Mini-HJ alt. paint schemes!
 

Hello All,

I just came across several photographs of alternate paint schemes for the Estes Mini Honest John (see: www.postwarv2.com/honestJohn/photos/photos.html *and* the sample photographs attached below!). Also, the main web site (see: www.postwarv2.com/moreRockets.html ) has photographs and specifications for numerous missiles and sounding rockets.

I hope this material will be useful.

Cool!....and they can be done without decals----just black adhesive film. Hmmmmmmmm.

Thanks Jason for the info. The other schemes make a more colorful alternative to Olive Drab.

You're both most welcome! In the immortal words of Snoopy (after he dug up Linus' blanket after Lucy buried it to break Linus of his security blanket "crutch," after which Linus hugged Snoopy almost to the point of choking him, and thanked him profusely): "Every now and then I feel that my existence is justified." :-) Also:

The M31 Honest John (in the other photographs on that web page) also used the simple two-color (red-and-white) paint scheme that is shown on an M50 Honest John in the left-most attached photograph above. That basic but attractive paint job could be an "entry-level" masked paint scheme for beginning scale competitors.

I think this is the first connection to be made between what I assumed was a olive and white launch to a red and white round. Although the links point to a pretty grand assortment of red/white, olive/white, olive/white/red schemes. The roll patterns seem to be similar to the LJII LES motor markings constituted of five differing stripe patterns.

That roll pattern (white with black forward & rear circumferential bands, plus black longitudinal lines and "dashes" that vary on each quadrant) has been used on more missiles and sounding rockets (particularly ones that were/are flown at White Sands) than I can count. It was even used at the Cape on the early test versions of the Blue Scout, Minuteman, and Titan IIIC (on its twin Stage 0 solid motors) vehicles. At White Sands, the Athena (which was often launched from Green River, Utah to White Sands), Little John (both the delta-finned test version and the rectangular-finned operational version), Honest John, Sergeant, Lance, Patriot, and many, many others have used that roll pattern. Its varying quadrants make it much easier to determine which side of the vehicle was facing each tracking camera at a given instant, which facilitates post-flight analysis of the vehicle's roll behavior in flight.

With thanks to Blackshire.

Does anyone have a source for the full stripe style roll pattern? In other words, a body tube wrap that lays them all out with the proper sequence, spacing and line thickness? This could be a great sport scale project with enough documentation!

You're most welcome! Just looking at your well-executed M-50 Honest John model makes me weary--I don't have the endurance to sand faceted airfoil sections into fins anymore! Just one thing--a closeup (on the launcher) photograph of such an M-50 Honest John test round (see the first-listed of the three scale data sources listed below) shows the paint finish to be flat rather than gloss. Also:

To answer gpoehlein's question about the "White Sands-style" roll pattern, there are at least three scale data sources (listed below) that allow this roll pattern to be laid out as a body wrap (although I have not seen one of the three personally, I'm almost certain that it depicts this roll pattern as well). Here they are:

[1] Peter Alway's "14 U.S. Army Missiles of the Cold War" is available from NARTS (NAR Technical Services, see: https://blastzone.com/nar/narts/sto...d=1080035015601 ). It contains four drawings of an M-50 Honest John with the "White Sands-style" roll pattern, as seen from four sides (90 degrees apart), as well as a closeup (on the launcher) photograph of an M-50 Honest John with this roll pattern. It also includes four similar (views 90 degrees apart) drawings of an M-51 (MGR-3A) Little John (the Honest John's "little brother") that had the "White Sands-style" roll pattern. The arrangements of the black bands, lines, and "dashes" are the same on both rockets.

[2] "Rockets of the World: 4th Edition" by Peter Alway is also available from NARTS (see: https://blastzone.com/nar/narts/sto...d=1080035015601 ). It includes a section on the Titan IIIC which contains drawings of the early test version, the one that had the "White Sands-style" roll pattern on its two Stage 0 solid rocket motors.

[3] The third one (which I have not seen) is a scale data pack for the Titan IIIC, which is also available from NARTS (at the bottom of this page: https://blastzone.com/nar/narts/sto...=92400111757284 ). Although it is described as a "two-page blueprint dimensioned for a 1/60th scale display model," it likely depicts the early test version that had the roll pattern on the Stage 0 solid rocket motors (NARTS could confirm or correct this).

I hope this information will be useful.

Speaking of the Little John, here is scale data on the XM-47 version (the delta-finned test version: www.postwarv2.com/littleJohn/littleJohn.html , www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/r-3.html , and www.postwarv2.com/littleJohn/photos.html ). The Little John rounds shown on these web pages have several different paint schemes, including the "White Sands-style" roll pattern. Also:

Little John scale models could use either the BT-5 Gnome/Quark plastic nose cones or the BT-20 Wizard/Viking plastic nose cones (which, being 4:1 tangent ogives, are the correct scale lengths for their respective sizes). Peter Alway's "14 U.S. Army Missiles of the Cold War," which is available from NARTS (NAR Technical Services, see: https://blastzone.com/nar/narts/sto...d=1080035015601 ), has dimensioned drawings and paint scheme drawings of the Little John (both the XM-47 and M-51 variants).

I hope this information will be useful.