Paint ????

One of the guys in our club recently completed a Pice 1/5 scale WACO YMF5 (I think) biplane and painted it with the paints Jerry Nelson sells.

He was thinking about using automotive paint but the stuff Nelson sells is much less toxic and cleans up with water.

He's building a big Gee Bee now, also fabric covered, and plans to use the same paint. Paul is a master craftsman on his kits. He spends a long time building them and they look perfect when they're done. He'll tell you they're not perfect (no model is), but you'll have a hard time finding a flaw.

Carrell

Nothing wrong with Rustoleum (in the white cans- spray or paint). I've been using it in my oily smoker planes for years. Over fabric.

m-m

On 11/13/2004 2:00 PM Ted shuffled out of his cave and grunted these great (and sometimes not so great) words of knowledge:

I use latex paint (the stuff from Ace, True Value, Lowes, etc. ). I can get an EXACT color match and the cost is ABOUT $10 per quart. Latex goes on very well and looks good (Hey, if it is "good enough" for a Top Gun contender, it is good enough for me :-) ).

Pluses to latex:

1. Can be color matched to any color (except metallics).

1. Applys easily

2. Is much lighter in weight than automotive finishes or conventional paints.

1. VERY reasonable cost.

2. If you mess up or don't like the paint job it can be removed with a wet cloth (usually UP TO 12 hours )

The down sides to latex:

1. Latex takes an AVERAGE of 7 - 10 days to "cure". (Press your finger on a hard spot on the plane. If a fingerprint is there it is not cured. The fingerprint will disappear in a day or so.)

1. Forget about metallics.

2. Unless you are running a gasser, it does need to be clear coated to make it fuel resistant. I use 2 coats of a waterbase polyurethane. It does not yellow over time and is fuel resistant to at least 10% nitro. It may be good for more than that, but all I use is 10%.

1. Do not apply your clear coat until after the paint is cured and all your decals, trim, detailing, etc is done.

Stop by any automotive paint stores and you will be overwhelmed by the variety of finishes available. I usually use base coat/clear coat systems as they are the lightest. The Sherwyn Williams store was only a couple of miles away so that is what I used. Most acrylic clears are fairly fuel proof.

Hey Ted --

Good info on using latex paints, thanks! Now a question for you -- Being rather spray equipment challenged, have you ever tried the Minwax spray can polyurethane?

On 11/15/2004 6:51 AM Ted shuffled out of his cave and grunted these great (and sometimes not so great) words of knowledge:

Yes. I have used the MinWax spray cans. Make sure you get the one with the blue label - that is the water base. On a personal note - While the finish came out OK, I felt I did have better control using spray equipment.

What I do with ALL the latex and water base poly is to add 1 1/2 cap fulls of Flotrol per 1 quart of undiluted paint/poly. It retards the drying a little, but allows the paint/poly to flow better to provide a more even coat. Unfortunately, the spray cans do not allow doing this. If you decide to brush the latex, I have gotten my best results by using about 2 caps of Flowtrol per quart of latex, thinning it slightly and using a foam brush. The additional Flotrol definitely helps the brush marks disappear.

FWIW - I bought an HVLP electric sprayer off E-Bay for $90, and a "Husky" compressor at Home Depot for $100 (135 psi, but only a 1.5 gallon tank ) to use with my air brush.

IF my camera "ever gets back" from repairs, I will take some photos of a SkyShark Hawker MkV I covered in .5 oz glass and painted with latex.

Ted

Thanks Ted -- Send that photo when you gat a chance. Where did you locate the Flotrol?

Home depot carries water based flowtrol.

The Latex does work well and covering with waterbased minwax seems to work. I love the water clean up!!!!!!!!!!!

Ted, what do you use to cover weave and primer.

I have found that the Rust. auto primer is good, seems to except latex. I use a flow coat to fill weave (Wes epoxy).

Mike

Lyman Slack wrote:

DuPont Featherfill and Western 400(?) filler/primer. Most automotive filler/primers work well with minimum weight.

On 11/19/2004 2:29 PM Ted shuffled out of his cave and grunted these great (and sometimes not so great) words of knowledge:

I use automotive primer/filler. I normally use the grey color. When using light colors the grey takes less coats to cover than the red/rust color primer/filler.

The red oxide should only be used if the metal surface is prone to rusting, like ungalvanized steels. The grey filler/primer is much lighter and like you said, is better for color depth. I used Western 100 and Dupont Featherfill for most jobs. Both work equally well but the Western was about