A post from David Scigs on the Facebook Estes Model Rocket page:
"On the Model Rocket Blog, Chris has been trying out Rustoelum Professional spray paints with good results. I wanted to give this paint a try so I bought a 7 dollar Baby Bertha at HL to try it on. I built the rocket in one day and allowed the glue to dry and did not seal the fins. The second day I sprayed a coat of primer, waited an hour and sanded down the balsa fuzzies and shot another coat of primer. I let it dry just a couple of hours, sanded smooth and immediately shot the Rustoleum Gloss white. The paint went on smooth and super glossy. I had to wait the recommended 48 hours then I used the gloss black after masking the white with cheap masking tape. This paint dries fast, as a matter of fact I was able to wet sand tree fuzzies out of the black paint in 30 minutes, then shoot a second coat before the 1 hour time limit. So far this paint works pretty good, super glossy and great coverage. Actually I was surprised how nice the rocket looks from a foot away since I did nothing to seal the fins. As you can see up close, the grain pops out but the paint is still smooth and glossy. I am building the Estes Olympus right now and may try this paint on that rocket."
Hi David,
Glad the paint worked out for you! I have only used the Rusto Pro Gloss White so far. The other colors I'm now using are from Ace Hardware. The Ace Hardware brand gloss white dried almost as a flat finish. I needed a better white and found the Rusto Pro (in the metallic cans) on sale and gave it a try. So far, very good and no rough spray cottage cheese like the Rusto 2X gloss white can do.
I had told David I’ll have to try the Pro line of Rustoleum. I have a can of it in silver, and I’m pleased with the color and texture. I think Rustoleum must have had a bad batch of gloss white in the 2X. I had one spray globs, took it back, and new can is fine. I’ve also used the semi-gloss and flat white with excellent results. I’ve had great results with other 2X colors too, all three of the blacks, two of the reds, a bright green, yellow, orange. It is my go-to paint. In the past I’ve had little Testor’s cans spray globs, but all my cans over the past few years have sprayed beautifully. I also have lots of Model Masters and Tamiya, but never a problem with those ... OK, I’m addicted to spray paint. Wow, feels good to get that out in the open ...
ReplyDeleteHi Lee,
DeleteI've had a good can of the Rusto 2X gloss white, then a bad can. Too many bad experiences, I had to find something (fingers crossed) better. So far, the Rusto Pro has been good.
I used this paint on my Estes Olympus and it worked great once again. The only other advise I can give is the 48hr recoat window. I have found with enamels this is pretty much true, I don't have issues when I recoat within 1 hour or after 48 hours. Now if you decide to sand the first paint coat within that 48 hours, you have to wait another 48 hours before painting another coat. I have noticed in the past that if I sanded an area after the first 48 hours of cure time, then painted another coat, the sanded areas will crinkle. I hope I explained that ok.
ReplyDeleteHi David,
DeleteYep, the re-coat window time still applies.
The can says dry in 15 minutes, it take longer. I bet that claim will lead to a lot of wrinkled paint jobs and newbie "what happened?" posts on TRF.
I am building the Tazz right now and will once again use the Rustoleum professional white and black. By the way, I did not have good luck with the clear adhesive hinges provided in the kit. Oh well, I think next Tazz will get the hinge applied to one side of the fin vs both.....Basically hinge like the Gyroc.
ReplyDeleteHi Scigs,
DeleteI just looked up the Tazz instructions. (It's one of the few kits I haven't built for Estes)
If it were possible, I would have wanted to apply the hinges after painting. They tend to stick better to a smooth painted surface instead of bare balsa.
But, the smaller vertical stabilizers and hooks go over the hinges! I see what you mean about the doubled hinge. I don't know if that is necessary. The paper hinges on the original Gyroc would start to show cracks with dried paint on them.
After multiple flights the paper on my vintage Gryoc does have a crack down the middle, but still works. The elastic thread has lost its taughtness, but I can cut that off and add new thread.
DeleteHi Scigs,
DeleteI did cut a notch in the Gyroc small fin to allow easy replacement of the elastic. I made this adjustment after I saw what Semroc did to the the original Gyroc design. https://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-big-fix-gyroc-elastic-part-1.html https://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-big-fix-gyroc-elastic-part-2.html