I finally found a light gray paint at Ace Hardware.
This looked to be a good match for the face card picture.
I thought we were through the humidity and dull paint here in Florida. There's a tropical storm blowing by and that helped screw things up. The gloss paint dried flat.
TIP: Polishing compound is your best friend! The right side picture shows a decent semi-gloss after some polishing.
While it isn't a full gloss, it is smooth enough to allow a good decal transfer.
The small nozzles and larger plastic fin tips will be painted gloss dark gray.
Take a close look at the masking. Oy!
The "Q" strips that run down the sides are shown as black. I won't be masking these, it would be very difficult. The long side decals should give the trim piece enough interest.
The instructions say to use light gray and dark gray paint. The face card picture shows black on the body tube areas below the nose cone. This mask will take some time!
I live in coastal Georgia and also have issues with gloss paint drying flat. But I really believe that there is something in the newer paint formulations that exacerbates this issue. I have no evidence of this other than the fact that I have been building and painting models here for many years and I have only had this problem consistently in the last couple of years. Curious and irritating.
ReplyDeleteHi Raeford,
DeleteI think you are right about newer paints drying flat in humidity. My first rockets were built 40 years ago in a California coastal town with very low humidity. I never had these issues. Now in Central Florida - weather and paint formulations have changed.