New Way Lunar Jumper Build, Part 11, Which Paint?

I wanted to break up the overall silver on the model. There is a red nose cone and red trim, the decals are black.

I painted the large nozzle Metallic Black. Note the masking tape just above the shoulder.

I've been asked which spray paints I use, a favorite is the Rustoleum Metallics. I don't like their 2X paints and will never use the 2X Gloss White again.

The Rusto Metallic paints are a better formulation. On this build I recoated after 24 hours. Normally I'd wait 48 hours between different colors, but this paint seems to dry quicker.

The main body was painted with Rusto Bright Coat Aluminum. Actual Silver spray paint is harder to find and there really isn't that mush difference between Silver and Aluminum paints.

Here's the finished nozzle in place. It's not a full black, but almost a very dark gray. Under sunlight you can see the reflective bits throughout the black paint.

All the Rusto Metallics have shown good results. There is also a Metallic Blue available.

New Way Lunar Jumper Build, Part 10, Silver Paint & Light Sanding

Everything is painted silver except for the nose cone which is gloss red.

The silver paint shows some surface roughness and areas that required light sanding with 400 grit.

Here's another fin assembly showing the sanded areas.

The nozzle still had some molding marks. 

More sanding with 400 grit.

I'll let the paint dry for 48 hours then do another silver coat.

New Way Lunar Jumper Build, Part 9, Launch Lug & White Undercoats

After all these years, I'm not doing glue fillets on either side of the launch lug. Too many bubbles and too much time sanding the fillet smooth. 

I know, a smooth glue fillet is less drag. But, I'm a sport flier, not that concerned with a few extra feet of altitude.

I apply a fine line of glue and even it straight with my fingers. Pinch your thumb and index finger into a "V" and run it down the glue line making a narrow, straight line.

A balsa spacer is supplied to set the the lug height.

The upper ring tube is sprayed off the model. 

It's difficult to get paint inside the assembly if the ring is glued on now.

Here the ring is set on a painting wand to a wrap of tape, sticky side out.

Hold the tube areas under a bright, reflective light to se the glue fillet lines that might need sanding.

After fine sanding with 400 grit, 

The glue fillet high spots have been taken down. Most all of the rocket body has been lightly sanded, just dulling the gloss white.

New Way Lunar Jumper Build, Part 8, Tube Fins

While the tubes were still separate,

The edges got a wipe of CA glue. 

Sanding with 400 grit followed.

Using my aluminum angle, 

A pencil line was drawn down all the six tubes.

A glue line was applied down the lower half of the BT-5s,

Pres into the BT-20 tubes lining up the pencil lines.

Here's how the tubes look from the rear, the bottoms are flush.

Apply a line of glue down the pencil lines running down both tubes.

Press into the outside edges of each fin.

Visually center on the pencil line.

New Way Lunar Jumper Build, Part 7, Tube Marking

The fin marking guide matched up!

Mark the three fin lines and extend them the entire length of the tube.

On the body tube, the root edge gluing line was scraped for better adhesion.

The small upper fins are glued in place.

The masking tape wrap helps line up the leading edges.

The short tube was slid over the upper rib fins, no glue yet. 

This applied pressure to hold the small fins in place as the glue dried.

I thought the upper tube would completely cover the outside edge so it wasn't filled and sealed earlier. There was bare balsa below. I applied some CWF and sanded.

The dowel joint got some CWF to fill the gap.

The first coat shrank a bit. After sanding a second application of CWF totally filled the joint.

New Way Lunar Jumper Build, Part 6, Bags & Dowels

After losing a few parts over the years,

I keep like kit parts in small zip-lock jewelry bags.

Fins, launch lug and dowels in one, all the tube details in the other.

You could put the dowels in a drill and spin them against sandpaper to round the upper end. But, you run the risk of scaring the dowel sides in the drill chuck.

I spin the dowel ends against 200 grit on a sanding block. It's not difficult, just takes a few minutes.

The dowels are glued into the notch on the outside edges of the fins. Pressing the two against the flat sanding block insures the dowel is glued on straight.

I thought these fins were a little thick for 3/32" balsa stock, but they are the same thickness as the dowel diameter.

New Way Lunar Jumper Build, Part 5, Balsa Fin Filling

There are three extra small forward fins. 

Only three are needed for the build.

After filling with CWF and sanding to surface - 

The outside edges of the fins were masked with a strip of tape for the filler/primer sprays.

All the fins and tubes were taped down to scrap cardboard for the filler/primer spraying.

After drying, the pieces were lifted and flipped over to spray the other side.

The long BT-50 main airframe tube was sprayed with filler/primer.

The paper towel stuffed in the end blocks any paint from getting inside the tube.
 

The same tube after sanding with 400 grit. You can see the gray primer left in the seam filling what was left from the earlier CWF pass.

I do a two step fill - 

1. Brush on one coat of thinned Carpenter's Wood Filler, let dry and sand to surface. 

The surfaces are not yet sealed. CWF is water based.

2. A fairly heavy spray of filler/primer. Let dry and sand to surface using 400 grit. The filler/primer soaks in a bit and helps seal the surfaces.

You should now be ready for color coats.