As winter drolls on I have a couple projects I'm looking to have completed by Red Glare X. One is a 4" upscale of the old Estes Starblazer X-20. The build has gone quite well but I hit a wall when it came to paint. I'm a professional Painter by trade (DOD/Aerospace) so I have access to a great spray facility. There are plenty of High solid urethanes on hand but there aren't many fighter jets finished in light blue metalic. I didn't want to use a urethane basecoat/clearcoat system as the cost, even for a cheap paint, would be a couple hundred. I like Imron single stage but for paint and base maker I'd still be looking at about $120. Then I found the "Paint Shop" system by Dupli-Color. http://www.paintshopcustomcolor.com/public/ . It's basically a lacquer paint so no mixing is needed. Drys fast and is very user friendly. There are a few nice metalics and even a few candies and specialty clears though the full color pallett is limited. Even with these limits there are enough basic colors that nearly any color can be mixed. I went with a met blue and clear. I'll add a couple more coats of clear after I apply all of the decals (thanks Stickershock).Though the tech sheets say the clear can be wet sanded and buffed I find the finish right out of the gun to be fine. Best of all it only costs around $20 a quart and I found it at Advanced Aauto Parts; Gotta love that. I have the upper airframe shot and the fin/motor can will be done shortly. Though the finish isn't quite as tough as a urethane, or as deep a gloss, it is a major step up from Rattle cans; Especially if you're painting a project of moderate to large size. It's worth a look.

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Ok, now here is a level of modeling I’m not sure I will attempt. Seems like a lot of extra time and effort to make something, only to let it shoot into the sky and fall to earth while tears are welling up… Your paint job looks awesome…

While I was reading, I thought about the automotive paint testers you find at Pep Boys and such. Lots of colors, including cool metal flake like yours. Has anyone tried this?

I do have an HVLP gun/compressor in my woodshop, so I certainly could make an attempt at a real finish. I also see lots of people on here using the airbrush as well. I am still a bit of a rookie, but maybe someday when I figure this thing out, I will attempt a nice finish.

Lacquer can be sanded; and when done properly can make a mirror finish. Similar to paint, you don’t want thick coats as it will not be as durable and will run. Sanding really just gets the high and low points even (orange peel), but on a small rocket, it will be less noticeable and you may or may not need it (from your pics; yours looks pretty darn good). A good finishing technique for lacquer is to do 3 or more thin coats. Sand lightly and steel wool each coat, with 600, then 0000 steel wool. This does not have to be wet sanded, especially since you may or may not have a good enough coat just yet and water could get into the rocket. Also, sanding blocks on the fins, for a perfectly flat finish (fins must be sealed perfectly before lacquer; especially end grain). After the last coat has been sanded and rubbed with steel wool, automotive wax will bring back the high gloss (don’t use wax for any base coats, or under stickers; only for the last coat). Also keep in mind car waxes come in different grits. Color Back works well for scratches and deep buffing, and polishing with a good clear coat wax will get you running.

Yes, your paint job is absolutely top-notch!

(GO BEARS!!)

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BTW, what did you use to fill the corkscrew seam on the body of the rocket?

The upper airframe is Quantum Tube so no spirals there. The fin/motor can is MPL phenolic. I just used bondo, sanded and primed. It's funny, I shoot high solids all day every day. I've gotten so used to it that when something this easy to shoot comes along I'm blown away. It takes a concerted effort to mess this stuff up. I love it.

I've been looking at investing in an airbrush (hobbyist level, certainly), and would be interested to know more about your gear; clearly with DOD finish-work you've got access to top-notch stuff; was that what you used or is this OTC equipment?

Beauty!

Believe it or not most of our spray technology is circa 1960s. This was shot with an HVLP (Anest-Iwata LP400 Gravity Feed) gun but any halfway decient gun, or airbrush for that matter, would do just fine. This stuff is that user friendly. To be honest with you, I love my high end equipment but the best spraying gun I own is a little gravity feed, regular preasure detail gun I got at Home Depot for $40; An Ingersol Rand 200G. I love that little thing. Perfect size for mod/mid power rockets. Just because it is expensive dosn't mean it's good. As for an airbrush, any good duel action/internal mix unit will do most anything you want. The kicker is air. DO NOT get a little hobby grade diaphram compressor. They're expensive junk. Go to the home center of your choise and get a little pancake compressor or the like. Costs about the same and is a little noisy but has the volume and flow you'll need.