The foot pads were sprayed silver.
The slot was scraped out for better glue adhesion.

On the right is the finished look. Note the piston on the upper side of the leg was brush painted with silver. 

The stuffer tube is glued onto the engine mount tube that extends above the upper centering ring.

Note the instructions say to use some recovery wadding in the tube to protect the inside of the nose cone.





The Kevlar shock cord is tied on the nose cone loop.
The streamer is cut in half lengthwise and taped to the Kevlar line.

Notice the round antenna disks. These were glued on with medium super glue and hand painted with silver.

TIP: Wait to paint the antenna disks silver until after the decals are applied. During all the handling, some silver paint was rubbed off the edges of the disk.

Semroc Micro Mars Lander, KMX-02, Part 12, Fix, Break, Fix!

On the left is the gloss white sprayed main body. It's humid and the gloss paint dried flat!
TIP: Sometimes you can shine up a flat finish by polishing. I used a clean shoe shine brush to buff out the surface. This brush had not been used, there was no shoe polish residue on the brush. If there were any polish in the brush it could transfer onto the model. Be careful brushing over raised corner surfaces - you can rub off the paint!
The picture on the right side shows the shinier surface.

A dry fit of the strut detail pieces shows the position of the orange piece. When the holes are lined up the piece sits too high on the leg! You can see the position on the right side.

The strut pieces were stuck down on masking tape and sprayed with spray adhesive.



Here's the strut piece pressed in place, lined up with the top and bottom. Note the holes don't line up. It doesn't really matter.

I tried a dry fit of the leg in the support assembly. When positioning the leg I pressed down on the upper arm and it broke off! Be careful, this is the most delicate part on the model.

It wasn't difficult to glue back - but I glued it without checking the other legs - It's flipped over! The "piston" sits higher than on the other three legs. Heck, I'm leaving it as is.

Semroc Micro Mars Lander, KMX-02, Part 11, Cleaning Up & Spray Painting

On the Strut Support Detail Pieces -
The small hold-down tics are sanded off with 400 grit on a block. It doesn't take much to remove them.






There are also small tics inside the three little holes at the top of the strut supports. A toothpick was sanded smooth and the tapered tip rolled in the three holes. This will compress the tic down.



I only sprayed gloss orange on one side of the strut support pieces. Notice they are "mirrored", flipped for each side.

The legs were taped down to a scrap piece of cardboard for spraying with gloss red.
At the root edge, a triangular piece of masking tape masks off the gluing area that will go inside the support housings on the lower body. Set the leg inside the housing and trace around the housing lip to see what should be masked. Notice the outside tip is masked off where the landing pads will be glued.

I got a decent gloss on the red legs. With the humid conditions, the gloss white came out a bit flat! A fix is upcoming . . . 

Semroc Micro Mars Lander, KMX-02, Part 10, Detail Pieces

The small rectangle detail piece is glued on the upper band wrap.






The foot pads are small. I sanded the edges smooth by holding them with long tweezers.
These were stuck on a piece of masking tape for a shot of filler/primer.

On the left are the foot pad centers, the larger circle pieces are the antenna dishes. Four antenna dishes are included in the kit, you only need two.

On the right - the centers are glued onto the foot pads covering the slot.






The strut support details are laser cut on card stock.
Note the support pieces aren't "mirrored" - See next picture.





The back side has some laser smoke discoloration. Because four of these aren't a mirror image, half could be glued with this smoky side facing out.

TIP: You can remove some of the ash with careful use of a pencil eraser. The right side picture shows the smoky side after using the eraser.

Semroc Micro Mars Lander, KMX-02, Part 9, Details & Launch Lug

This shows a decent end-joint of the upper detail ring pieces. A little bit of smoothed over glue on the joint and it shouldn't be noticeable.




The bottom trim ring pieces but up against the support housings. They were a bit wide and required trimming.

The launch lug was glued in place with medium super glue. A drop of CA glue was set on scrap cardboard. A toothpick was dipped in the drop of glue then the glue transferred into the root edge of a support housing.

The launch lug is small. You might find it easier to place by using tweezers to hold it while setting into the root edge glue.

Semroc Micro Mars Lander, KMX-02, Part 8, Leg Support Gluing

I used the alignment tool to mark the fin locations.

The support housings were glued on using the alignment tool to check the spacing.

On most models I plan ahead for masking and painting. The main body and these support housings are gloss white. The legs are orange or red. Spray them separately and glue the legs in after spray painting. No masking needed!

The engine mount is glued in using the spacing tool to set the upper centering ring depth. The bottom ring also got a glue fillet.





The body wrap pieces were cut off the card stock print piece.

TIP: Use the square corner of a single edge razor blade to press and cut the inside corners sharp and square.

I did a slight pre-curving of the body wrap pieces before the glue was added.

The pieces are a little wide, these were trimmed off down the center line of the support housing.

Semroc Micro Mars Lander, KMX-02, Part 7, Support Housing Assemblies

In the kit instructions-
The lander legs are glued on the body tube, then the triangular pieces are glue around the upper leg.
I thought the leg supports would be easier to smooth out off the model, especially the joint seams at the open slot top.
Glue the small center piece on one side of the larger side supports. Follow with the side support on the other side.






The tops and bottoms were sanded smooth on some 400 grit.

Here's a dry test fit of a lander leg in the support housing.








With the new, even sanded tops on the support housings I had to give them another shot of filler/primer and smooth sanding.

Semroc Micro Mars Lander, KMX-02, Part 6, Engine Mount Assembly

With the nozzle and base disk glued even with the bottom of the motor mount tube, the lower centering ring follows. The lower ring is the one without a hole for the Kevlar line.

The upper ring got a line of glue for a tighter fit on the motor mount tube. After the inside glue ring dried I had a good friction fit.

The Kevlar line is tied around the motor mount tube with the loose end through the hole in the upper ring.

On the leg alignment card stock is a depth gauge for the upper centering ring.
Set it over the top, slide up the ring and glue on the tube. Turn the depth gauge to be sure the ring is even from all sides.







Here's the finished engine mount ready to be glued into the main air frame tube.

Semroc Micro Mars Lander, KMX-02, Part 5, Base Disk Shaping

The base disk has a light line laser cut around the outside to mark the inside of the edge taper.

I sanded the side by holding the piece at an angle and turning against a sanding block.

Here's the shaped piece ready for filling.
Both the formed nozzle and base disk got a coat of CWF and sanding.




On the left:
The shaped pieces are ready for a shot of filler/primer.

On the right:
The pieces after sanding smooth with 400 grit.

Semroc Micro Mars Lander, KMX-02, Part 4, Main Nozzle Forming

This is the two leg alignment tool pieces.

To the left is the engine mount depth guide and the nozzle pieces.








The other side is a bit smoky but this doesn't effect the build.

The instructions say to glue the three nozzle rings to the motor mount tube. I thought it might be easier to shape the sides of the nozzle lamination off the tube.
TIP: The rings were stacked and three pieces glued together, but not yet glued to the tube. The tube was only used for alignment. After the glue on the rings dried, they were slid off the tube.



The burnt laser cut sides let you see how deep you are sanding. You might think you are done looking at the left, but try to sand off most all the brown which should remove the step lines.

Semroc Micro Mars Lander, KMX-02, Part 3, Nose Cone & Tube Prep

The nose cone is probably the cleanest 3D part I have seen in a kit. There is still some ridges but they are small. At the bottom shoulder ridge there are some "nubs".





Using a sanding block with 400 grit, the nubs are sanded smooth.

As mentioned above, there is some layer ridges. The outside surface of the nose cone was sanded a bit, the remaining ridges will be filled with some sanded paint undercoats.

The engine mount and stuffer tube ends were laser cut. The ends were a little uneven. The ends were squared up with a sanding block.