Must I Use Spray Paint?

What about Testors acrylic? I'm actually getting kind of stoked about enamel. I used some Testors enamel I had lying around for a tossed together scratch built model I built. Up close, you could easily see all the brush marks and crap. Up close, it looks quite awful actually. But from far away it doesn't much matter. But what I liked about the enamel is that it was very glossy though I think it hasn't completely and totally set even after a few days.

So does anyone want to chime in about liquid masking stuff? That might save my bacon with my Screaming Mimi.

I've never used the Testors Acrylics, so I can't comment on them. I do know that Testors Enamels need to be thinned a bit to avoid the brush strokes - they should dry a bit faster if you thin them as well, but no enamel is gonna dry very fast in the humidity we have here (I think it's gonna be 80% or higher today - sigh - we're gonna roast at our launch today). Acrylics dry faster. I also don't like to mess with the thinners and brush cleaners of laquers and enamels any more - just don't want to breath that stuff. If you use acrylics like Tamiya, be sure to thin it with their thinner and not water - thinning acrylics with just water makes them seperate and break down faster. You can also thin them with winshield washer fluid for airbrushing (don't return unused portions to the bottle or thin the bottle with washer fluid). The alcohol and detergent in the washer fluid actually makes the acrylic flow better through the airbrush and doesn't interfere with the acrylic trying.

As for liquid masking fluid, I don't think it is what you want to use. It is used mainly for masking model aircraft canopies or windshields on model cars. You paint it on and trim with a hobby knife. But I don't think it is really intended to go on over other paint layers. I don't think it will actually damage the paint, but it might not seal very good either.

No, tape is your best bet. One more trick with celo tape - if you have problems with it being too sticky and pulling older layers of paint off your model, stick the tape to your pants leg first - that will reduce the tack of the adhesive somewhat and keep it from being too agressive. This goes for any tape you use for masking.

Greg

I'm suprised no one has caught onto one of my secret weapons for masking..atleast I have not seen it mentioned here before.so the cat is out of the bag

Glad press'n seal

It's fantastic for covering large or complex areas..it sticks very well yet it's not sticky if that makes sense..kind of like frisket

you can burnish it down and get a razor sharp line as it's thinner than masking tape so no heavy build up along the edge.
it makes masking off fins a 2 minute affair. it can be cut for making positive or negative masks. very handy stuff.and reusable to boot!

and for the amount on a roll it's very cheap.

mabey not the ultimate do all solution but definately worth having around

My girlfriend had some of that Glad stuff. I'll have to see how it works.

There is another alternative no one has metioned yet.....Moncote....airplane guys use it, to cover wings and fuesalage's comes ina zillion colors, available at most good hobby shopes that cater to airplane guys. It is a plastic paper type film that you peel off one side to apply. Kinda like cupboard and drawer liner paper. you can lay your tube over it, roll it around once, mark and cut. then pull off the backing and roll the tube over it for keeps. You can also get a huge variety of colors and types, holographic, patterns, themes etc. at place's like Micheal's and other craft stores for as little as 1.00 a sheet. Este's has been using it on their rockets for years. No more sanding, filling etc. Might be the solution your looking for.For striping and detailing, get colored electrical tape at Lowes or Home depot, comes in colors from yellow to purple. and is only 2.00 for a roll 50ft.

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Will any heat gun work, or does it have to be a special one?

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I just checked my heat gun and it goes up to 1050F with no apparent way to adjust it or turn it down. It says you can solder pipes with it!

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Painting is an option if you choose to do it. My best advice is to use spray paint because it gives the best coverage around. I also usually use Testors spray paint as well. I also heard Krylon is another spray paint that works as well. I hope my advice helps?

Xan

I wonder if any of the original posters in this thread are still alive. Maybe reviving this thread will actually bring them back from the dead. Or maybe it would be better to try to contact them through a Ouija Board. I wonder if they still care about the paint question or if there even is paint in the afterlife.

I'd like to see actual pictures of rocket that have been hand painted. I would definitely consider it an option since a good solid 6 months of the year I can't spray paint here.

ThirstyBarbarian said:

I wonder if any of the original posters in this thread are still alive. Maybe reviving this thread will actually bring them back from the dead. Or maybe it would be better to try to contact them through a Ouija Board. I wonder if they still care about the paint question or if there even is paint in the afterlife.

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CJ is still alive, but he posted here in 2006 despite apparently joining TRF in 2009. Mysterious...

SCrocketfan said:

CJ is still alive, but he posted here in 2006 despite apparently joining TRF in 2009. Mysterious...

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He might be capable of time travel.

ThirstyBarbarian said:

He might be capable of time travel.

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They successfully merged the TRF "archive" with the 2009 version of the forum... which is cool. I have posts that date all the way back to 2003.

...and yes CJ is capable of time travel. I have seen this with my own eyes at some of the MWP launches.

ThirstyBarbarian said:

He might be capable of time travel.

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I knew it!

Side note: the TRF merger is actually quite cool that they managed to make the archive part of the actual forum.

scsager said:

They successfully merged the TRF "archive" with the 2009 version of the forum... which is cool. I have posts that date all the way back to 2003.

...and yes CJ is capable of time travel. I have seen this with my own eyes at some of the MWP launches.

Click to expand...

SCrocketfan said:

I knew it!

Side note: the TRF merger is actually quite cool that they managed to make the archive part of the actual forum.

Click to expand...

It is pretty cool they merged the archives into the forum again. And one of the best things about it is that it means you can revive a 9-year-old thread about paint. In that sense, we are ALL actually capable of time travel!

ThirstyBarbarian said:

It is pretty cool they merged the archives into the forum again. And one of the best things about it is that it means you can revive a 9-year-old thread about paint. In that sense, we are ALL actually capable of time travel!

Click to expand...

It's very cool and brings up many Back To The Future references...

CJ is not only capable of time travel, but he can also walk on water, heal lepers, locate lost rockets without RF or GPS tracking, AND he makes really tasty peanut butter cookies.

But......up til now he was still painting his rockets with a brush (though he did try dipping the whole thing in a huge bucket of paint at one time, but that didn't work so well).

go figure,
s6

I heard of monocote.

What I do is just buy rocket kits in colored G10, then you don't ever have to paint it. Or cover it in monokote (for ease of application you could even just cover the entire tube in monokote, then cut out the fin slots and fillet with colored epoxy)

Then you can use vinyls to create your own pattern...

ThirstyBarbarian said:

I wonder if any of the original posters in this thread are still alive. Maybe reviving this thread will actually bring them back from the dead. Or maybe it would be better to try to contact them through a Ouija Board. I wonder if they still care about the paint question or if there even is paint in the afterlife.

Click to expand...

I'm still alive and don't know if there is paint in the afterlife. Would it have to be heat resistant paint?

ThirstyBarbarian said:

It is pretty cool they merged the archives into the forum again. And one of the best things about it is that it means you can revive a 9-year-old thread about paint. In that sense, we are ALL actually capable of time travel!

Click to expand...

One of the things that is not so cool is that links to the archive in threads started in TRF 2.0 don't always go back to the correct thread.

Even after 9 years we haven't answered the paint question LOL.

SCrocketfan said:

It's very cool and brings up many Back To The Future references...

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It also results in a lot of extra parallel universes cluttering up the multiverse.

stealth6 said:

CJ is not only capable of time travel, but he can also walk on water, heal lepers, locate lost rockets without RF or GPS tracking, AND he makes really tasty peanut butter cookies.

But......up til now he was still painting his rockets with a brush (though he did try dipping the whole thing in a huge bucket of paint at one time, but that didn't work so well).

go figure,
s6

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Maybe CJ could travel back in time to warn himself not to dunk his rocket in paint. Or would that create a rift in the time-space continuum?

BobH48 said:

I'm still alive and don't know if there is paint in the afterlife. Would it have to be heat resistant paint?

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Sometimes when I'm dealing with paint, I feel like I've gone to the afterlife --- the not-so-good one.

accpool said:

Even after 9 years we haven't answered the paint question LOL.

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Maybe we should all check back in 2024 and see if there are any new developments.

ThirstyBarbarian said:

Maybe we should all check back in 2024 and see if there are any new developments.

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I have added it to my Google calendar Appointments. See you then.

morlock said:

I'd like to see actual pictures of rocket that have been hand painted. I would definitely consider it an option since a good solid 6 months of the year I can't spray paint here.

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OK: Here are a few examples some are combination basic coat sprayed and Hand painted PMC's several are totally hand painted. and some hand brushed mosquitos & micro DRM just for fun. Note in the first two photos the Mosquito on the Left is Sprayed (from my Swarm), the one on the Right totally Hand Painted. Can you tell which models are combination sprayed and burshed? I'll bet not.