Please don't take it as I'm correcting you, I just noticed it yesterday when checking out parts availability for the .10 I bought. I found some paint at Tower that appears to be close enough to the LA blue. You could paint the 25's head red and cool it up like the Q-40 in the picture.

I didn't take it as such - no worries Dave.

I don't like paint on engines which is why I stripped the paint off the LA25 I have. If I did anything, I'd have parts anodized which hardens the surface slightly, protects against oxidation, and doesn't hinder heat exchange. Besides - paint looks cheap to me anyway. I think I'll leave this one au naturale.

Anodizing is really a form of thin paint. I have chromated an engine and it seems good to me. There is a gold or clear. Clear is the same process, but not left in quite as long in the tank for the final dip. It is used on a lot of military spec stuff. It prevents the black from rubbing on your fingers, and allows paint to stick. I did a fair bit of chromating at work. It used to be done by lower pay grade people until they were all laid off, then they thought it would be cheaper to send it out, as the chemical disposal fee was crazy expensive. Well then all the workers were too expensive? Common story. Six Sigma, Japanese ideas, low hanging fruit.....

As I understand it, anodizing is a form of oxidation essentially. While it does leave a "film" on the surface, it's far thinner than any decent paint would be.

I have not done it. Chroming was done in both shop where I worked, (my wife did it) But I was not involved. Just chromating aluminum and passivating stainless. They both mainly are cleaning and etching, and for the alumiinum, deoxidizing and dipping in a chromate solution. Anodizing as I understand it (which may be wrong) is cleaning, hooking up the electricity to do the etching, and then dipping into a dye or paint. So yes it much thinner than paint, but still seals the surface. Oh and it looks pretty for a while. I believe the surface takes the heat and abrasion better than most paints too.