I have been busy this summer with traveling and spending time with the family, so building has fallen by the waist side. I was visiting some family up north and found a Estes Rocket Launcher in their garage but no rocket. So when we were in town I stopped off by the local hobby store to buy a RTF rocket, but instead decided to buy a kit. Well I did not bring any building supplies, but heck what do you need to build a rocket? We already had white glue, scissors and a knife, all I needed was a rocket and paint. I bought the Vector Force but they had no balsa sealer, oh well I will just use primer. Off to the auto store for a new hose for the car and some paint for my rocket. I bought Primer, Old Krylon Pumpkin Orange and Lacquer Gloss black. The build was easy and fast and had it built in one day. The next day I shot three coats of primer and let it dry with sanding in between. The next day I sanded the primer down and sprayed a couple of more coats of primer. The next day I sanded that down and I was amazed how smooth the finish was with no balsa sealer. I then sprayed on my top coat and just like that I was done. Normally I use Aerogloss balsa sealer and apply 3 to 4 coats followed by sanding. Then I spray 2 to 3 coats of primer with sanding. So as you can see with balsa sealer I am sanding 6 times vs 2 times with only using primer. Now I have to contribute this to the quality of wood Estes is now supplying in the kits, I don't know if the primer method would work with soft porous grainy balsa. The weight was no bad at all since I was sanding most of the primer off and the final weight is 2.5 oz and the package says it should weigh 2.6 oz. Any way I flew her a couple of times and she flies great. The only issue is the China decals. They go on ok, but since I did not have Microscale products I just put them on like the directions said. Well the edges began to lift slightly and after a couple of flights, the clear coat came off. Any way I wiped her down and took as many close ups of the finish so you can judge yourself on how well the primer only method works. Sorry about the lint on the rocket.

Nice finish on the VF. EStes decals are on the thick side, certainly not Cartograf quality but ok for rockets.

Wow, it looks great! Much better than my humble Vector Force.

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NAR 91107, Level 2

Paint is the devil.

That looks fantastic Scigs!
I quit using aerogloss filler and sealers years ago, as I felt they were too labor-intensive, just as you have discovered. I use Sherwin Williams lacquer-based auto primer; it dries in an hour and sands to a powder. I just brush it on. Spray primer, one or two coats, light sand (or even a wet-sand), then color coat(s).
One would be hard-pressed to have better results with more work.
Your fillets look super, BTW!

Allen

I am still optimistic of how well this will work with the older Vintage Kits I have since the balsa is softer and more porous. Also will be interesting to see how well it works on a more complicated build. I may move this topic over to techniques to see what others think.