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Author
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Topic: Painting shuttle external tank models
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mslekar
Member Posts: 100
From: Eagle,Idaho
Registered: Jun 2002
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posted 09-25-2005 05:56 PM
   
What's the best color or paint to use on the shuttle external tank? Also, it appears the corrugated section in the middle of the tank is also a yellowish orange while the main body of the tank is that orange and or rust appearance but definitely a darker shade. |
capoetc
Member Posts: 2169
From: McKinney TX (USA)
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 09-25-2005 07:34 PM
I built a shuttle model a few years back, and I just kept mixing paint until I was able to match the photographs I used (I couldn't find a color that would work pre-mixed).It took some trial and error, but it came out really well. |
dtemple
Member Posts: 729
From: Longview, Texas, USA
Registered: Apr 2000
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posted 09-25-2005 08:07 PM
One other option is to consider painting the external tank white. Remember it was white for the first couple of shuttle flights. Of course for the white to be accurate you would need to build the orbiter as "Columbia" or you could build it as the "Enterprise" which did sit at Pad 39A during tests in 1978 or 1979. |
joe bruce
Member Posts: 129
From: Spokane, WA U.S.A.
Registered: Nov 2004
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posted 10-05-2005 12:58 PM
Find a photo of the ET and get close to the color you see. The tanks acutally go through a color change as the foam is exposed to UV. They start out their life as a ocher (light yellow) and then tan to the darker color we see in the photos. How deep the tan depends on the exposure to UV. Areas at the interface of the LH2 and LOX tanks with the intertank region often appear lighter. I have a cube of ET foam that I acquired from Michoud. That is what I was told by the manufacturer and with time I actually saw it happen to my sample piece. My piece is about 10 years old and is a reddish brown. |
John K. Rochester
Member Posts: 1292
From: Rochester, NY, USA
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 01-09-2008 01:48 PM
I'm always on the lookout for colors to use on my models, and I found a terrific paint for the External Tank: Rust-Oleum Painters Touch Satin, color Cinnamon. It's the best match I've found to date! |
Jay Chladek
Member Posts: 2272
From: Bellevue, NE, USA
Registered: Aug 2007
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posted 01-13-2008 08:57 PM
On the last tank I did, I tried to avoid custom mixes as much as possible since I was working on such a large model (1/72 scale). Thankfully I found much of what I needed in the Floquil Railroad colors line at my local hobby shop. They have many premixed shades of browns, oranges and yellows which are perfect for use on an External tank with only a little alteration as needed. So for the main tank coloring, I used SP Daylight Orange mixed with a touch of boxcar brown. The intertank region was done up with UP Orange and the yellow areas on the tank were done with UP Armor Yellow. |
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