I have a mental block on paint colors and schemes

I've spent a lot of time browsing in the gallery and I've collected some colors and paint schemes that I like, but I haven't put it all together yet. I've finished my Big Daddy and it is waiting for paint, I should have an Executioner finished in about a week ready for paint, and I have a bigger rocket that I'm working on that might be finished in a few weeks. Our next launch is in about 2 weeks so I have to get busy.

To me the wood finishing and painting are the hardest parts. The poor Big Daddy sat on my workbench for about 10 years with fill-n-finish on its fins waiting for me to get brave and do the sanding. Now it's ready for paint. We'll be hitting Lowes this afternoon so I'll have to make a few selections.

Bright colors that make the rocket stand out work for me. Something easy to spot when it lands. Maybe even try some neon colors. I agree...finishing the rocket can be time consuming...I'm going get more into building kits/scratch build with plywood or fiberglass components.

Fluoro pink and orange with black trim for contrast work for me. Given that fluoro colors are "flat" as in lacking any gloss whatsoever, I clear coat all my birds.

Rusto flourescents and black metallic with several coats of Rusto Crystal Clear Enamel give an impressive finish. Easy to spot on the ground as well as in the air.

Fluoro green, pink, or orange chutes help as well.

Try: Kuler.

Have fun. Do what pleases you. Finishing and paint are the hardest things for me as well, and I take the most pleasure in it. But, when those tasks are done, the real satisfaction sinks in. Sometimes I'll go for the look of a particular year's kit card art. Sometimes I'll just run with a scheme that I like the looks of.

When you really consider basic rockets—like a Big Daddy—they're small sculptures with enough "canvas" to have fun with. I just try and make myself happy. I've had some trials and flubs an' what have you, but so far, despite those set-backs, it's been working. It's taken a while, but I'm learning to have more patience with the finishing. Most bad things that have happened were due to being in a hurry and trying to rush things.

It's all in the expression. :wink:

I tend to recycle a lot of colors I have in my bone box.

Although I do tend to do a lot of 'fading' type paint jobs with minimal masking. I like to let the colors bleed into themselves and 'mingle' a bit. Your palette will be what you make and it will change over time and from rocket to rocket.

Enjoy doing it is the bottom line of what I can say.

Looking forward to seeing what you decide to do this.

dixontj93060 said:

Try: Kuler.

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That's an interesting website......hmmmm

dixontj93060 said:

Try: Kuler.

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I tried using the search function with keywords like Bertha, Mosquito, Alpha and Streak and was surprised to have hits for each one.

If you can dream it up I will do my best to make something in decals that suits your needs!!

stickershock23 said:

If you can dream it up I will do my best to make something in decals that suits your needs!!

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Pull a Henry Ford....Paint it black and let Mark do his magic....



Always a great option for anyone.

jFlds said:

It's all in the expression. :wink:

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Or the mood,or music your into at the time when deciding.TRUST ME,I know this.

The first project up for paint is my Big Daddy. I do autocad at work and in looking through some old files I found where I had used autocad to look at color schemes for an old project. So I took some measurements of the Big Daddy, did some drawings, and tried out a few color schemes.

I like the black on yellow and the black on red. The last one is kinda cool too.

bjphoenix said:

The first project up for paint is my Big Daddy. I do autocad at work and in looking through some old files I found where I had used autocad to look at color schemes for an old project. So I took some measurements of the Big Daddy, did some drawings, and tried out a few color schemes.

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SEE!!! That mental block is just all in your head!! They all look great. Any painted rocket looks great compared to natural fiberglass, wood or paper!!!

JPVegh said:

I like the black on yellow and the black on red. The last one is kinda cool too.

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A lot of them are inspired by the paint/decals I've seen on Goblins and DerRedMax's. I think I'm going with red body/white nose, and I'm going to try the white roll pattern.

My vote is for the second one on the top row. Plus Have Mark from StickerShock23 come up with a few other things to add to it.
GP

bjphoenix said:

The first project up for paint is my Big Daddy. I do autocad at work and in looking through some old files I found where I had used autocad to look at color schemes for an old project. So I took some measurements of the Big Daddy, did some drawings, and tried out a few color schemes.

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I've got a good idea for a Big Daddy paint scheme.

This is the final result (5th on the top row of the previous mosaic of images). The beauty of this scheme is that I don't have to paint the cone.

I used Rustoleum primer on the fins, on top of the FillNFinish and so forth. I had a can of old Krylon white so I shot the front of the airframe with it and let it dry for several days.

I put down a big strip of blue painters tape on a piece of shiny cardboard and cut it into 1/2" strips with a hobby knife. I took a strip of paper, wrapped it around the airframe and marked where it overlapped, then with a ruler I measured and marked off 9 equal spaces. Then I wrapped the paper back around the tube and used those marks for positioning the tape strips. I rubbed the edges of the tape down good so the paint wouldn't seep under it. Then I sprayed on 2 coats of new Rustoleum red, about 15 minutes between coats. The stuff dries slow but even in our cool temps it was dry in 24 hours and I peeled off the tape strips.

(I'll put this photo in the gallery also.)

Next I need a scheme for the Executioner. I'm thinking about trying some combination of yellow/black/white/silver, with the main tube being yellow and the other colors for the nose, fins, stripes, etc.

bjphoenix said:

The first project up for paint is my Big Daddy. I do autocad at work and in looking through some old files I found where I had used autocad to look at color schemes for an old project. So I took some measurements of the Big Daddy, did some drawings, and tried out a few color schemes.

Click to expand...

Don't think the photo's will show in my post but can you change the background color of the display to a light blue-gray that the sky is really colored?. You need to see the rocket against the background you normaly would see it in.

I'm partially colorblind so it's not a matter of what color to use but what NOT to use. Blues, greens, and greys are not used on my rockets. If a B/G/G rocket launches I don't watch because once the motor burns out it's gone for me I use a lot of Mylar chrome stripes, the flash helps better than anything to help keep track on a rocket.