Turn your PC into a cartoon rocket.

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Now that the body has its shape, it's time to work on the details.





























12. Once I finished the basic shaping, I made a paper template for the Lexan fins. The photo shows the template next to the rocket body to get a good idea of how it will look.

In the second photo, you can see the template traced onto a Lexan sheet. I taped three sheets together, since I need eight pieces.

In the third photo, you see eight pieces, exactly the same. I love power tools.		 Yoshi Rocket Man 001 - thumbnail
Yoshi Rocket Man 002 - thumbnail
Yoshi Rocket Man 003 - thumbnail
13. Time to make the molds for the Lexan fins. The fins are narrow at the tip, widen, then taper to the body. I glued the leading edge and put a spacer in between the layers to spread the trailing edge apart.

I taped off the curved edge and filled the molds with fiberglass resin.

In the second photo, you can see the finished fins.		 Yoshi Rocket Man 004 - thumbYoshi Rocket Man 005 - thumb
14. With the fins done, it's time to cut out the mounting holes in the foam. I carefully marked out my cut lines.
15. I placed the fins in the holes, without gluing them in place. A dry fit checks to see that everything fits and allows you to re-measure and re-cut, if necessary.

In the photo, you can see how I used the center line marks to make sure my fins were aligned properly.
16. Here the fins have been glued in place. The rocket is sitting on the roll of tape. I forgot that since the rocket isn't round the fins on one side need to be shorter than the others. No worries, easily modified in place.
18. Now it's time to put a layer of fiberglass over the foam to give it a nice strong skin. It's important that you lay out all the pieces you precut. This helps make sure you have all the pieces you need before you start apply the fiberglass.
19. Fiberglass on the first side.
20. Once the fiberglass is placed, I used a layer of Bondo for smoothing before painting. It's also easier to get curves between the body and the fins with Bondo rather than in fiberglass.
21. Here's the rocket with the Bondo laid on the bottom piece, and the top piece with fiberglass. You can start to see the final shape taking place. I'll sand the Bondo to smooth it out.

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