Fading Paint Colors with Rattle Spray Can

This afternoon I laid down a green gloss base coat on my Leviathan and tomorrow I'm planning to fade it to black from about midway up the BT to the nosecone.

It'll be my first time to try this, anybody have tips on spraying a good fade?


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It will waste a bit of paint, but hold the can back about 2 feet or more. Start spraying before you actually hit the rocket, and just 'whisp' it on. I did my Estes Neon like that, and a few others, turns out sweet!

Try a practice tube first. Wrap some printer paper around an empty paper towel roll, or whatever you can find that's...round-ish.

I've used both colors at the same time - one in each hand

Just be careful about crossing the streams. :wink:

Seriously - I'll normally have the rocket upright. Since you have the base green done and want the top black, start from the top for the solid coat and as you get near the fade point go light and mist it. But I'll also have the green on hand an do another coat from the bottom and get light near the fade point

It also depends on what effect you may be going for. Here are two examples, For the Ariel I masked for the red stripe and pull the can away as a sprayed and got near the top

McKailas Dad said:

It will waste a bit of paint, but hold the can back about 2 feet or more. Start spraying before you actually hit the rocket, and just 'whisp' it on. I did my Estes Neon like that, and a few others, turns out sweet!

Try a practice tube first. Wrap some printer paper around an empty paper towel roll, or whatever you can find that's...round-ish.

Click to expand...

Jeff,

A picture's worth a thousand words.

Now, if you are not looking for a fade, but a blended appearance (such as where the green and tan paints meet for a camo job), you can always use a piece of paper that is cut to the shape you are looking to mask, and lifted slightly off the area you are not going to apply the color to. By using a loop of low-tack masking tape (or poster putty) the mask is only slightly raised above the surface, and allows for a edge that isn't a crisp line, but not totally faded. Of course, I don't have a photo... However here's a video that describes the process...

[video=youtube;Dy4s2xM5lF8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy4s2xM5lF8[/video]

I found a recent thread on 'fades', my Neon XL is post #7.

Some good examples here...

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...-fade-without-an-airbrush&highlight=Neon+fade

McKailas Dad said:

I found a recent thread on 'fades', my Neon XL is post #7.

Some good examples here...

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...-fade-without-an-airbrush&highlight=Neon+fade

Click to expand...

Impressive... Most Impressive!

Thanks everyone for the tips! I didn't get to it today, but I plan on shooting paint in the morning tomorrow. I'll post some pics when I can!


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Well, overall I'm pretty pleased without this turned out except for the silly mistake I made with my masking (though it still looks nice, I think).





I think she'll look great on the pad, but a little flawed up close. I masked off the aft end to protect from overspray, but I let my fade creep to close to the mask and ended up with a defined line...

Guess I won't make that mistake again next time [emoji12]


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I don't know about you, but the shortest save distance is 15 ft. so if my rocket look good at 15 ft, I'm happy.

Fades using Rattle can paints takes a little practice but is not all that difficult to pull off.

First thing is to decide on the colors you want to go with. Always start with the lightest color working to the darkest.
a few examples below.

I definitely feel like things will turnout better the next time I try the fade, but overall i was happy for my first attempt. Here's another couple shots from the launch on Saturday...






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Nice fades Micromeister, they look great.

I am thinking about doing a faded rocket in the future, similar to the ThirstyBarbarians Leviathan shown here:

View attachment 284310

danielsadjadi said:

Nice fades Micromeister, they look great.

I am thinking about doing a faded rocket in the future, similar to the ThirstyBarbarians Leviathan shown here:

View attachment 284310

Click to expand...

This is slick, I want to try a sunburst fade as well


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