Adding A Pilot to the Odd'l Rockets F-18 Hornet kit

Frank D. added to his Odd'l Rocket F-18 build!

Inside the cockpit - 

You can see the pilot!

"A wooden bead painted yellow with a black visor."

A great addition - 

 

The full view of Franks F-18 painted Blue Angels style.

It's a tricky mask and looks great!

Waiting For Better Painting Weather -

Rain and humidity = 

No Cosmic Interceptor painting!

The Cosmic Interceptor is a big model, painting conditions have to be just right for good coverage.

Here's a look into what's coming up on the blog - 

Augendoc is 3D printing the ramjet nose cones for me.

I have vacu-form cockpits from the Odd'l jet kits.

I've already drawn up the decals.

The rest will be selected from too many accumulated spare parts.

Estes Cosmic Interceptor Build, Part 28, Small Things

The engine mount ring and intake vanes are painted black. It's easier to pre-paint then glue them in place. It would be nearly impossible to mask the intake vanes if they were glued into the tapered body tube.

The engine ring was taped to a painting wand (dowel) and sprayed gloss black. The paint will require light sanding and another coat.

Only the exposed front of the vanes need paint.

These also will require some sanding and another coat of paint.

The tri-fold mount was glued up and formed into a curve while the glue was still wet. I pre-form the mount so I can glue it in the tube later.

Here the mount is pressed into some of the leftover intake tubing.

It's been a frustrating weather week. I usually spray at about 2:30 p.m. when the humidity is low. Most all afternoons have been raining!

Estes Cosmic Interceptor Build, Part 27, Launch Lugs

I know - I'm pre-painting almost everything. On this complicated a build, you'll have trouble getting spray paint into all the inside and covered areas. When you paint over a glue area, the surface has to be carefully scraped or sanded so the glue can soak in and adhere the parts.

 

The lugs were pre-painted white.

The bottoms are areas of the lugs are touching the cardboard and won't get any paint.

The lug gluing areas on the model are sanded using 400 grit wrapped around a Q-tip. Sand an area a little shorter than the length of the lugs.

It helps to use a log tweezer to set the lug under the T piece.

Note the two glue lines.

One line contacts the body tube, the other touches the wing near the root edge.

.

Here's the lugs in line.

I won't be applying glue fillets, there would be bubbles when the glue dries.

Because the glued areas had the surface roughened and paint removed, the bond is plenty strong.

Estes Cosmic Interceptor Build, Part 26, Fitting The Vanes

Don't glue the vane assembly in place. The body of the rocket is mostly white, the vane assembly is black. 

Paint the vanes and body separately, then glue the vanes under the tube intake.

Notice the high (middle) vane is touching the intake body tube while the smaller vanes have a gap.

The largest center vane was trimmed with a new razor blade.

Cutting into the corner, 

Shave a little and check the fit.

Here the fit is much better, all the vane forward edges are contacting the intake tube.

Estes Cosmic Interceptor Build, Part 25, Gluing The T & V Pieces

The instructions have you glue the vertical V piece (rudder) before gluing on the horizontal T pieces. Wait to glue the V piece. Even though the paper marking guide fit well, the V rudder piece ended up a little off the pencil line. I ended up visually centering the V piece between the glued in T pieces.

   

No glue yet - 

Set the T piece in it's slot, resting the tapered side on the body tube.

Trace around the tapered end outlining in pencil on the body tube.

Scrap away any paint until you can see the bare body tube. 

Scrape inside the pencil lines.

Then glue on the V rudder piece even with the tube end. 

Note the taper. You might be tempted to glued it flipped the other way.

Estes Cosmic Interceptor Build, Part 24, Fitting The "T" Brace

The T pieces fit into a notch in the vertical S pieces. They sit high on the body tube and have to be sanded to fit. The T pieces should end up flat, parallel to the face of the large wing. 

The upper picture shows the start of the sand, a small bit has been sanded away. 

The bottom picture shows the angle sanded down so the T piece sits flat.

You can get a better fit against the body tube.

I wrapped some 220 grit around a dowel to make the flat root edge curved.

On the left, the curve has been sanded.

The right side picture shows the new root edge fit against the body tube.

You might have noticed the pre-painting of the areas inside and under and T pieces. If glued together it would be hard to get white paint to cover the hidden surfaces.