The Blog Is Done!

This will be the last blog post!

Over 7,500 posts over almost 13 years! The blog will remain online until the folks at Google decide to delete it. I've been thinking about this for a while. 

Odd'l Rockets are still in production. 

I'll continue to build show models for the manufacturers. 

Odd'l Rockets kits and supplies will still be found through your favorite online vendors. Pigasus and Little Green Man kits are available again!

I ask that you do not distribute my decals, templates or carded models until I decide where they will end up. I still retain all Copyrights (ownership) of my original art and instruction sheets. Please - No kit production or copies of the PDFs. I won't tolerate someone simply "copying" and making a profit from my work.

What will I do with my build time?

I have a few wooden model ships I'd like to tackle. You think the old Estes Mercury Redstone (K-41) escape tower was tough? "Plank on bulkhead" models require plenty of patience and time. I hope to attend club launches after the Summer heat is over.

To those who supported the blog through Patreon and Paypal donations - a BIG Thank You! The donations are appreciated and always went directly towards the builds. 

I learned a lot! - I hope you picked up a few things, too. 

Thanks for reading!

Jay Jarris' Mini Honest John Kit Bashes

KITBASHING: Creation of a new model by combining elements of multiple commercial kit models.

For everybody that bought multiples of the Estes Mini Honest John when WalMart was clearing them out - Here's some ideas on how to customize all those extra kits!

 

From Jay Harris' post on Facebook - 

"They haven’t been back on sale for a while on Walmart but when they were, 

I bought a bunch at $3.13 each! The Estes Mini-Honest John. I used each kit to build something scratch unique!"

E12 Power HJ

The Estes EAC Firecat

Nike HJ Ajax

Nike HJ X

Nike HJ Concept

Nike HJ Hercules

Buck Rogers 13mm

Rockets Need To Be Round?

 Well, maybe not all rockets - 

Still a great video explaining the CP/CG relationship - CLICK HERE

Dave Combs Candy Rockets

Dave Combs posted his candy tube rockets on the 

NAR Facebook page;

"The Candy Fam

The Candy Fam can…

The Candy Fam can when we mix a little thrust

And make the sky look goooooood"

I really like the fins shaped like the candy!

Dave wrote the lyrics.

NewWay Angled Invader, Finished

The New Way kits are very well produced. The square tubes are heavy duty.

This kit is highly recommended!

White decals!

There is no other way to capture this look.

The 3D nose cone and side details are very smooth.

3D printing has come a long way!

NewWay Angled Invader, Part 16, Decals

It's tempting to apply the big tube wrap decal first.

TIP: Soak and apply a few smaller decals to get an idea of the soaking times and how they transfer.

Here's the positioning of the wing decals.

The three stripe decal positions a little different than the original and reissue Estes kit.

Before soaking the big wrap decal,

Do a dry fit to get an idea how it will sit and wrap around the square tube.

Use the white rectangles at the bottom for some help centering the large decal. 

Make the white areas equal on both sides. That should automatically center the tall line at the top.

It's a bit tricky transferring the wide back end, the decal will want to wrap over the sides before you get things centered.

As always - Wet the body tube (rub some water on a fingertip) before transferring the decal onto the rocket body. This leaves some water under the decal and allows it to slide until you get it into the correct position.

Roll any water and air bubbles from the center out using a wet brush or wet Q-tip. Constantly check the position before things set up.

The smaller winged decal goes near the front of the body tube on the right side.

The larger wing decal goes underneath the side of the wing. 

Double check the size of the decals. I initially placed the smaller decal under the wing. I caught this before it settled in. More water was set on the decal. It was lifted using the tip my knife and moved to the side of the body tube.

NewWay Angled Invader, Part 15, An Easy Mask

Look between the two launch lugs and you might notice there isn't a glue fillet on the inside joints.

These lugs are too close together to smooth out a glue fillet.

I could apply the glue with a Q-tip, but trying to get the excess glue cleaned up and out might not be worth the effort.

I like a simple mask!

At 6" from the top end of the body tube the yellow is masked off.

The lower half gets sprayed gloss black.

There are lots of nooks and crannies, the smaller rib fins can block the total coverage of the black paint. Spray the inside edges first, then do the overall black.

Here's the mask line around the square body tube.

If your surfaces are smooth, you'll get a better seal of the tape and sharp mask lines.

This is a Scotch Tape mask, I don't use the expensive Tamiya tape.

 

The edges of the pod tubes got a black edge with a Sharpie pen.

NewWay Angled Invader, Part 14, Last Minute Touch-up and Upper Body Yellow

Every little glue blob, balsa grain and divot shows when paint is applied.

Along the sides of the nose cone detail pieces was a slight open line in the 3D print. A water based CWF filler wouldn't stay in after the model was sealed so I ran some medium CA glue into the crack applied with a toothpick.

This was sanded down to surface.

I followed with a shot of gloss yellow.

I guess I sanded the dried CA glue too much, the gray primer showed through the somewhat transparent yellow.

Another shot of white before a second follow-up yellow coat.

This will be an easy mask.

Yellow first, then a straight roll around mask of the upper body, 6" below the top of the body tube. Notice where the yellow cover stops.

Black to follow in 48 hours.

NewWay Angled Invader, Part 13, White Undercoats

The already painted interiors of the wing pods have to be masked off from the white, then later black paint.

I found a good size is 1 1/8" long pieces. It takes two overlapping pieces to cover the open ends.

I wouldn't go much larger than this. You want the overlap to be small to get good coverage of the black later on. 

Here is the model after the white undercoats.

The yellow plastic nose cone shows through the white paint. It wont matter, that upper section will be yellow anyway.

Even after CWF and filler/primer, these square tubes end up a bit rougher than a standard round tube.

Don't expect the square tubes to finish perfectly smooth.

Sand between white coats before the finish colors.

NewWay Angled Invader, Part 12, Gluing On The Wing Pods

TIP: I have started sanding the fillets before painting the rocket.

Hold the glued area up to a light and you can see the rough areas in the shiny dried glue. These will be seen after the spray paint is applied.

I lightly sand the rough fillets with a piece of 800 grit. Why 800 grit? 400 grit sandpaper can add scratches that will be seen after painting.

On the left is the before, on the right after sanding. (I know it's not the same fillet area, but it does represent what I'm talking about.)

Sand enough to just remove the shine. Your fillets will be smoother when the gloss white undercoats are sprayed.

The pod gluing area needs to be scraped then sanded where the glue joint will be.

Set the pod slot next to the outside wing tab and mark with pencil.

On the right, area between the pencil marks has first been scraped with an old knife blade then sanded with 400.

The picture doesn't show it well, but the gray primer has been taken down to the brown tube for a stronger bond.

Here's the pod in place before fillets.

I don't use a lot of glue for the initial placement. Less glue lets you do small adjustments after it dries. The reinforcement comes with regular glue fillets after everything is in line.

Okay - 

Ready for white undercoats! 

Note the inside of the pods were already brush painted a phosphorescent orange.

NewWay Angled Invader, Part 11, Gluing On The Wings

You can use the smaller jigs for alignment to hold the body and wing in place as the glue dries.

For a tighter fit at the glued root edge - I wanted to apply a light pressure on the slot and tab.

I ran some masking tape from the body tube, over the outside edge of the wing and back down to the other side of the tube.

Sight from the rear and make adjustments with the tape making sure the wing is straight.

Space is tight when trying to apply fillets.

The ribs are close together.

Previously, I only applied glue fillets to the outside joints of the spaning ribs.

Repeat with the wing on the other side and apply fillets.

NewWay Angled Invader, Part 10, Rib Gluing & Nose Cone Details

Set the rib over its position on the wing and mark the glue area with pencil.

Every time I've built an Alien Invader model I applied glue all the way down the root edge out of habit.

Glue is only needed on the upper and lower ends - not in the middle.

Here's how the wings look, ready to be glued onto the main  body tube.

The "H" Assembly Guide helps hold and position side window detail pieces. Be sure the horizontal strut of the nose guide has the two laminated layers.

Before gluing, sand the bottoms of the detail pieces flat.

I did my standard CA method - 

Squeeze out a drop of CA onto some scrap cardboard.

Dip a toothpick into the drop of glue.

Run the wet glued toothpick tip around the outside edges of the detail piece.

 

The screw eye is turned into the hole in the base of the 3D printed nose cone.

It felt too tight and I didn't want to risk cracking the attachment point. I widened the hole with a small rat tail diamond file.

The screw eye has a better fit now.

NewWay Angled Invader, Part 9, Rib Positioning

Here's how the Guide "G" fits onto the wing and helps align the smaller ribs. The tabs set over the sides of the G piece and hold it on the face of the wing. 

This entire post is dry fits - no glue yet.

I found I had to widen the slots for an easier fit of the ribs.

The instructions say the front tip of the ribs are 3/6" back from the leading edge of the wing.

With the rib set all the way back into the slot, the front of the ribs barely overlap the wing.

I checked the older Estes instructions.

The front of the ribs are farther ahead than the above picture shows.

Still no glue - 

I slid the ribs a little forward until the front tip was about at the halfway point. This gave me more gluing area under the "floating" rib.

NewWay Angled Invader, Part 8, Gluing On The Pod Fins & Launch Lugs

I don't use a lot of glue when initially setting on the fins.

Apply a glue line down the root edge, shown on the left.

Run a fingertip down the side edges of the fin leaving a line of glue in the center.

Wipe off your finger and repeat the finger line down the other side.

This refines the glue to the center and evens out the glue line.

Now I can set the fin on the body tube.

Using less glue makes for less "squeeze-out" along the sides of the root edge. After the glue has dried, less initial glue will allow for small readjustments. If you had used too much glue, that misaligned fin could be stuck for good!

After you are satisfied with the fin position, THEN add fillets for more strength.

The Fin Guide "A" is used again to hold the fins at an angle as the glue dries.

The squared dowel is glued onto the pencil lines drawn earlier.

The two launch lugs are glued on the underside of the main body 5" from the low edge of the tube.

Even though I had drawn pencil alignment lines, 

I could still slide the lug guide down the two lugs to check the spacing.

NewWay Angled Invader, Part 7, Sanding The Pod Fins

I went ahead and painted the interior of the pods with Day-Glo orange. It took five brush coats to get full coverage over the sprayed white undercoat.

TIP: You must use a white undercoat when using phosphorescent colors. Day-Glo colors are very translucent.

Here's how the pods and pod fins fit into the A assembly jig for sanding the angle into the root edge of the pod fins.

Sandpaper must be fit around the square tube "pod" to sand the root edge angle.

You are supplied with a good size piece of 220 grit sandpaper.

Cut the paper to 2 3/4" x 3 1/8" for a good fit around the square pod tube.

Here's how the sandpaper sits, rolled around the square tube.

On the right is the underside of the jig showing the ends of the sandpaper taped to hold it tight around the pod tube.

The fin root edges are slid forward and back  against the sandpaper. 

Make two sets of two sanded fins. 

Be sure the two set root edges "mirror" each other.

NewWay Angled Invader, Part 6, Parachute Assembly & CA On The Tube Edges

The New Way kits don't use the regular Avery style adhesive disks to reinforce the parachute tie points.

These are Tyvek, a reinforced paper you can't tear.

Stick one circle under the chute material, centering it under the pre-punched hole.

Soft fold over the other end and center the second circle on the lower circle. Press in place.

There is no adhesive on the inside middle of the fold. The fold stays open and allows a shroud line to be tied on.

  

Directions are supplied for tying on the shroud lines.

I went with my standard Square Knots for attaching the lines. 

This knot seems pretty complicated for a shroud line attachment.

Here you can see the sanded CWF filler in the inside seam of the outside tubes.

The tubes are strong and thick. I still used a wipe of medium CA to harden the edges and keep the fuzzies down after sanding.