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Thursday, April 12, 2012

Ranger Clone Build Part 19 Roll Pattern

The entire rocket was painted a gloss white undercoat.
One fin and the payload section got a thicker coat of paint. White is the finish color on that one fin and payload section.

I saved the fin marking guide. It will be used to mark the tube for the upper roll pattern. There are four vertical black stripes running down the payload tube.

The marking guide was folded between two facing fin lines to give the width of the black stripes. The stripe width turned out to be just slightly over 5/8".

Wrap the marking guide around the payload tube and make pencil tick marks at the four fin locations. Using a pencil and angle, extend the lines the entire length of the payload tube.
These marks shouldn't be too dark, you'll only be using them as a guide for lining up the stripes.

At the other end, a straight strip of paper was wrapped around the tube.
This is the "stop" for the upper end of the longer stripe.

On the old Estes pictures, there are lower long stripes, then upper short stripes alternating like a checkerboard.

The paper strip edge was set about 3/4" from the top of the tube. At the 3/4" mark the stripes will alternate.

The black stripes were cut out of my favorite trim material, Contact Paper Blackboard Covering material.
It cuts clean, is very thin and re-positionable.
Try this Contact paper once and you'll agree. It's cheaper than trim Monokote and easy to work with. It's a semi gloss finish, not a shiny gloss.

TRIVIA: The models you saw in old catalogs were often trimmed with colored electrical tape and even colored paper.

TIP: Whenever you apply self adhesive (or pressure sensitive materials) clean off the surface right before you lay down the trim material. Any speck of dust will make a noticeable bump you'll see through the trim material surface.

I've placed the first stripe.
The upper end is square and butts up against the paper wrap stop.
The left edge of the stripe runs down the pencil line.

If you cut the stripes carefully and they are square, you only have to line up the one left side down the pencil line. The other side will take care of itself.

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