LittleDrummerBoy Aka LDB

*Celine Dione music starts to play in the background*

What a cool kit, and your weathering techniqe is spot on!

Wood glue is pretty standard. I like to spot glue with ca to hold the fins in place then a few layers of wood glue for strength and flexability. Estes also makes a fin alignment tool i use if you get into rockets very serious. it works with 3 fin rockets and 4 fin rockets. Another tip, i like to score the body tube with an exacto knife directly where the fin attaches, this allows the glue to soak into the body tube a little better and get a good strong bond.

Oh ya, you can thin the filler also, I use it thinned with water 90% of the time. The filler is also good for sealing your fins so that when you paint there is no wood grain.

I always fill the body tube lines in with elmers wood filler, once the filler dies it sands very easy. You can also use the filler to make fillits along the fins once they are attached securely. Then I do a light coat of krylon white primer, sand then a little heavier coat and sand again. By this point your rocket body should be very smooth and ready for your choice of paint and clear on top.

Nice build, love the bike!

The vellejo paints are highly pigmented and are really high quality paints. The price is good on them too. My local hobby lobby carries some vellejo and my Lhs carries a very large range of their products. The small bottles are usually around 3 bucks a pop and a small bottle goes a long long way. They make primers, liquid mask, washes, dry pigments, varnishes, and many other products that go with their line. All the products of theirs I have used have been excellent.

Vellejo is widely used in military models and minitures. Vellejo is an acrylic paint made specificly to be used with regular brushes. Their line called Model Air is made specificly to be used with an airbrush. One of their other popular lines is called Game Color, these paints are similar to original vellejo but come in bolder colors and are made for painting gaming minitures suck as warhammer 40k figures. Vellejo has an extensive line of colors for military models, camo specific colors etc. They brush beautifully and even smell good lol. They have many colors that would apply to model cars but testors and some other brands have a wider range of colors that are auto specific.

I have wondered about the vellejo on model cars, I have searched many forums to see if people use them on cars but I didn't find much. The vellejo brushes on very nicely. I have so much testors though, may try to use up some of them so they don't waste and then try to transition to vellejo and see how it works out. Thanks all for the responses.

Hello everyone Im getting back into modeling. Havent built much since I was younger. Over the years I have bought a fair amount of testors enamels in the small bottles. I use vellejo on minitures and military models, I know vellejo is "pretty good" for minitures etc compared to cheaper paints. My question doesnt have to do with vellejo and im not looking to use vellejo. My question is are these testors enamels suitable to build a good quality model? or are there more popular better performing paints around now?

Learning How to lay down a decent paint job will take a little while to get the process down and let it get absorbed into your brain. The more models, or anything you paint, the better you will get. Try to remember the steps mentioned here, but the tips are only 30 percent of it. the other 70 percent is trial, error, experience, and PATIENCE. Even the best painters run into unexpected problems sometimes. Try not to let messups get you down, but think about why they may have happened and try to learn from your mistakes. Take your time, let things dry completely. After a few paint jobs you will learn what works best for you. Some people prefer different products, primes etc... Just find what works for you. And dont think of a messup as a failure, its just learning how to succeed!

Thanks Dave! The forum looks fantastic, Some truelly skilled builders here.

Great work! I need to find one of these kits.

Hello all! My name is Cody and I am 25 years old and I am from Oklahoma. I have always been into many hobbies, and model cars was one of my first and favorite and have recently decided to get really into it and see what I can learn and do. Some of my hobbies are Playing Drums, Model Rocketry, Ho Scale Slot Cars, Rc Cars, and Airbrushing. I am coming off a big Ho Scale Slotcar kick that didnt end too well and was short lived. After building a 70 ft 4 lane afx track I hooked up with some other racers from a website and had some stuff stolen (first time I had ppl over to race the track) and other ppl in this group were getting things stolen from them and after 6 months the group fizzed out. After investing thousands into Ho slotcars I have nothing to show for it and a 4 lane track that collects dust now. I always buy model kits when I find them on clearance or at one of my favorite discount stores hehe. I sold a few kits but I have about 12 brand new kits ready to build. After watching some youtube videos and looking through some my models, my styrene addiction began to burn deep within me and am now ready to do some more serious (more serious than when I was 12 and 13) builds and really take my time detailing and learning the tricks of the trade. Out of curiosity I looked to see if I could find any model car clubs/contests here in the Oklahoma City area with no success. So if you know of any please feel free to message me with info. I looked around in the forum a little and have already found vast amounts of knowledge and tips and I am looking forward to meeting some people here and learning more. Thanks, LDB