Painting landing gear

[olegusan]

It is probably a silly question

The construction manual for my RV-12 calls for priming and painting of the landing gear.

The landing gear in my kit appears to be powder-coated. Do I still need to primer and paint it?

Thanks.

Oleg

[jpflys1]

I think they used to be un powder coated

[John-G]

Oleg -

The main landing gear legs that came with my kit were not primed but the nose gear leg assembly came with a white powder coating. For sure you will want to prime your main gear legs if they are bare metal it WILL corrode as mine began to do.

When I was doing a before winter mass primer session on the finishing kit parts I had missed doing the landing gear legs because they were in the bottom of the shipping crate covered with cardboard .... out of sight, out of mind. Much to my shock when I went looking for them in the spring I found them unprimed .... and it was still to cold to prime, so I decided to move on and install them anyway and deal with it at the first condition inspection. In the link below you can see that the gear legs were beginning to corrode.
http://www.dogaviation.com/2017/09/r...-legs-for.html

As can be seen in the photos in the above link the unprimed main gear legs were beginning to get nasty. If your gear legs are a darker aluminum color (they are not smooth and shiny as the rest of the metal in the kit) then they are likely like mine were --- unprimed bare metal.

Happy building,

[olegusan]

Thank John.

I have also received an email from VANs, basically saying that if the legs powder-coated white, then it doesnt need to be painted, otherwise, whey should be painted.

My ones dont look white, so I'm painting them

Cheers,
Oleg

[Jamesey]

Originally Posted by olegusan

Thank John.

I have also received an email from VANs, basically saying that if the legs powder-coated white, then it doesnt need to be painted, otherwise, whey should be painted.

My ones dont look white, so I'm painting them

Cheers,
Oleg

I thought at some point in the past I saw that powder coating was NOT recommended due the curing temperature involved. Am I wrong or has something changed??