Making Decals...The Easy Way!

Well by this time most of you have already heard the news about Semroc. Unfortunately, due to Carl's untimely passing and his son Bruce's serious health concerns the company cannot continue. This is a huge blow to the rocket community, but we should be remember to keep the McLawhorn family in our prayers. They are truly wonderful people who have given a lot to help the hobby.

Semroc's specialty, of course, was clones. They had the best selection of old Estes and Centuri (not to mention FSI) designs anywhere. They had their own designs as well, but it was the clones that really made them shine. Now, the average rocketeer has to go back to cloning many of these models himself. There are sites to help in this endeavor. Jimz http://www.spacemodeling.org/JimZ/index.htm has a ton of plans, as does Ye Old Rocket Plans http://plans.rocketshoppe.com/ . Decals can be found at sites such as Excelsior Rockets http://www.excelsiorrocketry.com/ or Tango Papa http://www.tangopapadecals.com/ . There is also the option of making your decals yourself, which is what I am going to cover in this post!

Making decals is actually very easy and anyone who has an inkjet printer can do it. The first step is selecting your decal paper. I always use Testors Decal Paper because you can pick it up at Hobby Lobby and use your 40% off coupon. You need to make sure you get the correct kind for the decals you are making, since it comes in both transparent and white backgrounds.

 

You will also need some Testors Decal Sealer. They sell it in a "kit" that includes three sheets of paper. It costs about as much as a standard packet of decal paper.

 

Once you have your supplies, you simply pick out the image you wish to make a decal out of (thank you interwebs!) and save it to your computer. You can make all of your adjustments on size, etc, by printing it out on standard paper until you get it just right. You are then ready to make the actual decal.

 

I have a little trick for this step. I print a copy of what I want to make into a decal on standard paper. Then, I cut out a piece of decal paper the size of that image (with a little overlap on the edges) and use Scotch Tape to secure it over the image on the regular paper. I then feed the regular paper (with the decal paper taped to it) through the printer again and let the printer print on the decal paper. This does two things. First, it makes sure that the image goes exactly where you want it to on the decal paper, and second it means you save decal paper (it isn't extremely expensive, but it ain't cheap either)

 

I then leave the decal taped on the standard paper when I spray it with the decal sealer. The sealer prevents the decal ink from floating away in your bowl of water when you go to apply it. Make sure that you cover the decal with a good coat, but not so much as to soak it, since it will make the ink run if you use too much.

 

When it has dried, carefully CUT it off of the standard paper. Don't just try to pull the tape off, as it will pull the film off of the paper! Then you can apply it just like a standard waterslide decal!

 

Just a side note: the instructions say that the paper is for inkjet ONLY, but I have used a laser printer on black-only decals and never had a problem. Just know that it isn't recommended...for some reason...

The Scamp decals were made on a laser printer

So there you have it. If you still want clones, you can have them...but it will take a little more work. Still, it's fun work and isn't that what a hobby is all about?

 

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

 



The Mad Magician of Red River

Welcome to another edition of STB!

This week, I'm going to focus on a project that took me about four years to complete, The Red River Rocketry Merlin!

As I said, I got the Merlin about four years ago and started dreaming. John Dyer, the owner of Red River Rocketry, has always teased me because he says I can never build any of his kits stock. Actually, that's not true. I build them completely stock, I just finish them with my own.....personality. And, to be fair, it's not just John's kits that I "tweak." Bad Kitty, Guard Duck, Big Bad Betty all started out as perfectly stock LOC and Quest kits. Now, they just sport a little different paint scheme. Sometimes it takes me a while to figure out exactly what I want to do. Sometimes it takes four years!

With the Merlin, I liked the name, so that would stay. I wanted to do a little different spin on the idea, though. I dipped into my love of Disney and referenced the movie, "The Sword in the Stone" from 1963. One of the main characters is, of course, Merlin! Therefore, the Disney Merlin would have to go on this rocket. I accomplished this by using my old favorite Testors Decal Paper and my Canon color printer. While I was at it, I also made a "Disney" logo for one fin.

For the paint scheme, I wanted something "magic." I decided to use my airbrush and my (somewhat limited) airbrushing skills, and do a "lightning bolt through the clouds" idea. I started by painting the whole model gloss white with a rattle can, and then I applied blue to the nose to simulate clouds. I then sprayed gold on the very tip for the lightning.

I also used all the decals that came with the kit (a "Merlin" logo, gold foil, and a Red River logo) and hit the whole thing with crystal clear. The result is:

The Merlin!

Now I just have to get up the nerve to fly her! I looked in my range box and found a G80-10. Just sitting there....waiting.....tempting....

Well, we'll see what happens!

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

A Safety Tip...

It may not seem like it, but soon the cold weather is going to go away, and the spring will be upon us full force. Today I am going to cover something that many people don't think of while out on the ol' rocket range.... Spray. Not just any spray, BUG spray.

You see, last summer I wandered in to the weeds next to some trees and began to itch. A lot. When I got home, this is what I found:



Ow

Chiggers ate me alive.  Needless to say, I was NOT happy. They itched for a couple of weeks and actually ended up looking worse than the picture.

So, a word to the wise. If you are in Texas, in the summer, in the weeds SPRAY YOUR FEET!

Until then, fly 'em fast and high!

An Old Sky-Hound Makes Good

In 1980 I purchased an Estes Maxi Icarus at Toys By Roy in Town East Mall. As I recall, I also purchased an FSI Echo 1 and some FSI engines (ah, those were the days). Anyway, for whatever reason, the Estes Maxi Icarus has proven to be a true survivor. Along the way, she has received more bumps and bruises that an NFL lineman, and after a while those scars became badges of honor. Instead of trying to hide them, I pointed them out. Also, somewhere along the way, the motor mount came loose. Instead of simply gluing it back, I installed a 3X18mm cluster and renamed her "Frankenstein."

Now, flashing forward 34 years from her purchase date, I found myself in need of a C engine super-roc for Megalaunch 14. I really didn't have time to build anything, so on the Saturday night before the Sunday flight day, I had a weird idea. Why not Frankenstein? A 3XA cluster would equal a C, after all. Upon measuring her, I found that she was about three inches too short. An old, crashed Mini-Bertha gave up three inches of its body tube, and Frankenstein 2 was born!

Well, long story short (I know..too late) I got third place! Granted there were only three competitors that had qualified flights, but still...  Therefore in celebration of this venerable old workhorse, I present the Estes Maxi-Icarus/ Frankenstein/ Frankenstein 2!

The triumphant third place flight!

Fly 'em fast and high!

Sport Scale Detailing Notes

Well, Megalaunch went off last weekend with hardly a hitch! Therefore, I can now show you Sam Barone's very cool V-2 and give you the notes that he sent me. He used Rockets of the World to add details to the model. He would have done much better in the competition, but he was unable to come Sunday to fly.

A wee paper cap to get a pointy-er V2 profile

Scribed lines around the nose to simulate the warhead and radio telemetry sections



A thin piece of trim tape to highlight the fin can joint



Scribed lines defining the fin tip ailerons the fin fairings housing the aileron gear and chain drive

I built up the fin filets with lightweight spackle and CA

Fly 'em fast and High!



Prepackaged Upscale!

Hello and welcome to another STB!

I was going to run  some really cool pictures and text by Sam Barone this week, but I don't want to let the cat out of the bag on his sport scale entry before Megalaunch, so I moved that to next week (hopefully AFTER the contest!)

So, this week the cat gets released on my entry into this past year's Classic. Since its already happened, there won't be any surprises whatsoever! So, everyone please feel free to doze back off...

For this Classic I wanted to do something a little different for Upscale. Since the theme was Sci-Fi, it needed to be something from a TV show or movie. I decided on the Colonial Viper! Actually, I have a confession to make. The decision wasn't all that hard. It was pretty much made for me when I stumbled across More Rockets . This small, relatively unknown company makes some pretty cool clones and one upscale...the Super Viper. I plunked down my birthday money and soon it was in my hot little hands!

The kit went together amazingly well. The only issues I had were that the decals were very slightly off and needed trimming. It came with two premade plastic chutes, but I used a nylon one instead. All in all, I was really pleased with how it came out.

The finished model!

After many tries to light an uncooperative E30 reload, I borrowed a D12-3 and she took to the air!

Finally!

She had a little damage upon landing, but CA took care of that with no problem. I was surprised (and completely thrilled) when I found out that she won the whole enchilada! (and a completely cool Sirius Rocketry Eradicator!!!)

So, I guess the point is that my gamble with a rocket company that I had never heard of paid off. It looks like they have some other cool models that I might try (although the Viper is the only upscale). I'm leaning toward the Scorpius....

I hope to see everyone out at MEGALAUNCH 14!!!

 Until next time, Fly 'em safe and high

Scale Scribblings...Phase Two, in which Doris gets her oats....

Ok, ignore the title to this post, I was having a "Let It Be" moment.

Anyway, last week I talked about Peter Alway's book "Rockets of the World" and explained how it can be a big help in getting that sometimes elusive documentation. But what about actually building the model? Who the heck is gonna help me with that? Huh? Huh???

Peter Alway, that's who! In 1994 he published "The Art of Scale Model Rocketry."

 I picked mine up and they same time I got my copy of ROW. (He signed it too, by the way) and while I haven't used it quite as much as his other book, I still find it a fantastic resource. The book covers all aspects of scale modeling, including selecting the prototype, deciding on what scale to use, making it stable, and specialized construction techniques and finishing. He even gives hints on flying the event and includes plans and scale data for 13 different scale models!


The Table of Contents

.

An Example of the Data and Plans

Unfortunately, unlike "Rockets of the World," "The Art of Scale Model Rocketry" is no longer in print. I have heard (although not first hand) that Mr. Alway feels that some of the information is dated and also that the information for the book is saved in file formats that are no longer supported, so to update it and reprint it would involve pretty much starting from scratch. Still, the most important parts are certainly not out of date, so I would hope it could be reprinted in the future.

In the meantime, copies can be found on Amazon (for HIGH prices!) and sometimes on Ebay.

So, until next time, fly 'em fast and high!