In 1969, Airbrushing - Getting That Catalog Finish!

Here's a page from the Estes catalog from 1969. This was the the first model rocket catalog I saw when I peeked over the shoulder of the classmate sitting in front of me. He was supposed to be studying, but had the Estes catalog open inside his textbook.
That first glimpse changed things for me. No more static, display plastic models - These things flew!
Kits followed, my first being the Centuri Javelin. I found it in a small comic book ad.

Like the rest of us, I studied and re-read the catalogs. I tried to get my models to look like those in the catalog pages - smooth and shiny. For the first few years I didn't have much luck.

In 1973 I got a job at a local print shop as a Graphic Artist intern. I was introduced to airbrushes. Then it clicked - this was how they got their catalog model pictures so smooth! They touched up any rough finish with an airbrush.
Except for a few full color pages in the catalog, most rocket pictures were black and white and airbrushed. By today's standards this 1969 airbrushing wasn't very well done. Still, these doctored images sold a lot of kits!

The Starlight is a good example. If you've ever built one you know it is nearly impossible to fill the balsa grain under and around the rings. There are four fins and four ribs spaced too close to fillet, fill and sand. Four coats of sanding sealer and sanding between coats on that design? No thanks.

Jump ahead three years -
Check out the subtle fin tip contrails in the 1972 Centuri catalog. This is a great example of effective airbrushing. I always thought this was the best model rocket catalog ever produced. I remember taking it into the print shop and showing it to the head artist.
By now the catalog models were actually pictures of real, finished models, without much touch up.
TRIVIA: That Vulcan is a pre-production model, the graphics did change by the time the kit was actually produced.