Color Matching

I re-opened my rocket box after 20 yrs to start building with my 4 year old. He loves the picture of the rocket on the estes package and wants to paint it the same color. Is there a paint matching tool or any other information that will help me match the spray paint color to that in the picture?

You could tell us what rocket it is for starters
But no there is no paint matching tool, THAT I KNOW OF. However the users here are extremely useful and can probably direct you to almost exact matches of paint.

It is an old, unopened rocket from when I was a kid... the Army Hawk.

adayzdone said:

It is an old, unopened rocket from when I was a kid... the Army Hawk.
View attachment 146278

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Looks like its just a basic light blue body tube with a dark blue nose cone. The decals will probably come in the kit, althought I dont know much about the old kits, so they might not.
For getting the perfect color go to lowes/ home depot. In their spray can isle they have a board for you to spray on with the can to see the color of it. just test all the blues till you get the perfect shade Not sure what else you might be able to do.

Wait for someone elses wisdom on the subject

Twenty years of fading have taken their toll. So the question you want to ask is, does your kid want it to look like the package as it is now, or as it was when new? Originally the body was dark green as befits a US Army missile, while the nose cone was black.

And if that's what twenty years have done to the package, I would not expect too much from the decals. If they disintegrate when you try to apply them, take a look at this:
https://www.excelsiorrocketry.com/product.php?id_product=737

Regrettably, I haven't been able to find any such tool.

Paint companies love to keep up on the latest trends, so often they will change the name of their colors... So what you may have bought 20 years ago as pale blue, may now be called duck egg blue. The exception to this is hobby paints for military vehicles, often they include a federal standard number (FS 36134 will be the same across many manufacturers now matter what kind of "grey" they may want to call it). Estes rarely included manufacturer color recommendations. The only exception, that I know of, was with their Jayhawk, which was Krylon Mandarin Orange.

My recommendation... go out and buy yourself a Keep off the Grass type plastic sign. Then buy the colors of primer you will likely be using (filler grey, grey, white, rust, silver, black) then mask off the back of the sign, and paint a strip of each color, as well as leave a strip of raw plastic. After that has been allowed to fully cure, mask it again and paint strips of your final color candidates across all of the base colors. With this method, you might be able to take a color that was by itself close, but just not quite right, and combine it with a base color that makes it perfect.

adrian said:

Twenty years of fading have taken their toll. So the question you want to ask is, does your kid want it to look like the package as it is now, or as it was when new? Originally the body was dark green as befits a US Army missile, while the nose cone was black.

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Here's a small photo of an un-faded package:
View attachment 146290

It is actually dark green, the color was distorted from my phone. Along with the decals, I am worries about the parachute stickers!

I have found color matching tools for wall paint, just not for spray paint.

adrian said:

Twenty years of fading have taken their toll. So the question you want to ask is, does your kid want it to look like the package as it is now, or as it was when new? Originally the body was dark green as befits a US Army missile, while the nose cone was black.

And if that's what twenty years have done to the package, I would not expect too much from the decals. If they disintegrate when you try to apply them, take a look at this:
https://www.excelsiorrocketry.com/product.php?id_product=737

Click to expand...

Here's an image from the 1990 Estes Catalog:



Estes didn't use full color face cards for years, so I doubt that the color difference is due to fading, or it could have been a problem with the printer... or it could just be the phone he photographed it with.

For the Decals, before trying to use them, try covering them in Micro Scale Liquid Decal Film to protect them from disintegrating when you get them wet. Also, Gord from Excelsior Rocketry is a source for decals. If he doesn't have them already, he can make them for you.

adayzdone said:

It is actually dark green, the color was distorted from my phone. Along with the decals, I am worries about the parachute stickers!

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Go out to any office supply store, and buy 1/2" Permanent round labels (such as used for putting prices on your garage sale items)... Good luck finding white though.

Olive drab and black would be my guess. A hobby shop would have them.

adayzdone said:

I have found color matching tools for wall paint, just not for spray paint.

Click to expand...

Your best bet for that green is to go to your LHS, and check out the colors from Testor's Model Master line of paints... Find a FS you like, and buy a can (or two) of the matching spray paint. Test it before you apply it to your primed rocket (another reason to try that trick with the keep off the grass sign) to make sure that the paints will play nice with each other. Remember that decals need a glossy surface to adhere to for best results. I've also heard that Testors' Dullcoat (applied after the decals if you want a flat color scheme) yellows with age.

Since this is a quasi-scale US Army Hawk missile (MIM-23), you have quite a few paint options:

https://www.google.com/search?q=army+hawk+missile

Greg

Testors Model Master medium green or dark green and flat black. It's pricey stuff though.

Krylon makes a line of camo colors that is cheaper and probably close enough to what your looking for. I use it when I want to camo something.

BTW, I did a search for plans for this rocket and came up empty. You may want to scan the the plans, balsa patterns, decals and cover card for posterity.

Well olive drab or olive green and flat black will give you the army look. I'm kinda diggin' your phone distorted colors. Sky or baby blue body and a royal blue nose cone looks about right to me. Of course, your son will have final say. Rustoleum 2x painters touch rattle cans from Walmart or Home Depot are my goto paints. Whichever way you go, please post a picture of the finished product.

K'Tesh said:

Here's an image from the 1990 Estes Catalog

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That brings back memories! Where did you find that?

adayzdone said:

That brings back memories! Where did you find that?

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If I may,

https://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/rockets.html Scroll down and enjoy.

One of the goldmines on this or any other Internet !

samb said:

If I may,

https://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/rockets.html Scroll down and enjoy.

One of the goldmines on this or any other Internet !

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AWESOME!

adayzdone said:

That brings back memories! Where did you find that?

Click to expand...

https://www.estesrockets.com/customer-service/full-catalog/

I'm working on archiving it on my computer (then as needed posting them to flickr).

K'Tesh said:

Go out to any office supply store, and buy 1/2" Permanent round labels (such as used for putting prices on your garage sale items)... Good luck finding white though.

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Ring binder reinforcements do the same thing, and they already have the holes in them... I got a 675 count pack from Walmart for like $1.50 or so... In assorted colors at that...

Later! OL JR

As for the rocket, you could also do this:
View attachment 146387
Or not.

If you really want/need a color chart or wheel, go to a art store or Michaels, Hobby Lobby and look in the art section. They have a two section wheel, that show the three primary colors, and the three secondary colors with a window or two that shows the complementary colors. The chart shows all 356 colors.
As everyone said your looking at black and O.D. green.