Blackshire,

That's a great point and one which we probably will never know. There are actually 3 Aerobees at NMSM. The one we have all seen in the US Explosive Storage ads in Sport Rocketry, a boat-tail Aerobee hanging over the entrance and a 150 inside in the sounding rocket gallery. The outside Aerobee's paint is consistent with (badly) faded paint the same color as the unfaded paint on the Aerobee inside. The NMSM is badly underfunded and I wonder if they painted either rocket before putting them on display.

Also at the museum is a 150A fin can which is natural (unpainted) metal. That's where I got the match to Jet Exhaust. I don't know what the alloy is but it's Jet Exhaust colored with aluminum leading edges. The Alway drawings show that the can itself is a different color from the fins. This is not true. I suspect that a different appearance in pictures is due to the fins being handled a different amount from the can itself and oxidizing.

I have also seen the NASM Aerobee recently (last May) and I would opine that the colors are consistant.

Finally, with the exception of the V-2 and the Pershing II, none of the rockets in the Rocket Garden at the Missile Range have what I would call an authentic paint job.

Attached is my BT-50 Aerobee 300A.

Attached Thumbnails

 

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NAR 79743
NARTrek Silver
I miss being SAM 062

Awaiting First Launch: Too numerous to count
Finishing: Zooch Saturn V; Alway/Nau BioArcas; Estes Expedition; TLP Standard
Repair/Rescue: Cherokee-D (2); Centuri Nike-Smoke; MX-774
On the Bench: 2650;
Dream Stage: 1/39.37 R-7