Odd'l Rockets F-18 Hornet, Blue Angels Build, Part 7, Decals

Here's the decal sheet, looking yellow/orange.

While the decals were on the backing sheet they were darker than the initial yellow I had sprayed.

I found out they looked more yellow when they were transferred. Aaaagh!

Look close on the sheet - there are a few very thin tapering lines that have to be pieced together on the model.

The U.S. NAVY decals only go on the bottom of the wing. I felt safe trying these first as there were extras.

These two transferred without any trouble.

Now the problems start!

The decals were very thin and prone to breaking up.

I pieced them together as best I could. Very frustrating and I almost threw in the towel.

These will require some lightly applied clear Future floor finish to insure adhesion.

Odd'l Rockets F-18 Hornet, Blue Angels Build, Part 6, Canopy & Decal

The model is painted a dark blue. The decals will need a white layer underneath to bring out the colors of the translucent inkjet print.

The cockpit decal from the F-18 kit was cut out, very close to the outside ink edges.

A sheet of clear decal paper was spray painted white and allowed to dry.

The cut out cockpit print was traced around the white sprayed decal sheet with a pencil.

The white layer was cut out, just inside the pencil lines.

Set the white piece on top of the cockpit decal to be sure the white layer edges are just inside the cockpit print.

Now the white under layer can be set down in the cockpit position. A piece of positioning tape was set down 3/16" from the end of the body tube.

After the white decal dries,

The cockpit decal can be set down over the first white layer.

After the decals dry,

Squeeze out a drop of medium CA glue on some scrap cardboard.

Center and set the vacuform canopy over the decal.

Hold the clear canopy firmly in place. Dip the tip of a toothpick into the CA glue. 

Apply the CA using the toothpick to transfer the glue to the front and rear of the canopy first.

When you are happy with the position,

Then run glue along the sides using the toothpick tip.

Odd'l Rockets F-18 Hornet, Blue Angels Build, Part 5, Yellow or Yellow Orange?

After another white undercoat - 

All the wing tips got shot with gloss yellow.

The tips were masked off and the rest of the model was sprayed with blue.

A problem - 

The yellow was too bright and didn't match the decals! See the decals, two pictures below.

I let the model alone for a few days to think up a work-around.

I had to mask off the blue body leaving the yellow wing tips open.

The wing tips were sprayed with orange.

Within ten minutes (I didn't have to let the paint dry for a few days) 

I lightly sprayed the wing tips with yellow.

The Ace brand spray paint is somewhat transparent, especially the lighter colors. The light spraying of yellow still let some of the orange show through.

Now I had a color that was a near match to the decals. 

This doesn't always work - 

(EDIT: Coming up - this decal color changed when they were slid off the backing sheet!) 

Here's where I'm at - 

Let the paint set up for a few days, then decals!

Odd'l Rockets F-18 Hornet, Blue Angels Build, Part 4, Wing Detail & Undercoat

The tip detail was glued onto the outside edge of the wing.

The rear tips of the detail is almost even with the trailing edge.

The rear of the detail also turns away from the outside edge.

The model got an overall coat of white gloss.

The Apogee nose cones are molded in a bright yellow. That yellow tint can show through the first coats of paint. 

The white undercoat always shows rough areas and rough glue fillets.

These are sounded down with 400 grit. 

This will need another coat of white and maybe some more sanding.

Odd'l Rockets F-18 Hornet, Blue Angels Build, Part, 3, Wing Tip Detail

I decided to use some tongue depressors I had in the spare parts drawer. 

These are made of hard birch with no grain pores.

Two were glued and laminated together. 

These dried under weight.

1/8" strips were cut. This gave me a nearly square rod.

Two were cut to length.

These were shaped and tapered on a sanding block.

The rear taper is sharper than the front.

The sides were rounded to match the picture in the previous post.

Odd'l Rockets F-18 Hornet, Blue Angels Build, Part, 2, Wing Tip Detail

There aren't any missiles on the Blue Angels F-18. Instead there are some wing tip details.

 

Here's a closeup from an online picture.

I assume this is some sort of antenna.

I'll have to make two of these.

At the top is the outline of the kit wing. 

The picture was enlarged to the same size. This gave me a close approximation of the length and diameter of the detail piece.

(The diameter should read .116")

Odd'l Rockets F-18 Hornet, Blue Angels Build, Part, 1 Parts & Decals

This won't be a repeat build, the Odd'l Rockets F-18 build was posted previously. 

This build will concentrate on a few new details, the Blue Angels paint and some troublesome decals.

   

Here's all the parts from the Odd'l Rockets F-18 kit.

I'll be using everything except the decals and the 3D print missiles.

Here's the 1/72 scale decals ordered through Ebay.

In the box at the top is the catalog description.

In the envelope is a decal placement drawing.

Odd'l Rockets F-18 Hornet, Blue Angels Version, Background

A while back, Alex Palm posted pictures of his Odd'l Rockets F-18 

on the Estes Model Rocket page on Facebook - 

"My latest build. The Odd'l Rockets F-18 Hornet. Blue Angels version."

I asked: "Where did you get the Blue Angels decals?

• "I was able to order them from Ebay 1/72 scale. Just do a keyword search for Blue Angels decals. I also saw them in 1/48 scale too."

I searched on Ebay and may have found the decals Alex used: CLICK HERE 

I always liked the Blue Angels F-18 in the blue and yellow. 

I found some good pictures online. I grabbed a Odd'l kit and jumped in.

To see the original Odd'l F-18 build: CLICK HERE

Les' Rockets on TRF

On TRF, Les posted pictures of his rocketry collection after his 25 year BAR anniversary.

 And I thought I had a lot of finished builds . . . 

"A quarter of a Century..... 25 Years! Wow!!
In 1998 I became a BAR. Two of my kids, in different activities, got to build a rocket. I recalled my fun from the 60's and got more kits for them to build, plus a few for me. Unfortunately, they both lost interest but I continued.
I became one of those "crazy folks" who went overboard. My spreadsheet shows I have 781 rockets/kits. These are from over 60 different manufacturers. Many of which are no longer in business. And several rockets are scratch/bash builds.

My wife knows I have many, but not how many rockets. Fortunately, she is on a trip with her sister so she wasn't around when I did a family portrait.
It took me two days to haul everything out, set up, take the pictures, bring back in, and re-shelve (that took the longest)"

Of course I looked for some Odd'l Rockets.

Can you find the F-18 Starfighter?

Enlarge the picture and look close for the very appropriate placement of the Odd'l Pigasus.

The Orlando Design 2 Part Show

On Wednesday, May 3, Roger Smith (jonrocket.com) and I attended the Design 2 Part Show at the Orange County Convention Center.

We were hoping to find a vendor who could machine a mold and produce plastic nose cones in bulk. 

The prices were jaw dropping!

To have a nose cone mold machined it would cost between $10,000 to $15,000. That's before the nose cones are made!

This realization made me reconsider a decent 3D printer to make my own, 

without the minimum order of a few thousand nose cones.

They did charge $20.00 to park your car. 

The show wasn't a total bust - 

Free fun-size candy, pens and magnifying rulers filled up two fabric bags. Those bags are perfect for groceries.

Launch! Schoolyard Soccer Field, May 21, 2023

You've got to get up early to beat the heat!

I arrived at the field at 7:10 a.m. and over the next 40 minutes I sweated through my clothes.

With LCO duties, I only launched two rockets at the last club launch. Today I played catch-up..

At the club launch, I had hoped to test an old/new SPUTNIK idea. The Odd'l Rockets kit has been a 13mm mini-motor rocket for years. I drilled out the 3" Styrofoam ball for a standard 18mm motor.

Two launches today, a B6-2, then a C5-3. Very stable and certainly higher than the previous A10-3t engine flights.

The Estes CURVILINEAR has always been a stubby favorite.

Today it flew with a A8-3 engine to about 175'. 

I know, "More Power!" If you saw the size of this field, you'd be picking little motors too.

This is a sharp looking rocket - 

The Estes INDICATOR looks like a two stage, but it is a single engine model.

Performance was better than expected with a A10-3t motor. I would guess 225'. Fast off the pad with full 9" chute recovery.

First flight of the BT-55 upscaled Estes EAC VIPER.

The A8-3 engine reached 200'.

It did clear the tree and was recovered.

Note the tangle-free shroud lines.

Five up, five recovered with two Sputnik test launches in. A good, hot start for a Sunday.

Reimagined Estes Explorer

From the Facebook Estes Model Rocket page:

Jack Hydrazine posted pictures of a build by Burton John Larson:

"I built a reimagined Estes Explorer with a wide fuselage."

The original kit is on the left, the custom Explorer is on the right.

The wide body is carried through the nose cone! The changes look much better than the original design!

Maybe somebody knows -

Was that nose cone on the left ever used in any other Estes kit?

MPC Lambda Payloader Build, Finished

This one brought back memories of the smaller rockets from the 1960s and 1970s. Most rockets are typically much bigger now.

The four fins had one of my better masks.

Here's the payload section -

The molded shoulders on the adapter and nose cone should have been longer.

If the adapter was used as a boat tail - those four molded recess lines could be used for positioning fins.

I pretty much built this one as per the instructions but added a string to keep the payload section together at ejection.

MPC Lambda Payloader Build, Part 14, Loose Ends

The elastic shock cord was tied to the adapter loop.

The loose end was stuck inside the open hole at the bottom.

The parachute was attached to the shock cord, about 1/3 the way down from the top. This way the payload section won't swing through the chute shroud lines. It also keeps the payload section far enough away from the rocket body when descending under the chute.

The body tube isn't very long. 

Here's how much room is left when the parachute is packed in. The wadding isn't even in place. There would be no room for the shock cord or adapter shoulder.

In the above picture, the parachute was "spiked" and folded in half. 

To get everything to fit, spike the chute and fold into thirds. Then wrap the shroud lines.

To finish things off,

I like to scrape the paint off the metal engine hook.

It's a cleaner look and the paint won't bubble up when the engine flame hits it.

MPC Lambda Payloader Build, Part 13, Stine Shock Lock

Here's how the instructions show the lacing of the round elastic shock cord. 

They suggest gluing the mount down 1" from the top of the tube.

The next illustration shows the mount in place - but not recessed a full inch.

Here's the kit enclosed shock cord mount. It's 110 lb. cardstock with three holes punched in line down the center.

I pre-curl the cardstock to better fit the inside of the body tube.

The round elastic is laced through the mount

On the right, the back gets a thin coat of wood glue.

TIP: Set the elastic line beside the other exposed line to keep the mount as flat as possible.

The glued mount is pressed against the inside wall with a dowel.

Lightly pull on the elastic to pick up any slack and to tighten the laced line.