I was sitting here sanding and trying to think of an excuse to stop and this question popped into my head. This refers to any body tube and nosecone combination where the cone is permanently attached such as pods on a Centuri Taurus or Orion. I don't reckon there's a poll feature enabled here so I'll just ask straight up.

Do you prefer to glue nosecones in tubes and finish the whole thing as one unit, then mask and paint, or do you finish and paint the tube and nosecone separately then glue nosecones in?

The easy way is to paint them separately, but it leaves a big seam. The harder way is to finish together, then mask and paint. This eliminates the big seam and makes the pod look like a one-piece spun aluminum or composite tank.

I've done it both ways in the past, so I was just wondering if you guys deem it worthy of the extra effort to eliminate the seam. Ok....In reality, I was just procrastinating on this dadgum sanding.

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I love sanding.

If they're the same color I fill the seam.
If they're are different colors I do the separately.

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Tony Vincent
NAR # 45082 L1
CMASS, MMMSC Member

That's generally how I do it once I finally get around to sanding.

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I love sanding.

+1 to what tonypv stated

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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, TURMOIL, FIASCOS, and HAVOC !

Regardless of number of colors, I prefer to glue, fill seam/sand, then paint. Only exception would be a case such as the Orion, where the masking is not very easy. Trying to spray the cones red after they're bonded to the pods (and pods, presumably to main tube) wouldn't leave enough room to spray the inside, and the yellow bands around the pods go just beyond the support brace, so masking for that is a paint as well. I painted pod tubes offline, as well as cones, then bonded cones to pod tubes, pod tubes to supports, then supports to the main tube.

I'm glad you mentioned the yellow bands. I just now looked at the SEMROC Orion decal sheet. I assumed they were decals, but it looks like I'll need to mask and paint them if I decide that I want them on my model.

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I love sanding.