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Old 05-06-2006, 11:04 PM
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Tau Zero Tau Zero is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Twin Falls, Idaho, USA
Posts: 2,319
Talking "Tau Zero" Fin Painting Technique

When I first designed my "Tau Zero," I intended for the color scheme to have "Centuri" orange (i.e., Krylon "Pumpkin Orange") fins, with the rest of the rocket painted silver. However, after noticing how the Testors metallic silver paint made all of the finishing imperfections on my Estes Wolverine 1.36X BT-55 upscale "pop out," I decided to forgo (sp.?) silver on this bird.

I masked the fins as described in a previous article in this thread, and here's how they turned out, in the first two pictures below. I sanded the down the edge of the paint where the masking met the body tube with 320 grit, and I discovered that you want to use a *small* piece of sandpaper, instead of the whole sheet. That way, you can avoid noticeable "dings" in your newly finished paint job. (Notice the lower left fin in the first picture. )

The final picture in this series happened when I picked up my camera to move it, and accidentally had the "business end" pointed my direction. So that shot is for Paul Kinzer, who was concerned that people didn't see enough of me.

I call it "Unintentional Self Portrait #1."


Cheers,

--Jay
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