Hi All,
I have what is assuredly another silly question: is it truly a bad idea to paint a rocket blue?

I've just cloned an Estes Magnum (two-stager), and was taking a look at both my inventory of rattle cans and existing arsenal. Out of 30+ rockets, ~8-10 are predominantly white, ~6 are mostly yellow, and the rest are various grays/orange/red. Not one blue rocket among them; I think at worst it was a subconscious decision, but sometimes the subconscience is on to something, so...

Clearly, blue is a questionable choice given the nature of photons refracting through our atmosphere, but is that really something to worry about? This thing is going to be ~1000-1200 feet up, so practically invisible anyway. I tend to employ "tracking powder" (orange chalk)and bright recovery systems when flying above a grand, so I should be able to see both ejection and descent. I've already painted the index fins yellow and think it'd be a good rocket to put a Navy theme to...

By the way, the blue I have in mind is a deep blue, not light/sky blue.

As always, thanks for any answers and for humoring me!

EDIT- I just noticed my tag line...maybe there's a good reason I haven't done blue- I have a hard time tracking the bright ones sometimes!

Nothing wrong with a blue rocket, but as the late Howard Kuhn once proved, red rockets fly higher

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My Estes Blue Ninja is blue, and I've never had any problem tracking and recovering it.

Funny topic. For a recent party we had my wife decorated with light powder blue streamers. Now I think I want to try painting a small rocket light blue and use this light blue streamer just to see if I can track it and get it back from a launch. LOL

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Hmm. I'm building a Centurion and was thinking of painting the top half that is usually black, a medium metallic blue. Just because. That and I just painted a Nova Payloader grey, green and white, again, just because they always seem to be painted red or orange. I like a little variety.

Speaking of, I picked up a couple of old-school Blue Ninja kits when they were phazing out the iridescent tubes. Silly me, I think the old tubes look a lot nicer than the current dull blue ones. However, I read on EMRR that the coating tends to peel. I am thinking about wrapping a strip of clear shipping tape around the ends of the tubes to prevent that problem. Is there a better solution?


Bill

I think a cleanly applied ring of Scotch Magic Tape would do the job just as well, be lighter and look neater. I have also heard of people applying just a bit of CA to the end of the tube to keep it from unravelling.

Greg

I used blue paint on MY Magnum.

Hence.....

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...and can you imagine a world without a blue Meteor Masher?

Hence.......

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__________________
Never trust an atom. They make up everything.

4 out of 3 people struggle with math.

Chemically, alcohol IS a solution.

NAR# 94042
SAM# 0078

....or a blue Outlander?

Hence........

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__________________
Never trust an atom. They make up everything.

4 out of 3 people struggle with math.

Chemically, alcohol IS a solution.

NAR# 94042
SAM# 0078

Good idea, though I will go try to find something to match the glossy surface.


Bill