after a couple days it seems to flow out somewhat.









supported with one wire. I should have used another as a backup but it worked. another part to store somewhere in the hangar. I am running out of space for parts. I recommend using safety wire to support parts for painting.

anti-splat nose gear fairing, large pin holes, maybe too large for drywall compound but gave it a try because it is easy.





other pin holes




spray some color cards the paint store gave me, two coats. this was my first time to paint color cards. I am not sure if I did it correctly. I think the idea is to see the color difference the under color makes. Well, I don't see much difference. Lighting could be better.



blue paint is trying to kill me. I put some acetone in the metal paint cup to slosh it around for cleaning and the lip popped off when gave it a wrist pop and faster than I could blink it hit me in the right eye. I was stunned for a couple seconds but the burning began and I made my way to the water bucket at the compressor and flushed my eye. I had rinsed some parts there before so the water wasn't clean but at that point I didn't care. my face was blue and I kicked the trash can a few times. I took a picture of my face to see if my eye was still there. I noticed I had blue paint dripping from my mouth. the next morning I woke up and my eye was frozen shut from the drainage. today it's better. hey, wear your safety glasses when handling paint!

I went home and told my wife what happened and she told me not to get paint on the carpet but to her credit she came over later and looked at my eye and called me a couple names, dumb ***, **** ****.

Come on Steve, I want to see a picture of your face all blue!!

no way, grey hair and a blue face. ugly!

wing tips, to be blue





vent closed, electric heaters on


vent open, vent fans on, flow is directed downwards towards the parts


if you reuse DeKups, use these to prevent debris

Steve - I've been following your thread as I'm getting ready to paint - keep it up.

I'm leaning toward Jet & Acryglo. Used Imron on the interior but can't get it locally anymore Also can't get Concept locally. My limited paint experience has been with conventional syphon feed guns but I now have a FLG4 HVLP gravity feed gun. Any tips on using this gun? Other than don't paint your face.

I use the 15 tip for Concept paint and I bought an optional 22 tip for K36 sandable primer. I think the 18 tip that comes with the gun kit would work fine also for the sandable primer. the maximum recommended gun pressure seems to work better for cold days, 23 psi. that is 23 psi at the gun with the air trigger pulled. if the pressure gets too low you can have orange peel. if the pressure is much higher you will waste paint. for the final coat I open my trigger adjustment screw 3-4 turns open. wear safety glasses any time you work with paint. Concept paint has iso-cyanates so get filters for this or a fresh air supply. I am on my second mask filter set and I am still painting piece parts. the 3M full face mask is very good and I use the peelable visor screens and have replaced two so far. and don't paint your face blue, but if you do have some water around to be able to flush your eyes. be as considerate as you can to others around because some folks are sensitive to painting. I will get some pictures of my vent fan exhaust that are sitting outside the hangar on the concrete. there are a couple of streaks of exhaust paint on the concrete but really it is not much. I was told by a couple of hangar neighbors that it was nothing to worry about.

Thanks for the tips Steve. I do have a full face breathing air mask and my booth is half of a two car attached garage & workshop in the country so I shouldn't bother anyone except maybe the squirrels. I expect to be moving enough air that my wife who is pretty sensitive to my shop odours won't notice. Hope to get at it soon as my scheme designer (son) comes up with something that I am actually capable of putting on the plane.

drywall compound mixed results. the nose gear fairing with the very large pin holes left the surface low so if you have very large holes use something else. for the main gear fairing I used primer then direct to drywall compound without scuffing. the fill wasn't very good and then a beginner mistake by applying extra sandable primer and the drywall compound lifted to the surface. so the conclusion is apply drywall compound to a well scuffed surface so it has something to hang on to and do not wet coat. the nose gear fairing that was scuffed before drywall compound turned out well.

there are those low spots from the large pin holes filled with drywall compound




the main gear fairing were a mess, behind on the table


wing tips blocked sanded, using a soft pad and the rolled scotch-brite both wrapped with some flexible 320. 320 is my final sand grit for everything. some folks like 400 or even 600 but so far I don't see the need. the paint is thick and feels like plastic when you pick up a part after a couple days. after one day the paint is still very soft so be careful not the scratch it before it cures. after a week it is hard. for example, I was painting several parts on consecutive days and stood an elevator against the wall after one day cure. it stuck to the wall. no damage done so then I put one day cured parts on black plastic. they don't stick to black plastic. go figure. also, there seems to be significant hardness change between 24 and 36 hrs. I will buff the paint after 6 months.

I noticed in this picture I have a ridge line from the block sanding. I need to take a look at that.


this one looks ok.


final surface primer, these are going to be nice if I don't screw up painting the blue color. I will use the white primer as undercoat since the bottom of the plane will be white for the blue bottom color. two coats should be enough by examination of the color cards I painted earlier.




colors, Chevy white and Regiment blue




new plastic on the table, that solvent bottle on the table is useful and a pump for the reducer can (not shown) is good

the patient is on the table. I have been dreading this one. hopefully my new skills acquired will help me recover it as I hacked it up earlier.