Semroc Spaceman Build 2

Well, when we left off, the Spaceman was almost all assembled and ready to paint. Here’s how he looked at this point:

As you can see I’ve done a good bit of work. I glued the nose cone into place. Then the BT-60 piece slid easily onto the slots of the “leg” fins. After gluing this, I mixed up a ball of my epoxy putty and rolled four thin short ribbons. I pressed one in to each corner of the little box made in a previous step, then put Spaceman in to the box, pressing each fin tip into the putty. Then I had to attach a little washer onto the inside of each slat of the box. These weights are to ensure that the rocket doesn’t descend head first after ejecting the motor. I used little balls of the epoxy putty to stick these on. I knew it was going to take some type of epoxy to bond the metal to the balsa and I wanted to avoid the runny liquid epoxy so I thought this was another ideal application of the putty. And it didn’t require filleting! Finally I glued the little “arms” on.

I didn’t photograph all the interim steps, but first I sprayed the model with Krylon Flat White paint & primer combo and let it dry a few hours. Then I took it upstairs and sanded lightly (or heavily, in the case of a couple of nose cone drips lol). I used my fine grit sanding sponge on the bulbous nose cone and the body tube and a sanding block with 320 grit sandpaper on all the flat bits. Then I took it back to the garage for another coat of flat white. I finished off the can, having just enough to complete priming the Spaceman. I again repeated the light sanding and finally sprayed with two coats of Krylon Metallic Silver. Then it was back upstairs to apply the decals - the last step in finishing this rocket. The body decal was exactly the right length to just wrap around. I cut 5/8” lengths of the thin strip decal for the legs and 1/4” lengths for the arms. Overall I’m extremely pleased with the results:

Yes, the “shoulders” are a bit messy, par for my course, but in general I think he looks terrific. You should see him from a little distance! I have no clue when this little fellow will be able to fly but I’m going to make a trip to eRockets for some A10-3T motors so I’ll be ready when it’s time.

Next up: Baby Bertha. Then my plan is to build, in succession, the Big Bertha, the Super Big Bertha, and the Boosted Bertha.  I want to hone my fundamentals in preparation for my Estes Master Series Jayhawk. Then I want to build my Semroc Saturn 1B, followed by an Estes Saturn V (2157).