The launch escape tower is next up. It comes in 10 pieces - 4 support sides, a base to which 4 motor nozzels attach, and the escape rocket itself.
The first step was filling in the circular dimples from the injection molding process. Some people skip this step but I think it's important enough to the overall appearance of the model to try and fill them in. After all something that small may get lost to the eye when looking a Saturn V model, but the Little Joe II is a much smaller rocket and they would be a lot more conspicuous.
This picture came out a little blurry but the part on the left has just had filler putty applied to it while the one on the right has already been sanded smooth and is more or less ready for a primer coat.
After filling in the mould marks and sanding, it's time to start putting together the support sides. Here we see the first 2 sides glued to the support base. The motor nozzels are also glued in place but they leave 4 little "pockets" that need to be filled with putty so that the support base has a smooth finish all the way around.
Now all four sides have been glued together, and the pockets from where the motor nozzels were glued in have all been filled and sanded smooth.
Next we sand off the moulded in detail of the launch escape rocket body. I also filled a couple of mould imperfections with putty and sanded smooth.
Finally we have the completed escape tower assembled, primered, painted and decaled...
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