Estes Leviathan charcoal grey metallic paint rec - Duplicolor?

[SolarYellow]

I'm looking at cloning and/or downscaling a Leviathan.

Does anyone know of a quality paint that goes on well and will duplicate the charcoal grey metallic that was the "factory" paint scheme? I'm thinking Duplicolor would be a likely bet to have such a thing, but they seem to go out of their way to prevent you just perusing their colors. The only way to find something is to start with an automotive paint code. I suppose I could stalk parking lots looking for just the right metallic or pearl grey hue and then figure out the color code (only to find DC doesn't cover that one and start over), but I'd rather spend my time building rockets.

This looks like it's probably close enough, but who really knows, as the cap is guaranteed to not be accurate.
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...arcoal-gray-metallic-spray-paint/dpl1/bcc0331

I have a can of Krylon Acryli-Quik Shadow Grey which is also probably close enough on color, but it's not metallic. I am sorta leaning toward just spraying what I have rather than spending a bunch of time and money trying to get it "right," but my OCD has been inflamed with a problem to solve.

Any help?

 

[ShadowSpire48]

I always thought it was black and not grey

 

[SolarYellow]

Here's the official Estes marketing photo:



Not black.

 

[dr wogz]

shiny black, and the photo shows a reflection?

 

[neil_w]

For what it's worth, I have had superb results with the Rustoleum Stops Rust metallic paints (they are very different from the 2x paints). They're thin and require *light* coats, but produce excellent finish.

https://www.rustoleum.com/product-catalog/consumer-brands/stops-rust/metallic
Their "Charcoal" is what you're asking for. "Black Night" is also a great color, which I haven't used in a while and so I guess it's time to work it into a build.

 

[DigBaddy]

shiny black, and the photo shows a reflection?

Nope, metallic charcoal per the instructions (attached)

 

[ep29030]

 

[K'Tesh]

Historically, when Estes gave color recommendations, they seemed to be based on Testor's colors (Example: Estes Magnum Payloader 2032's call for "Gloss Bright Blue" in the instructions... I've tried over 7 (probably closer to 14) different blue colors from various manufacturers until I discovered Testor's Gloss Bright Blue was an exact match). Also, Testor's paints were also sold by Estes at one time.

Since then, Testor's parent company (Rusto) has taken steps to shut its line of hobby paints down (making the cost of the paints so high that no vendor would stock them). I suspect you'd find the exact match to be an old Testor's product (say Testors 1155TT Graphite Gray Metallic, or Testors Model Master 2753 Gray Metallic, or a shade of Metallic Charcoal that I was unable to find in my quick search), but good luck finding them now.

Nowadays, it feels like Estes chickens out from giving what seems to be exact brand specific color names, and just uses generic colors (white, green, blue, or black) and/or something like "Can be painted to match the face card". As such, matching the blue decals of a kit to manufacturer XYZ's blue paint might be a bit of a PITA.

 

[SolarYellow]

For what it's worth, I have had superb results with the Rustoleum Stops Rust metallic paints (they are very different from the 2x paints). They're thin and require *light* coats, but produce excellent finish.

https://www.rustoleum.com/product-catalog/consumer-brands/stops-rust/metallic
Their "Charcoal" is what you're asking for. "Black Night" is also a great color, which I haven't used in a while and so I guess it's time to work it into a build.

Thanks. I'm pretty sure the Aluminum I used on my Improved Hi-Flier build earlier this summer was from that line and I was less than impressed. But they seem to have discontinued Aluminum, so maybe there were problems with that SKU?

Thanks, @DigBaddy for posting that PDF. I've somehow ended up with multiple downloads of it from somewhere else that became corrupted.

Not sure that Duplicolor will work right. I like it better than the 8-oz cans for $16.99, but the description says, "Specially formulated to work over properly prepared shiny, bare metal, and faux chrome-like surfaces." So presumably, I'd need to at least buy another can of something to provide the proper prep surface.

I'm thinking this might be pretty close without rolling the Rustoleum dice:
http://www.hobbylinc.com/tamiya-spr...etal-3-oz-hobby-and-model-lacquer-paint-85042
Closest I can find on the Testors website is 1253T, which actually costs more than the Tamiya:
http://www.hobbylinc.com/testors-sp...namel-3-oz-hobby-and-model-enamel-paint-1253t
Given the general craptacularity of how it's been operated in recent years, is anybody surprised that it's under the thumb of the trolls in Rustoleum's accounting department?
https://www.testors.com/pages/about-testors/our-history

 

[K'Tesh]

One thing about metallics... For best results with scale models, at least, they seem to like to go over an undercoat of silver paint.

 

[Lord Rory Gin]

Try Tamyia's Light Gun Metal (looks like a metallic medium grey to me!) or Gun Metal (looks like a metallic dark grey). The one colour I haven't tried was the Bright Gun Metal which is probably somewhere between the two.

 

[rocketguy101]

I painted mine with Duplicolor BGM0536 "Gunmetal Met" (83 WA8915)

I also used it on my Big Daddy nose

 

[DeltaVee]

Rustoleum makes metallic Charcoal... But I used Rustoleum Dark Metallic Bronze on mine.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Ol...rotective-Spray-Paint-6-Pack-244228/204758757