What colour to paint tube? opinions please

[Nightshift]

Well I have decided to have the tube of my 12" GSO dob stripped and powder coated to eliminate the rust before it gets out of control and starts eating in to the tube proper. I will be stripping and preparing the tube but sending it to a powder coater for final coating.

I have read threads and other items about how some colours resist dew more than others, should I coat it with a boring solid colour that suits dewing or should I paint it some radical cool colour that turns heads and scares fruit bats from 300 meters away ????

Your thoughts anyone?

[[1ponders]]

Ahh c'mon Dennis. It's either gotta be non-reflective mat midnight black or bright glossy ferrari (ok, corvette) red and I know which one you'll choose. :D

[Nightshift]

Hee hee, actually, if colour turns out not to be important I think i'll go some cool pearlescent green or blue, the powder coaters have quoted me $70 to glass blast it and re-coat in any colour I want, the options are too many to choose, worth every cent I reckon. they even have hammer tone in any colour as well but i dont think I'll go that option, full gloss pearlescent sounds way too cool.

[[1ponders]]

How about that nice morphing purple/rainbow colour you see on some cars these days. Though I suppose the effect would be lost at night.

Got it! Mat black with luminescent red Klingon script all over it :lol: way kewl. :lol:

[GrampianStars]

irridesent pink with orange & blue spots

[vespine]

I'd go stealth black, planning to do the same thing to my LB at some stage ;)

[rogerg]

Forget practicality, I say pick a cool colour. I like the metalic spray paints you can get - I've used a charcoal metalic one quite a bit, but there's a whole range of great colours. :)

Roger.

[Nightshift]

I'm with you Roger except I'm not using spray paint I am getting it powder coated and will be a little limited on colours but they do make a pearlescent range so I reckon one of them would be good.

[JohnG]

Love that cool blue William Optics are using on their 66SD.

JohnG

[Striker]

Dont go boring Black...make it into a talking piece of art......the wilder the better.

[ving]

white or black... KISS :)

umm or meade blue

[cjmarsh81]

Black with red flames down the side. That way it won't affect your night vision by looking down at a glowing pearlescent scope.

[mick pinner]

pearlescent will not work at night, nothing to reflect, make sure the powdercoaters use a 2 pak etch primer otherwise you are wasting time and money, the primer has to be acid based or it will not work, the actual colour has no bearing on rust.

[Starkler]

The colour can have a bearing on IR transmission and therefore superchilling and attracting dew. I have read that white is the worst for this.

[spacezebra]

Hey - I was thinking of the same thing - snap. Maybe a comet or two

Cheers Petra

[acropolite]

Nice pearl white would be good, who cares if you can't see it during the night but during the day.... :)

[norm]

Yellow !:)

[RAJAH235]

Nightshift, I can only recommend white. :shrug:
see thread,> http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=5256
:D L.

[Roger Davis]

black cools faster than white
shiny cools faster as well
what matters colour at night
except in the eyepiece, pray tell?

[ving]

why paint a car in some fancy colour roger? its only transport from A to B ;)

[Roger Davis]

A well known quote: What is the speed of dark?
So: What is the temperature of colour?
And: If it looks good in your eyes, do it!
Why not make it gloss black with an eye of a tiger on it?
You know ala William Blake?

Tiger! Tiger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

[vespine]

how about decoupage? :rofl:

[ving]

i wonder if dark has a speed ;)
if you paint a scope red does it bring the f/# down? ;)

but in repect to the question at hand, your respose is most practical. :)

[Nightshift]

I want what Rogers on.

[Roger Davis]

Paint it red 'cause it goes faster!
Seriously, it really doesn't matter. A friend of mine, Darren Bellingham, painted his 8" Dob tube deep blue, then his wife and I think it was her sister, really did decoupage the tube, but with pictures of galaxies, planets and stars. Another guy I know decoupaged (?) his tube with two posterS of the Milky Way (see the attachment) which was then heavily laquered.
Just go with what you like!

[Mikezoom]

Waaaay cooool that is!