Dr. Zooch - Vostok Build - FINISHED!

[luke strawwalker]

Dangit!! Where the hell were you this afternoon while I was putting the CA on???

It's dried and painted the lighter colored Gray now, so too late to do anything about it. I had to sand off the tops of the Vs and was putting a bit of pressure on them to do so, so I'm not at all worried about the strength of the glue. They're not going anywhere unless the rocket is completely destroyed.

I'm about to glue the silver nozzle onto the bottom of the capsule, paint the inside of it copper, then glue the tops of the Vs to the bottom of the capsule (around the nozzle).

Sorry... if in doubt... ASK!!! LOL

Can't be on here 24/7...

It'll be fine... but now ya know for next time...

Besides, there's more than one way to skin a cat... who knows-- maybe cyanoacrylate will polymerize with polyvinyl acetate (white glue) to make some super-uber mondo-strong concoction... (I doubt it but hey I don't mind being proven wrong occassionally... LOL)

Later! OL JR

 

[luke strawwalker]

And when a chunk fell off and hit Columbia's wing at a few hundred miles an hour it seald it's fate.

Yep... just finished reading Jay Barbree's book "Live from Cape Canaveral"... good read... the only man present for every single manned space launch NASA ever performed...

In his chapter on Columbia, he gives more details than I've read previously... it was the "ice frost ramp" that broke off-- a considerably thicker area of foam right in front of the bipod, the inverted "V" that attached the orbiter's nose to the shuttle ET... the briefcase size chunk of foam that broke off, estimated to weigh about 1.6 pounds, hit the left wing leading edge reinforced carbon/carbon panel (RCC panel) at about 500 mph... It had been a problem that was well known, and several shuttles had returned with tile damage and missing tiles, in some cases bad enough that holes were burned through the underlying sheet aluminum "skin" of the orbiter to which the tiles were bonded. The significance of the problem had been minimized and the problem "downplayed" to one of "extra maintainence on return" rather than a risk of loss of vehicle. Truth was, the previous shuttle missions had been lucky not to suffer a life-threatening foam impact, and similarly Columbia was unlucky... but if it hadn't been Columbia it would likely have been some other shuttle before the program ended, ESPECIALLY since ALL space planning in NASA and Congress for the forseeable future prior to Columbia's loss involved flying the shuttles for AT LEAST another TWENTY YEARS...

It was basically playing Russian roulette... may only be one bullet in the cylinder and you can spin the cylinder and have a 5/6 chance of nothing happening... BUT, if you keep trying it, sooner or later a bad thing is gonna happen...

NASA and/or the CAIB board, after careful study, determined that there was a 50/50 chance of losing another shuttle before it's planned retirement in 2010... (which as we know stretched out into 2011). Those aren't good odds... which is why shuttle was retired...

Later! OL JR

 

[Mushtang]

It causes the moisture in the air to freeze to the sides of the rocket on the LOX tank...

Oh, THAT frosting. I knew what the snowstorm of falling ice was, I thought you meant something in the paint scheme of the original Vostok. A highlight near the bottom or something.

Sorry.

 

[luke strawwalker]

Oh, THAT frosting. I knew what the snowstorm of falling ice was, I thought you meant something in the paint scheme of the original Vostok. A highlight near the bottom or something.

Sorry.

No prob... never know exactly how much folks know...

Some people hear "frosting" and think "why would you put CAKE ICING on a rocket?" LOL

Later! OL JR

 

[gdjsky01]

Yep... just finished reading Jay Barbree's book "Live from Cape Canaveral"... good read... the only man present for every single manned space launch NASA ever performed...

It gets some decidedly MIXED (and justifiably so) reviews.

 

[Mushtang]

With the boosters primed, painted, and glued onto the main rocket it is time to glue on the fins.

I prepped each fin by painting on a watered down mix of Carpenters Wood Filler and sanding them smooth (I did this to the balsa sheet before cutting anything out) and then coating each fin with CA per the instructions. They seem pretty strong now that the CA glue is dried.

To mark the position of the fins I attempted to use the provided template which I opted against when positioning the boosters. I laid the template on the side of a large roll of painter's tape after cutting a hole for the engine clip, and did my best to align all the boosters to the circles and fin alignment lines. It was a pretty decent fit, I wasn't unhappy with how the boosters ended up. I then made a pencil mark on the boosters where the fins would mount and using a straight edge I drew a line from the bottom of each booster straight up to the first strap. The fins were going to overlap the bands slightly so I sanded a small notch on each fin tip.

In order to get a good connection onto the booster I decided to sand off the paint and primer and get down to the paper. This removed my pencil lines but I still had the tic marks at the bottoms and at the bands so I would be able to align the fins with those.

Here is the booster after sanding to the paper.


When I glued on the fins and sighted up to the tips of the boosters and rocket I ended up making a few adjustments anyway, so I'm not sure how useful the alignment guide turned out to be. I used the double glue method, and have put on 2 fillets of glue. Later tonight I'll spray the fins with primer, sand them, and paint the entire rocket EURO GRAY again.

 

[Mushtang]

After the glue dried on the V shapes it was time to paint them. I masked off the balsa plug and taped the whole thing to the end of a long dowel and headed to my paint booth (I wish, I actually do all my painting in my unfinished basement and carry it back upstairs to dry) to spray Sea Gray.

A couple of coats, and I am done with the $5 can of Sea Gray paint. Being color blind I can't see a difference between this color and the primer I've been spraying on everything. Maybe I could have saved some money.



After that I masked the capsule and primed then painted the bottom silver. The engine bell was formed from the template and the outside was also painted silver. This engine bell didn't have an opening in the small end like the ones on the boosters do, it's rolled to a point, so I cut a slight dent into the balsa plug right in the middle, giving the glue more surface area to cling to.



Then the engine bell was glued in place. Because I'd already glued the nose cone to the top of the capsule I had to set the capsule upside down into the alignment sleeve from step 2 and 16 so that the engine bell wouldn't fall over before the glue dried. Once the glue dried, I brushed the inside of the bell with copper paint. It looked really great.



Finally, after sanding the tops of the Vs a little more flat, I glued the Vs to the bottom of the capsule. The nice looking copper bell is fairly hidden inside the support structure, but you and I will know how cool it looks. After the glue dried I used a sliver of balsa to put a couple of drops of additional glue onto the Vs at the capsule, and let those dry again. That part is now finished!!

 

[Daddyisabar]

No prob... never know exactly how much folks know...

Some people hear "frosting" and think "why would you put CAKE ICING on a rocket?" LOL

Later! OL JR

With some of the paint jobs I have seen on rockets cake icing might have looked, tasted and performed better.

 

[Daddyisabar]

With the boosters primed, painted, and glued onto the main rocket it is time to glue on the fins.

I prepped each fin by painting on a watered down mix of Carpenters Wood Filler and sanding them smooth (I did this to the balsa sheet before cutting anything out) and then coating each fin with CA per the instructions. They seem pretty strong now that the CA glue is dried.

To mark the position of the fins I attempted to use the provided template which I opted against when positioning the boosters. I laid the template on the side of a large roll of painter's tape after cutting a hole for the engine clip, and did my best to align all the boosters to the circles and fin alignment lines. It was a pretty decent fit, I wasn't unhappy with how the boosters ended up. I then made a pencil mark on the boosters where the fins would mount and using a straight edge I drew a line from the bottom of each booster straight up to the first strap. The fins were going to overlap the bands slightly so I sanded a small notch on each fin tip.

In order to get a good connection onto the booster I decided to sand off the paint and primer and get down to the paper. This removed my pencil lines but I still had the tic marks at the bottoms and at the bands so I would be able to align the fins with those.

Here is the booster after sanding to the paper.
View attachment 70982

When I glued on the fins and sighted up to the tips of the boosters and rocket I ended up making a few adjustments anyway, so I'm not sure how useful the alignment guide turned out to be. I used the double glue method, and have put on 2 fillets of glue. Later tonight I'll spray the fins with primer, sand them, and paint the entire rocket EURO GRAY again.

The art of getting the fins on an R-7 requires some good olde eyeball alignment. Before you put your final coat of paint on you can get a very smooth surface by giving the boosters a rub down with fine steel wool.

 

[Daddyisabar]

No prob... never know exactly how much folks know...

Some people hear "frosting" and think "why would you put CAKE ICING on a rocket?" LOL

Later! OL JR

Then again a real pro would just paint it all Green and then put on a very light glazing of powdered sugar over the tanks which would all flake off at launch, thus simulating scale ice and piling up Big Flight points to win the scale competition.

 

[luke strawwalker]

It gets some decidedly MIXED (and justifiably so) reviews.

Yeah, I noticed some inaccuracies myself... and let's face it, as a "reporter", "journalist", or whatever moniker one chooses to use, Barbree is a storyteller, so I wouldn't expect complete accuracy like a historical account...

Got a link to some of the reviews you mentioned?? I'd like to compare notes...

Later! OL JR

 

[luke strawwalker]

Wow it's looking REALLY GOOD so far, mushtang!

KUTGW!!! OL JR

 

[Astro-Baby]

Great thread Mushtang - and I will blame you for buying the Fliskits Bloodhound if it all goes wrong

 

[Mushtang]

The fins got three coats of glue on the fillets and then painted them with a coat of primer, followed by a coat of EURO GRAY. I only put one coat of paint on the main body before the boosters, knowing I'd be spraying a lot more later:

I sprayed the main body and boosters before gluing them together.
I sprayed them with another coat after the booster glue fillets had dried.
I sprayed another coat after the fin fillets dried.
And I'll spray another coat after the launch lugs are dry.

So I'm not worried about getting enough EURO GRAY on the rocket.

I do, however, have to be sure I get completely done with ALL of the EURO GRAY before I start gluing the engine bells to the bottom of the boosters. Once those are on I don't want to have to mask over them and risk spraying again. The plan is that after the launch lugs are sprayed I'll be done with the gray.

When the primer coat over the fins dried it was crackled and I was a little upset thinking I was about to have more paint issues!! But a little sanding and I forged ahead. The coat of EURO I put on over the primer covered all the crackling and I can't tell there was even an issue. Crisis averted!

Here's a slightly out of focus picture of a couple of the painted fins.

 

[foamy]

Mushtang, your build is coming along nicely and has served (along with a couple of other build threads) to pique my interest in Dr. Zooch kits. Looking forward to the next installments.

Oh, and did you find or figure out what was causing the crazing?

 

[Mushtang]

The launch lugs came as one piece that I had to cut in half. Easy peasy. Fortunately I've started holding onto all scrap from the build until I'm done so when the instructions said to use the scrap balsa for something I actually had it handy!

I cut two thin strips a little shorter than the lug and glued them together. When they dried I sanded the sides smooth so it looked like a tall chunk of balsa instead of two pieces. This was unnecessary because the rear launch lug will be attached on top of this piece, in between two boosters, and it will never be seen. However, that's no reason not to do it right either. Having said that, I'll admit that I didn't fill the seam on the launch lug, but only because I didn't think about it sooner.

Before I glued the lug to the balsa piece I wrapped some sand paper around the lug and lightly sanded the top of the balsa piece into a curve that would match the lug surface to give it a better connection. I'll do a similar thing to the bottom before I glue it in place.

Once the lug was glued to the balsa, and a couple of fillets were added and dried, it was ready for painting.



I painted the small piece the same way I painted the engine bells earlier. I taped a piece of tape upside down and stuck it in place. Otherwise the spray would blow this light weight thing right over. One coat was enough since there would be another coat sprayed when it's in place in between the boosters.



The other piece of launch lug just gets glued to the rocket body as usual. The trick will be to get both lugs lined up. This shouldn't be too hard, I think sighting through one and looking at the other usually works, but I'll test it with a rod before the second lug sets up completely. When gluing the upper lug I had to slightly reposition it a few times until I was satisfied it was in the right place, and then I added a fillet.

I'm going to avoid fillet bubbles on this lug if it kills me. The secret, according to those in the know, is to put on coat after coat of fillet and it will finally fill in all the holes and no longer bubble. There are 3 coats on the lug as of this writing. When I get home tonight I expect to do at least one more, but I'll do 10 more if that's what it takes. Here is coat number 2 after just being applied.

 

[Mushtang]

Mushtang, your build is coming along nicely and has served (along with a couple of other build threads) to pique my interest in Dr. Zooch kits. Looking forward to the next installments.

Oh, and did you find or figure out what was causing the crazing?

Awesome!! Dr. Zooch said that for every 1,000 people that give this thread credit for them buying a kit, he'll give me one kit free. So that's one down, 999 to go.

Crazing? If you're asking what caused the primer to crackle, I have no idea. Luckily sanding it and putting another coat of paint over it covered it up this time. In the past it hasn't. I don't think anyone will know what causes this randomly.

 

[Mushtang]

While waiting on the lug fillet to dry I decided to get the parachute ready. It's a small garbage bag chute and the string is shipped separately. I got to cut and tie the strings myself. Yippie!



The kit came with 8 stickers, round with a hole in the middle, to serve as reinforcement rings on the parachute, to keep the string from ripping right through the bag. The string ties at 6 places so there are only enough to cover one side of the plastic. I haven't flown these enough to know how much reinforcement is needed, but I sure would feel better if I had 12 rings and could have reinforced both sides of the plastic.

Once again I took a tip from Chris Michielssen's blog and used my hobby knife to pick up and place the reinforcement stickers. This keeps all the finger oil off the stickers and helps them to last longer. I then tied all the strings to the rings and added a bit of glue to the knots. I'll clip the extra string end close to the glue once the glue is dry.



Next I took the small eyelet from the small bag of parts and screwed it into the bottom of the capsule piece.

I'm VERY close to being done with this rocket. As soon as the lug fillets are filled with no bubbles I can paint the rocket with the final coat of EURO GRAY. After that I just glue on the silver engine bells, paint copper on the insides, and tie the parachute on with the elastic. Maybe I'll be done tonight?

 

[hammer]

Your rocket looks good.

 

[hcmbanjo]

Before I glued the lug to the balsa piece I wrapped some sand paper around the lug and lightly sanded the top of the balsa piece into a curve that would match the lug surface to give it a better connection. I'll do a similar thing to the bottom before I glue it in place.

Wow - now your talking! That really helps with the fit, you have to watch it. Don't sand down too far so it lowers the lug on standoff. Sometimes you need the height for clearance on the rod.

I'm going to avoid fillet bubbles on this lug if it kills me. The secret, according to those in the know, is to put on coat after coat of fillet and it will finally fill in all the holes and no longer bubble. There are 3 coats on the lug as of this writing. When I get home tonight I expect to do at least one more, but I'll do 10 more if that's what it takes. Here is coat number 2 after just being applied.

I'll bet it only took four applications to fill the bubbles. Each fillet takes less time to dry than the one before it.

Your Vostok is looking great!

 

[luke strawwalker]

I'm going to avoid fillet bubbles on this lug if it kills me. The secret, according to those in the know, is to put on coat after coat of fillet and it will finally fill in all the holes and no longer bubble. There are 3 coats on the lug as of this writing. When I get home tonight I expect to do at least one more, but I'll do 10 more if that's what it takes. Here is coat number 2 after just being applied.

OR, you can just pick up a bottle of Titebond Moulding and Trim Glue at the indoor lumberyard next time you're in the area... the stuff it a thicker version of white or wood glue (I think the bottle refers to it as a wood glue now, even though it says PVA is an ingredient-- PVA is white glue, whereas yellow wood glue is "aliphatic resin"). The stuff goes on smoothly like white or wood glue, smooths out beautifully with a damp finger, dries clear and smooth, with virtually NO shrinkage, and is as strong as any other glue. Also, being thick, it stays where you put it... no running, no drips, no sagging, and NO PINHOLES!

I swear by this stuff... best thing since sliced bread! OL JR

 

[Mushtang]

Don't sand down too far so it lowers the lug on standoff. Sometimes you need the height for clearance on the rod.

Exactly! The sanding was minimal, and I dry fitted it between the boosters several times to check for height and clearance before painting it. We're still Go on that Flight.

I'll bet it only took four applications to fill the bubbles. Each fillet takes less time to dry than the one before it.

I was thinking about this tip about it taking less time. As long as I wipe the fillet to approx the same curve that will be true - and that's exactly what I'm doing. Eventually the only glue left after the wipe is the glue filling in the shrinkage holes. But some folks might try putting on a thick fillet each time, which would take a LOT more applications and would probably end up looking really bad.

Your Vostok is looking great!

Thanks! That means a lot. Maybe when I'm completely finished I'll take a few pictures from the angles I've avoided so far and show off the mistakes I've made.

Nah.

 

[Mushtang]

OR, you can just pick up a bottle of Titebond Moulding and Trim Glue at the indoor lumberyard next time you're in the area... the stuff it a thicker version of white or wood glue (I think the bottle refers to it as a wood glue now, even though it says PVA is an ingredient-- PVA is white glue, whereas yellow wood glue is "aliphatic resin"). The stuff goes on smoothly like white or wood glue, smooths out beautifully with a damp finger, dries clear and smooth, with virtually NO shrinkage, and is as strong as any other glue. Also, being thick, it stays where you put it... no running, no drips, no sagging, and NO PINHOLES!
View attachment 71155
I swear by this stuff... best thing since sliced bread! OL JR

That's the kind of wood glue I have in my garage on my workbench!! Hmmm... the next rocket I build will be getting that stuff on the lug to test it. I really want to see how many layers of white glue it takes to get a bubble free fillet this time.

 

[RocketManDan]

While waiting on the lug fillet to dry I decided to get the parachute ready. It's a small garbage bag chute and the string is shipped separately. I got to cut and tie the strings myself. Yippie!

View attachment 71137

The kit came with 8 stickers, round with a hole in the middle, to serve as reinforcement rings on the parachute, to keep the string from ripping right through the bag. The string ties at 6 places so there are only enough to cover one side of the plastic. I haven't flown these enough to know how much reinforcement is needed, but I sure would feel better if I had 12 rings and could have reinforced both sides of the plastic.

Once again I took a tip from Chris Michielssen's blog and used my hobby knife to pick up and place the reinforcement stickers. This keeps all the finger oil off the stickers and helps them to last longer. I then tied all the strings to the rings and added a bit of glue to the knots. I'll clip the extra string end close to the glue once the glue is dry.

View attachment 71138

Next I took the small eyelet from the small bag of parts and screwed it into the bottom of the capsule piece.

I'm VERY close to being done with this rocket. As soon as the lug fillets are filled with no bubbles I can paint the rocket with the final coat of EURO GRAY. After that I just glue on the silver engine bells, paint copper on the insides, and tie the parachute on with the elastic. Maybe I'll be done tonight?

What I found out when stringing up plastic chutes is not to let the knot cinch down against the reinforcement ring or chute. You want to have a small loop with a knot. If you look at a lot of manufactured parachutes they do the same thing. The hard part is getting that loop the perfect size. I tie a knot around a pencil and then tie another...a double knot. I slide the pencil out and I have a perfect loop that isn't touching the reinforcement ring or chute.

 

[luke strawwalker]

I prefer surgeon's knots on the shroud line loops... they hold well... (google knots).

Another trick... grab one of those goofy "clothepin" clothes hangars that are often used to hold pants in the store (plastic bar across the top, with a wire hook for the hangar in the middle, and a foot or so long thick wire across the plastic bar underneath it, with a couple plastic or metal "clothespin" looking things attached to the long wire, used to clip pants to hang up by the waistband.)

Take one of these hangars and bust the plastic top to remove the wire, and slide the clip parts off the wire... now you have a roughly foot long "launch rod" that you can use to align launch lugs when you install them on rockets, and make sure they are aligned properly and also check any clearance issues...

Later! OL JR

 

[Mushtang]

After putting on 4 coats of white glue and letting them dry, I think I got a good set of fillets on my launch lug. But I put on a 5th one to be sure. I never popped a bubble with a toothpick or did anything other than smear the glue with my finger. Now I know. Next rocket I might try the other brand of glue suggested and see what it does.

Here's the finished lug, painted.


While waiting for the final layer of glue to dry I tied up the elastic band that came with the kit to the parachute and nose cone section. I'll wait until I'm completely done to put the final knot into the project and tie this all to the Kevlar shock cord. The picture is out of focus, but that's okay because this isn't a very exciting picture to see anyway. After tying each knot I put some glue on it to keep it from untying, and cut the excess.


When I was done with this, the glue on the lug was dried and I was able to put the final coat of paint on it. And as soon as that paint dried I was finally able to turn the rocket over and glue the silver engine bells onto the bottoms of the boosters!!

 

[Mushtang]

Finally, I get to glue on the stinking engine bells!!! I've been looking forward to this for a week. I knew that this would be a huge step towards making this model look correct, and I also knew it would be tricky. I had no idea how tricky. Before gluing anything I decided to dry fit a set of 4 bells onto the bottom of a booster to get an idea of how they'd fit and how close to the instruction's pattern I could get.

Here is a picture of one set of dry fitted bells on the booster.


The good news is that the pattern works, the 4 bells were off center of the booster, towards the center of the rocket, and the hole I made in the bottom of the booster would be well hidden. The bad news is that these bells are so lightweight that they wouldn't easily lay flat and stay in position. As I was pushing them around to position them and try to line up the group correctly they were moving too far, or not far enough, the group would be misaligned (a diamond pattern instead of a square), etc. My first thought was that when I was doing this with glue on the bottom of the bells they'd stay in place a little easier so it probably wasn't as difficult as dry fitting them. But my second thought was even with the glue helping, there would be NO way for me to get all 4 boosters to look the same. Some would be out of alignment, or tilted off the balsa plug, etc.

I set the pieces down and went to fly my helicopter and think about it. Whenever I rush into something that I think will go badly, I'm always right. That was a good idea because while flying the copter I thought of a better way to try and glue the bells in place.

First I put a *tiny* dab of glue on the silver edge of one of the bells. To keep from putting too much I cut a sliver from the balsa sheet scrap and dipped the end into a puddle of glue. Then I did this to a second bell.


I put them both down on my cutting board and pushed the glue spots into each other and repeated this with another pair of bells.


Each time I glued up a pair of bells I pushed the previous pairs around just a little to make sure I didn't glue any of the bells to the cutting board. Eventually I had 8 pairs of bells glued together at the rims, and drying with their largest openings in the same plane. I kept returning to push the bells around slightly a couple more times but I don't think it would have mattered. After the first few moves I don't think the glue was runny enough to reach the cutting board.


When all the glue had dried (I gave them a half hour to be sure) I used the balsa sliver again to put two more dabs of glue onto each pair of bells, and glued them all in sets of 4. As I pushed them together I paid close attention to the shape of the space in between the bells. If the bells weren't squared then the shape would show it. When I was satisfied they were all in the right place I let them dry. As with the pairs, I'd push these around on the board to make sure they didn't glue to the board, and it's a good thing I did this because one set was definitely on the way. It broke free with a little more pushing and wasn't a problem anymore.

 

[Mushtang]

When the quads of bells were dried I now had a single piece to glue onto the bottoms of each booster instead of 4 pieces, and this was SO much easier to position and keep everything level. Because of how little glue I used to glue the bells together they were very fragile, so I had to be careful putting glue onto them. I broke a few of the glue joints but it was okay, it still worked fine.

To glue each quad in place I first dipped the small end of each bell into a puddle of glue to get plenty of glue on the edges. Because the big openings were more or less in the same plane, the smaller openings that would get glued to the booster were not quite as planar. That is okay, because the big openings are the ones that show. So I wanted plenty of glue on the smaller openings to give the best connection.



After each quad was given a few minutes to set up, I put a big drop of white glue into the bell, which made double sure the small ends would have a strong connection to the bottoms of the boosters. I left it standing on the table and let it dry overnight.



It worked GREAT! This morning when I checked on them the bells were all securely glued to the boosters, they're all in line and positioned great, all 4 boosters look the same, etc. I was VERY happy with the results. You can also see a plate of bacon and eggs in the background of this picture. Ha!



The next step will be for me to paint the inside of each bell with copper brush on paint like I did to the bell under the capsule. This will really make these bells look awesome!



After that I'll tie the Kevlar shock cord to the elastic band and be done.

 

[Massrokit]

Nice tip with the engine bells. I'll use that when I get to my kit. Thanks

 

[thobin]

Great job. I been enjoing this build. Thanks for sharing.

TA