So, now that I'm an empty nester I'm planning on getting back to rocketry. Most of my rockets have been scratch built, but I won a few HPR kits in various raffles which I'm thinking of finally building. One of the kits is an Arcas that has a solid wood nosecone and boattail.
I don't really care about making it look like a scale rocket. I thought I'd like to take advantage of the solid wood by staining it and finishing it. That's not much of an issue for the nosecone since I won't be glueing anything to it. But the fins are going to be glued to the boattail, so I don't want to mess up the bond by sealing the wood prior to glueing on the fins.
However, anyone who has stained wood knows that you shouldn't even sand the wood prior to staining, since that will mess up the ability for the wood to take the stain. So I'm thinking that I want to stain the wood prior to glueing. Then do the glueing and worry about sanding and finishing later.
I'm thinking that the wood will still be fairly porous after applying the stain (unless I overdo the staining) and I should still get a good fin bond, including the fillets. Has anyone had any experience with bonding epoxy to stained wood? I can try staining after the build, but unless I'm perfect with my fillets I'm going to have issues with applying the stain afterwards.
Thoughts?
John Marvin
John,
I have never made a rocket with pre-stained fins, but that sounds like a nice look. I have glued many other stained woods that have not been a problem. I think that as long as the finished fin is not terribly oily then you should be fine.
The glue surface area of the filet should be plenty strong.
I’d suggest that you do only two filets at a time. Use blue masking tape to keep the filets straight and even. Once the epoxy is about where you like it, dip a latex/nitrile gloved finger in some alcohol and smooth out the filet. Remove the tape when the epoxy starts to set up. You may choose to smooth it out with alcohol again after the tape is removed.
Thanks. I hadn't thought about the fact that the stain is oil based. It would probably be better to use a water based stain. Half the fin goes through the body tube to the motor mount and is sandwiched between the top of the boat tail and a centering ring (providing lots of reinforcement opportunity) so I won't be relying completely on the connection to the boat tail.
Actually my original plan is only to stain the nose cone and boat tail. I'm not as sure if I am going to stain the fins, since I may glass them. But the more I think about it the more I think I'll keep it simple on this one.
Thanks for the fillet advice. That's pretty much what I've done in the past (although its been a while since I've built anything).
8) John, Is this kit one of the of the Doug Stout kits? They came in a big box, had paper tubes? Heavy nosecone? Tim
Yes, it is Doug Stout's "4.1 inch Semi-Scale ARCAS" kit. I just noticed your post on a thread on the Rocketry Forum indicating that you also have one. I'm planning on building the kit stock. Based on those posts I've decided not to glass the fins, since the kit seems capable of at least a K motor without any reinforcement. About the only changes I will make is replacing the Acme conformal lugs with rail buttons and possibly a different shock cord. I'll be flying it on CTI Pro38 and Pro54 motors.
Perhaps we can drag race these rockets at MHM!
Git' er done John. I'd be in for the drag race! This "kit' is supposed to just get way out of there on a K550. That big basswood nosecone weighs quite a bit - good retention is critical.
Just remember that oil and epoxy don't mix... and surfaces with oil on them WILL separate from epoxy. I have experience (unfortunately) with this. Do the epoxy work on bare material that has been cleaned with denatured alcohol or acetone. Once the epoxy sets up, oil it or stain it or do whatever you like.
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