Estes Patriot First Model

Check and to help you find others in your area who are into rocketry. Both can help you find local clubs.
Use whatever you prefer; both will work well, the most important being something that YOU are happy with. The biggest advantage to using an airbrush is that it opens up so many more color options than spray paint does.
Decide how much time you want to invest, and how picky you are about finish. You'll notice there's a spiral seam in the body tube; that seam will show more when the rocket is painted, and can be filled, if you want to invest the time to do so. It's not necessary, though, and is back to whatever makes YOU happy -- it's your rocket.
-Kevin

as Kevin said it is YOUR rocket! Others may think you should fully paint the rocket before you fly, some only want to see catalog or package paint jobs. Do what you feel is good for you. I personally fly them once before painting, hate to waste a good paint job on something that gets lost right away or maybe even CATO. Been there done that in the past. Just my two cents.

Kevin pretty much said it all....but I will add a few things.
The airbrush is *definitely* far more economical. Rattle cans throw out a *lot* of paint....most of which never hits your model. And you can more easily achieve thinner (and more lightweight) color coats with an airbrush.
This is a question that comes too late in your case...but were all your fins the same length "chord-wise"? I had one fin about 1/8th inch too short. Reading the reviews on I see that others have also experienced this.
I am also in the painting stage with this kit; but really want to paint it in an "active duty" scheme. Can anyone in the group provide some details, or links to photos. All I have been able to find is a relatively few stand-off (and often fuzzy) photos. A two-toned OD green seems to be common, with a light-colored nose cone. I imagine the nose cone color may vary according to the makeup of the warhead.

The root edge on one of my stock patriot balsa fins was about 3-4mm shorter than the others.

I was under the impression that they were placed in the cannisters au naturel. I.E. a translucent dark yellowed rust color (the color of the composite materials), the explosive part a bit more olive and the radome (the nose cone) white ceramic, with black conduit tunnels. Sometimes black trailing edges on the fins and rear of the boat tail (which isn't on the Estes model). Of course the only one I've seen up close was a part of the conduit tunnel recovered from one that blew up a Scud rather close to the ground somewhere in Israel. The fragment was on display at CNN Center here in Atlanta. It was black. Though it was hard to tell if it was naturally black or if it was just burnt.

That seems to match the few photos I have seen. The "OD Green" I referred to, was definitely on the brown (ochre) end of the khaki/OD scale. And I also figured the nose was "au natural"; similar to the tan, unpainted fiberglass radome sections on some aircraft. But the markings (if any) remain a mystery to me....

For filling the grain on balsa fins and the spiral groove on the body tube, I use Behlen lacquer sanding sealer which can be found at stores that cater to people who build furniture. It fills much faster than anything else I've used and can be sanded and recoated in about an hour. You want to sand almost all of it off and then recoat. Keep this up until the balsa grain and spiral groove are filled. At that point, I switch to Plastikote scratch filling, sandable primer which you find at an auto parts place. This will fill any remaining imperfections and give a nice even color for your finish coats. Lightly sand with 400 to 600 grit paper and let dry a couple of days before painting. I have yet to find anything that does not work over this base. Plastikote auto lacquers, Testors plastic enamels, and Top Flite Lustrecoat have all worked well. For plastic nose cones, I use Plastikote bumper primer which is formulated to stick to plastic. Keep the coats thin and sand off most of the filler and primer coats. Thick coats of paint are heavy and chip much more easily than thin coats.
Larry

This should be in the FAQ.

A filling product I really like, is Gunze's "Mr. Surfacer". I am not sure how many in this group are familiar with the things we plastic scale modelers use (or if you are scale modelers also...); so do not know if many of you know of this product.

Eric,
Greetings. I am not sure if my email got through, so I wanted to post a reply here on rmr as weel. I would like to invite you to check out FlisKits, Inc. a model rocket kit manufacturer right here in New Hampshire. We're located in Merrimack (between Nashua and Manchester). Our web site is I also invite you to check out our local NAR section (club) called CMASS. We fly out of Amesbury and Tewksbury, MA and our club web site is at Welcome to the hobby and I hope you enjoy your time with these exciting models! jim
Zman wrote:

Cool - I've filed this post away for future reference. Thanks for the tips!
Eldred

the fore-body of the newer patriot is a reddish brown color. " phenolic"

it can also run tword the yellow hue like in this pic

or twords the reddish like in this pic

>smacks head