Rattle-can paint color to match StickerShock23 Alien Green or Yellow Green vinyl?

I'm looking to match some StickerShock23 vinyl decals to my paint. I was going to use fluorescent green paint and try to figure out which of alien green or yellow green matched it best, but then it occurred to me that maybe there's a paint out there that matches one of the other more closely. Anybody know of one? It needs to be an enamel.

I know this is a long shot, but figured I'd try....

The Rustoleum 2X Key Lime is a pretty good match to one of them; IIRC the Alien Green. Mark might be able to help you though on this.

Looking at the Rusto page that is not a very bright green at all. I'll have some vinyl samples in hand soon to see how they look in person.

Maybe I'll eventually have to consider if I can do better with something like orange. I just want something super-bright and contrasting to the black and silver that will constitute the rest of the design.

neil_w said:

Looking at the Rusto page that is not a very bright green at all. I'll have some vinyl samples in hand soon to see how they look in person.

Maybe I'll eventually have to consider if I can do better with something like orange. I just want something super-bright and contrasting to the black and silver that will constitute the rest of the design.

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It isn't fluorescent, but it stands out great on black or navy blue. I saw a rocket Steve Pauling built a couple years back and the green just popped! Also as an example, it matched the alien below when I built that odd roc, night flight rocket.

I would bet that Montana Paints has a close match. Click on the link to see their palates.

Both their Gold and Black lines are good quality artist paints. They are not gloss, but a coat of clear is all that is needed. (I have used Rusto Crystal Clear with success, but you know the disclaimer about mixing brands)

The Paint Yard/Urban Colors has the best price/selection that I have seen. Montana (Gold) Poison light, medium, or dark and Montana (Black) Acid may be close.

Interesting that you ask...I just bought a paint mask from Mark so that I could get a perfect match using Montana Poison on my stretch Mac Performance "True Villain"!

One more thing...they have a fairly nice app where you can take a photo of the color you have and it will match it as close as it can.

Cheers,
Michael

I wanted to paint the nose and fins on my darkstar mini to match the stickershock orange. mark had sent me a hunk of the orange vinyl on request. I called around and found a local carquest could scan my sample, mix paint, and put it into a rattle can for about $18. I ended up with a perfect match.

That is beautiful, and the orange would work for me. Was it enamel or lacquer? Got any left over?

The cost of this one stupid LPR rocket keeps creeping up with all these different options. I need to figure out some way to do what I want without breaking the bank. Ugh.

Well, Mark suggests that Duplicolor Grabber Green is a close match for his Yellow-Green. If so, that could be a winner:


I'll judge the color of the vinyl itself when I get some samples shortly.

neil_w said:

Well, Mark suggests that Duplicolor Grabber Green is a close match for his Yellow-Green. If so, that could be a winner:

I'll judge the color of the vinyl itself when I get some samples shortly.

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That Yellow-Green actually looks more green (not yellow) versus his Alien Green.

Yeah, looked that way in the picture, but I'll judge when it's in my hand. I just want it to be bright and to "pop" against the black metallic background.

This is one of the reasons why I get Mark to cut me paint masks instead of decals. Now I can just paint all the decals and don't have to worry about colour matching. A bit more work but it matches perfectly.

If you have the sample colors you could take them to an auto paint supplier and they can mix that color into a rattle can. You will pay a lot more but it would be a very close match.

dixontj93060 said:

It isn't fluorescent, but it stands out great on black or navy blue. I saw a rocket Steve Pauling built a couple years back and the green just popped! Also as an example, it matched the alien below when I built that odd roc, night flight rocket.

View attachment 275677

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That is a good application for alien green.

I got my color samples from Mark, and while the yellow-green is a much more saturated, vibrant color than the alien green, I think it's a bit too dark for my desires. The alien-green pops against the black better. So I'm leaning in that direction. I'll pick up a can of Rusto Key Lime and give it a try. As a bonus, the Rusto Key Lime is a comparatively cheap option (considering all the money spent elsewhere, it's nice to save a few bucks on *something*).

I really wanted a more vibrant green than this, but it appears my options are somewhere between limited and non-existent. I tried out a little can of Testor's Fluorescent green (bought with 40% coupon at Michael's) and it is very bright but not a close match to either of the vinyl samples. And, as expected, it was pretty hard to get an even coat. At least I know the Rusto 2x is relatively easy to apply, and won't depend on a white primer layer.

I'm guessing (?) that this picture (from the stickershock site) is alien green?


Anyone have links to any other pics with black and alien green vinyl?

I was at Menards on Monday in the paint aisle and glanced at the Key Lime. I believe it is brighter than you think and in the end you will like it.

We shall see! In any case, I don't seem to have any other realistic options at this point so I'll go with it. In the future I'll have to temper my OR visualization with some more realism about the color possibilities; I put a day-glow light green in at the beginning and I've become accustomed to it, but it doesn't seem to correspond to any reasonably available paint. Live and learn.

In any case, I'll be happy to finalize this choice and move on. If all goes well, I'll be applying the first round of this paint this weekend, so I'll see the results soon enough (rest of the rocket is not painted, but I'll at least see the color and see how well it matches the alien green vinyl).

[edit] Here's my best shot at the lime green in OR, not bad if accurate. Hopefully a little brighter in person but we'll see.

Buy some square footage of vinyl from stickershock in the color you want and wrap the areas. It's tricky.

mkadams001 said:

Buy some square footage of vinyl from stickershock in the color you want and wrap the areas. It's tricky.

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If you mean to wrap the transitions and nose cone, I'm not gonna go there. I think it'd be tough to wrap the nose cone all the way to the point, and the transitions would require multiple pieces very carefully cut to size. Seems not worth the trouble.

If I find that the vinyl color and the paint colors really don't match well, then I suppose I'll have the option of trying to apply the wrap on top of the paint. But I'm guessing I'm gonna live with what I can achieve with the paint and vinyl together; by the time I get to that point I will most likely have had enough of the finishing work on this build. :bang:

Got some paint on today. Here's Rusto 2x Key Lime next to a sample of Alien Green vinyl:


The Key Lime is nice color, unfortunately, it is not a close match for the vinyl. I'll have to decide how to handle this later; I may just say "good enough". I'll experiment a bit with my vinyl sample to see if it is close enough for my purposes or if I'll have to resort to paint mask or something like that.

neil_w said:

Got some paint on today. Here's Rusto 2x Key Lime next to a sample of Alien Green vinyl:
View attachment 276223

The Key Lime is nice color, unfortunately, it is not a close match for the vinyl. I'll have to decide how to handle this later; I may just say "good enough". I'll experiment a bit with my vinyl sample to see if it is close enough for my purposes or if I'll have to resort to paint mask or something like that.

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Wow, way off. Sorry. I sure thought Mark had a color that was more yellow than green. That Alien Green looks like a medium lime green. But you said his Yellow Green wasn't even as yellow as the Alien Green, right?

Yeah, Yellow Green is less yellow than the Alien Green, don't ask me how that worked out like that.

Anyway, it's not a big deal. The Key Lime is pretty close to the color I actually want, so I'm happy with that; I just have to decide how to handle the vinyl. I think the name will be OK; that doesn't need to match perfectly. Some of the other bits may or may not work well without a close match, we'll see. Paint mask is a likely possibility, it's just going to be a pain in the areas between the fins (and I don't know how well the Key Lime will work on top of metallic black).

I have a little while now before I really have to worry about it, got some building to do before I get to the finishing line.

neil_w said:

Yeah, Yellow Green is less yellow than the Alien Green, don't ask me how that worked out like that.

Anyway, it's not a big deal. The Key Lime is pretty close to the color I actually want, so I'm happy with that; I just have to decide how to handle the vinyl. I think the name will be OK; that doesn't need to match perfectly. Some of the other bits may or may not work well without a close match, we'll see. Paint mask is a likely possibility, it's just going to be a pain in the areas between the fins (and I don't know how well the Key Lime will work on top of metallic black).

I have a little while now before I really have to worry about it, got some building to do before I get to the finishing line.

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You know, I'd email Mark and show him the picture. He may be able to pick up a small swatch of "real" yellow-green to make the lines you want. He's done that for me before when I wanted metallic purple.

The way I see it is that you have a few options.

continue chasing the color with off the shelf colors.
have a auto paint match the color and put in a spray can.
order paint masks
match the vinyl to the paint - look at color samples at a sign supply or a sign company.
Paint the color on a card and send it to stickershock to see if he has a vinyl color match that will work.

I don't know how big your rocket is or the size of the lettering and graphics but my choice would be to order paint masks. That way all your colors match and you will be dollars and time ahead.

I may very well go that way, it's just a bit of an unknown to me at this point. I also still have the question of whether I can layer the key lime on top of metallic black. There will have to be some testing I suppose.

Oh, the rocket is a BT60, and the lettering will be 1". Small enough that I'm nervous about being able to do the paint mask effectively. The other graphics would be straightforward.