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Old 08-04-2015, 03:05 PM
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Royatl Royatl is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Atlanta, GA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ben awes
I am looking for insight about original Estes colors. Estes makes recommendations for painting schemes in their instructions for all their rockets. I am trying to determine the original intended colors for the Mars Lander. One question - did Estes ever change the recommended color? I have a set of early instructions for Mars Lander (though I do not know what year they are from) and they instruct to paint part of the Mars Lander "International Orange".

The second question is what color is that? The most famous International Orange is the color used on the Golden Gate Bridge, which has been the same for 70 years. This color is sort of a darker rusty orange. Actually this color looks like photos of Mars (of course, in 1968 we did not have photos of Mars!). There also is an International Orange that was apparently used "in the aerospace industry" - which would make sense as the one to go with except that is too bright and does not look like what Estes used. Then there is one that is "used in engineering" - but it is very red. Or, was there some other readily available paint on the market called International Orange? Did kids use spray paint in 1968? Wouldn't Estes recommend colors that would have been easy for kids in the 60's and 70's to get?

Here are a couple links on the color:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_orange

http://encycolorpedia.com/search?q=international+orange

Does anyone know any history around this Estes color? I would love to know the original intention of the minds over in Penrose in the late 60's.

Thanks for your help,

Ben


International Orange was one of the colors included in the set of model airplane dopes that came with the Deluxe Alpha Starter Set. They were Testors brand dopes (in my part of the country, Pactra AeroGloss was much more prevalent). My recollection is that it was a very slightly dingy orange, not as bright as current Krylon orange, but still kinda bold in its own right. The color I remember is inbetween the Aerospace color and the Golden Gate color shown in the Wiki article.

I would think if Model Masters has International Orange that would be closest to the Testors dope I.O. that Estes sold.
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