Finishing

I did me usual thin' o' usin' Rustoleum Filler Primer (in gray) followed by fillin' spirals with Elmer's Carpenter's Wood filler, arrr, ya bilge rat, then sandin' followed by LOTS o' red Rustoleum Ultra Cover paint (red for body, black for nosecone). Arrr! Blimey!  One suggestion I have which I would do differently is t' paint with white paint or primer after t' sandin' step and before t' red paint since red goes over white much better than gray (which required more red paint t' cover over).   After t' red paint was dried, arrr, arrr, I realized that I should maybe account for t' white portions o' t' decals nay havin' a good light background...I noticed that t' white portions o' t' decals on me regular sized Der Red Max didn't look so great since t' decals were thin and so t' red made t' white portions darker...you can see some o' t' red paint underneath. Ya scallywag!  Given this, arrr, ya bilge rat, I then painted t' top 6" o' t' body tube with white.  Of note is that later I used a large white skull decal on one o' t' big red fins and it looked fine over t' red background.  Kudos t' Estes for makin' t' decals very thick with excellent white coloring!

T' decallin' is likely one o' t' most difficult parts o' this rocket build. Ya scallywag!  This is no surprise given t' massive size o' t' top decal (which is one piece and wraps around t' top o' t' body tube). Aye aye!  I used a dish bucket with warm water and just a bit o' liquid soap (I know some people say you shouldn't, but I've done this for years with good results). Well, blow me down!  Do yourself a favor and make sure you get a large flat pan/bucket like I did for decalling. Ahoy!  Lay t' decals in t' water face down and this helps prevent them from curlin' up. Well, blow me down! Then pull them out o' t' water (don't wait too long or pull out too quickly) and check them by tryin' t' gently slide t' decal. Ya scallywag! Aye aye!  For t' largest decal, I made sure t' wet t' body tube first and did a combination o' liftin' and gentle slidin' along with re-positionin' until I be happy with t' placement*.  Afterwards I realized that havin' t' seam where t' launch lugs are usually makes sense, but in this case t' skull and crossbones are then nay aligned with anything. Aye aye!  Oh well. Avast, me proud beauty! Avast, matey, me proud beauty! There are plenty o' decals t' add for those o' you who are sticker-crazy and this also gives plenty o' options for customization.  This is one o' t' things that made t' MDRMax so great and it really carries through t' this Mega size rocket!  To finish, arrr, I used Rustoleum Acrylic clear coat. Avast! Avast, me hearties, me proud beauty!  Rocket looks great and I got lots o' compliments on it at home and at t' field. Blimey!  Makes me want t' use it as a table centerpiece or put it on a pedestal like a work o' art! :)

*EDIT:  Thinkin' more about t' large decal, matey, me hearties, I would now suggest that you actually cut it in half (between t' skulls) t' make handlin' easier.