swimmer25k Posted January 24, 2022 Share Posted January 24, 2022 Here are two WIP of my Metallic Details Antares rocket and (sort of) LUT. The brass is all soldered. It’s very thick and it took more effort than usual to bed; including scoring the opposite side of the bend. The LUT is secured to the base with soldered brass rods (@ 1/8”) and another rod going up into the rocket from below. The “arms” hugging the rocket were soldered in place once the rocket was fixed into place. I airbrushed those areas afterwards. Next up is to add a wash to bring out the detail and decals. There are four cooling ducts coming out of the base and attaching to the rocket. Metallic Details gives you a segment of nylon cord like you’d use in your yard to bundle branches. I’m using 1.6 mm solder surrounded by 3/16” yellow shrink tube further wrapped in a pulled 3 mm spring. Pictures of the real thing have lots going on around the base, so accuracy and completeness is thin. It’s been a nice experience so far, but the hefty price tag is a deterrent. I probably would have skipped it knowing what I know now. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
K2Pete Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 You did a nice clean job on those solder joints! How tall is the rocket ... 18"?... 2'? I tried soldering PE once and failed miserably ... lotsa blobs ... did you use a flame or a soldering gun to heat the PE? Pete Quote Link to post Share on other sites
swimmer25k Posted January 25, 2022 Author Share Posted January 25, 2022 2 hours ago, K2Pete said: You did a nice clean job on those solder joints! How tall is the rocket ... 18"?... 2'? I tried soldering PE once and failed miserably ... lotsa blobs ... did you use a flame or a soldering gun to heat the PE? Pete I use a Waller iron. This was pretty easy to solder. Any goo that was piled up was easily spread around with some heat. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
swimmer25k Posted January 25, 2022 Author Share Posted January 25, 2022 I think it’s less than 18”, but not around to measure it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
K2Pete Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 Thanx ... 18" is close enough! Just gives me a good idea for scale! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
southwestforests Posted February 7, 2022 Share Posted February 7, 2022 On the soldering some factors to include are: What wattage iron? What shape tip on iron? What type of solder used? Gotta get the right amount of heat applied for the type, and size, of solder & material to be soldered. I've used photetch but haven't soldered any yet. The photoetch instructions would, I expect, suggest what kind of solder and what wattage soldering iron or gun. Also: Surface preparation. Somewhere in recent months I've read on some modeling forum that at least some photoetch might have a coating on it. That's all the detail I can remember right now. Soldering Flux is another factor. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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