Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 22, Mid Section Decals

The vertical ITALIA is set with the lower diagonal stripe set into the conduit glue fillet. The lower horizontal black bar is used for spacing when set against the adapter/tube joint.

The diagonals are tricky. They finish the length of the bars and are a little long for trimming after they dry.

The decal was worked into the conduit fillet recesses with a wet Q-tip.

The upper diagonal strips end up halfway between the conduits at the top and bottom.

Notice the overhangs. Trim after the decals dry.

The great thing about the horizontal decal wraps, they tend to cover the joint gaps between the tube and adapters.

The horizontal strips overlay the diagonal ends.

Trim the lower diagonal short before setting down the lower horizontal bar.

The clear overlay edges are trimmed using a razor blade using a sawing motion.

The tube edge is blacked with a Sharpie for a cleaner color separation 

when the upper section is slid in place.

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 21, Lower Decals

I checked the original kit decals against the CMR (Tango Papa) decals.

The vertical UNITED STATES decals were wider spaced!

On the Estes kit decals, the UNITED STATES decals were one continuous strip with clear overlay between the two words.

I cut the words apart for easier placement.

The vertical black bars were also cut apart. 

Three are centered between and over the raised conduits. The pieces of masking tape were for the 1/4" from the joint spacing.

Note how close the verticals are at the base if the lower launch lug. Some of the clear border was trimmed right up to the black ink.

Here's the lower STATES decal placed first. It is set directly over the fin slot.

The UNITED decal followed directly above.

Only had one decal break.

I re-wetted and repositioned the tear.

Some Family Matters -

Sorry, no blog posts until after I return on Wednesday October 1.

I have some family things to take care of - 

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 20, Oops! & Upper Decals

Oops! I gave the fins two days to dry before the final shot of black paint. It happens to all of us! I should have waited another day. Plastic takes longer to dry than paint on balsa or Kraft tubes.

The paint crazed on one side of a fin. I'll sand and reshoot before gluing onto the model. 

I tried the old, kit decals. To my surprise, they were fine!

They stuck and conformed pretty well. I did have to slice the decals where they rolled over a tube/adapter seam.

The red lines decals can help hide the tube joint. 

I'll have to use some decal solvent to insure it stays down over the tube/adapter connection.

Below is the complete decaled upper section which will descend on an added 12" chute.

 

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 19, Black Top & Bottom

I tried to mask the nose cone using curves strips of Scotch tape, but I couldn't get the arc correct. 

Something new - 

Using a ultra fine point Sharpie, the border line was drawn using the slight recess ring molded into the nose cone.

The rest was filled in using a wide point Sharpie. This Sharpie fill will only work on a small area.

This isn't my best work. I would have preferred a mask and sharper line. 

I may rework this again later.

The flat end face of the base cap is painted black.

Scotch tape was rolled around the end. Enlarge the picture to see it.

The rest of the exposed area was masked off with masking tape and copy paper.

The right side picture shows a clean mask.

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 18, Mask & Paint Fins

The fins are an interesting but easy mask.

I simply put Scotch tape over the backside of the fins I wanted to stay white. The side facing in the picture will be painted black.

Any white areas left on the vanes (lower left) will be painted by hand.

Here's the fin after pulling the tape.

Look close at the leading edge in the left side picture. The fin leading edge is so thin it came out pretty clean.

Notice the trailing edges facing the right side of the picture.

On the left, there is a little black overspray.

On the right, some very light scraping sharpened up the edge.

Estes LTV Scout, Build, Part 17, Red Vernier Covers

This is a tall rocket.

Long models are difficult to spray evenly. It's easier to paint in two segments.   

I mentioned the red dot Vernier Covers in an earlier post.

There is plenty of Cricut vinyl left over from the red trim on the Skylab build.

I pulled out one of my more valuable tools, the rotary punch.

Small red dots were punched.

My rotary tool isn't as sharp as it once was. Still good for notching centering rings, but it took quite a few punches in the vinyl to get four near perfect round dots.

The results were much better than I could ever paint by hand.

This picture shows how many punches were made to get four useable dots.

I can't figure out why Estes didn't include these in the kit. There is already some red on the decal sheet.