Top ten recommendations for do-it-yourself painting?

[dsmithlib]

I have come to the end of my project and really want to paint my RV7. I have read the Ron Alexander book and attended the Osh sessions. I have talked to the vedors. But, the most valuable input comes from those of you who have already done it.

Please share one or more of your top ten for the do-it-yourself painter. Areas that continue to slow me down or lead to conflicting information....

• good recommendations for jigs that will keep the process moving. ie wing jig or fuse rotisserie. parts holders.
• what is the best sequence of events? prime, prime, prime? prime, finish, stripe, repeat?
• do you really need the alodine step or not?
• are airplane paints any better than auto paints.
• why do you prefer the poly finish or the clear coat approach.

I had come to this part of the forum hoping to find entires with each of these entries but, it is a little light on some of these subjects. There seems to be a great number of posts throughout but, I am not sure they lead to concise conclusions.

Thanks for your time....
Dave

[Kyle Boatright]

There was a good post a while back about inserting PVC pipe through wing lightening holes, then resting the PVC on sawhorses as a wing rotisserie. That's what I did back in the day.

On the empennage, ailerons, and flaps, I suspended the parts by wires and painted 'em that way. The fuselage? I masked it into top and bottom sections, shot the top, masked it, then shot the bottom. All of this was with it on the gear.

The other parts, I just found something to rest 'em on and shot 'em.

The best sequence? Fully paint something that isn't airplane related. A metal folding chair. A garbage can. Go through all the steps - clean, prime, paint, mask, etc. You'll learn a LOT, and you won't have to sand/strip "real" airplane parts. Continue practicing until you're happy with your technique. You'll save a lot of effort, time, and frustration time this way.

Then paint smaller items like the empennage, ailerons, and flaps. Then the wings and then the fuse. Work the canopy, cowling, etc. in as time allows.

Many product lines recommend you prime and paint an assembly within 24 hours. So do that. Again, start with smaller assemblies and figure out how much you can *really* paint through the final coat(s) a work session. Better that than running out of time or patience half way through an assembly.

Alodine is nice, but as the Russkies used to say "Better is the enemy of good enough". Your choice.

I used auto paint (the suppliers are local, so you can get paint 5-6 days a week, which is nice). Also, auto paint has more filler in it (typically), so its less likely to run. The filler means the finished paint job is usually heavier.

I used a single stage process, but there are advantages for 2 stage systems too.

Again, my biggest suggestion is to paint something (or several things) all the way through finish coat before you start on your airplane. The learning curves for equipment set-up, techniques for keeping things clean, spray techinques, etc. are very steep. You don't want your first painting effort to be an airplane part. And don't let primer fool you. Primer is easy to spray.

[SebsRV7A]

So much to learn. I used Imron with a Harbor Freight HVLP gun. I eventually got the combo of the gun, settings, paint, booth, lighting, etc all together and started doing a good job. The post above was right on as far as practicing on something else (wish I'd done that). Use the same kind of paint you're going to paint with. I got some lacquer that the paint shop gave me - nothing like polyurethane enamel.

I would paint the simplest, flattest parts first. I did the wingtips early on and they are hard because of the curved surface.

I improved the results with a filter right on the gun in addition to at the compressor. Kept away the fisheyes from water.

If I could to it again, I'd use a basecoat/clearcoat. The basecoat is flat and supposedly goes on easily, dries fast, and can be worked on. The clear is supposed to be hard to spray because it runs readily, but you get some skill with the basecoat.

You have to be an absolute robot when spraying. You have to do your best to keep the gun distance and the rate of motion as consistent as possible. Now I can use a can of Krylon and do a much better job than I used to because I have a degree of technique.

I ultimately used a handheld flourescent light to allow me to spray in the the glare no matter what the orientation of the part. This was in addition to 8 lights around the booth (I would have used 200 lights if I had a choice).

I painted the spinner last, and other than a very minor sag, it's perfect.

Hope that helps. I had never used a paint gun before, so the learning curve was steep. Still glad I did it.

Seb Trost
RV-7A
Boulder City, NV

[f1rocket]

Get some good cotton rags. I had a problem with fish eyes and eventually found out that the t-shirt I was using had some polyester in it. The solvent was dissolving the polyester and depositing on the surface I thought I was cleaning.

[Rick S.]

I agree that it's very rewarding and very labor intense. I would use base/clear the next time. That system seems a bit easier to lay out than the single stage polys that have a tendency to orange peel more than the base clearcoats seem to. I used four colors, each color added at least a week to the process. Have some help if possible. I didn't alodine but used a two part epoxy primer. Clean, clean, clean, clean....prevents fisheyes and funky stuff in the finish. Watch the air temps, it plays heck with ability of the paint to laydown flat. Heat and humidity are not your friends with paint. Color sanding and buffing makes things look REALLY good, the better the paint job the eaiser to buff..The underside of the fuselage is a pain. Careful with paint masks for N numbers...don't ask why just be aware Dispose of your trash properly. Cover everything in the area that you don't want overspray to hit, and I mean everything. Make some "A" frames to hang pieces parts from. I used 2 x 4's to make the stand and eye hooks every foot or so to hang the parts with bailing wire. If you touch the part to see if it's still wet, it will be wet unless it's the next day. Get the correct respiratory protection. Full face fresh air supplied is the best. Toxic materials can enter through your lungs, eyes, ears and skin...Don't die or get sick doing this, it's not worth it. Use the same brand/system starting with the prep solution all the way through. If you think the FAA can be tough for a violation you ain't seen nuthin till the EPA gets involved. Give a hoot and don't pollute, respect the neighbors/hangars or wherever you're spraying. Cars are overspray magnets.

Hope these little bullets help...I will paint RV #2 myself again but I wasn't so sure after I finshed RV #1.

[carguy614]

I have a few tips I have learned over the years painting cars, and 2 airplanes.
Please take them for what they are worth.

I feel that aerospace coatings are overpriced and overhyped, (although certainly a good choice if you can afford them), and that quality automotive products will produce a durable and satisfying result. My preference is a single stage high solids urethane product. My plane is painted with the Western system, and I have been thrilled with the results. The downside to SS urethane is it's difficulty to blend and repair. Not as big an issue with airplanes, as there is always a panel break line to paint to. My total cost in materials was $655.00, including Nason self etching primer for the inside and out. Don't forget to read the recommendations concerning the mix for aluminum etching, as most of the time the part 2 concentration is upped 50 to 100 percent.

Paint the belly of the aircraft as soon as the canoe is ready to flip. Fit your gear mounts, and install your antennae doublers and blast it. On padded sawhorses for a little while, and then up on the gear, so little chance of damaging it. Just tape it to the break line, and paper it up when you paint the rest of the fuse. You will hate laying on a creeper to paint the belly!!

Use quality 3M green tape. Expensive, and worth every penny. Use coated paper, and buy yourself a small paper dispenser.

Over the years I have used all kinds of equipment, but have been very pleased with my Lex Air HVLP turbine paint system. It takes some practice to get the hang of it, but it produces an excellent result with a moderate learning curve. Folks that have used other equipment may have a little harder time adapting to the process, as you have to "unlearn" your old technique. There are dozens and dozens of small parts to paint on an aircraft project, so the material savings is more significant with a turbine system. If you are buying new equipment to paint your aircraft, consider the cost of a suitable compressor and air drying equipment into the cost analysis. It takes a LOT of clean, dry, compressed air to run a traditional compressed air paint gun. A good turbine solves that issue at a reasonable cost.

I am yet to be convinced that water borne finishes have the durability it takes for an airplane, especially if it is parked on the ramp. I wish you could see my '06 Pontiac Vibe water borne white finish. It looks like a whitewashed fence, and was virtually burned off the car after 3 years. I think the future may bring us a suitable safer water bourne product, but as yet, I am unable to recommend it.

Pay attention to the rivets. Make sure you prime the rivet lines well, and allow adequate time for the solvent to evaporate from around the rivet heads after your final wipe and tac. This will avoid solvent pop around the rivet heads.

NO SILICONE GREASE OR SPRAY ANYWHERE NEAR THE PROJECT!!!! Use fisheye additive only if you absolutely need it. Excessive use of the additive will affect the gloss holdout to various degrees.

Practice with different speed reducers to get the hang of how the finish will flash. You will be dealing with temps that vary as you progress, so consider the size of the area you will paint, and the reducer speed you will need. Rule of thumb, Paint laying flat but lacks holdout, increase the speed. Orange peel, slow the reducer so the paint has time to flatten out before it flashes. Practice.

Have some fun learning a new skill. One you can use over and over. It's a lot of work to paint a plane, but a very satisfying experience.

Don't shoot for absolute perfection. Without years and years of experience, perfect temp and humidity control, and a commercial paint booth, you will not achieve it. That being said, with some practice, you can achieve amazing results.

Hope this helps,
Chris

[David-aviator]

I've done it both ways, myself and someone else (a paint shop).

The someone else route is a lot more fun.

But I know the feeling of needing to do it - so have at it.

[AlexPeterson]

Here are some more:

Practice on 1' x 1' aluminum squares. Get a good digital caliper and understand the thicknesses of what you are spraying. I used a genuine two part epoxy primer, thinned it a little, and sprayed it to around .0005". Base coats added about .0015 or so (9+ years ago...), clear coat another .002" or so. Seems like total was around .004". The weight comes from the colored layers much more than the clear coat - this information should be available from the manufacturer, as well as recommended thicknesses.

Look at a few "professional" paint jobs, and you won't feel so bad about your inevitable imperfections.

Physically demanding - be prepared for that.

[JDanno]

You can use Prekote instead of Alodine. The airlines and the Air Force use it. It's way more enviromentally safe.
I would strongly suggest using a personal air source to save your lungs. I didn't want to spend the $400, so like most folks I tried painting without it. finally I broke down and bought the equipment after my lungs started giving me problems after spraying. A regular mask will NOT do it. Trust me. Sell the air system afterwards and get your money back. Also, the air being forced into the hood will keep your mask/glasses from fogging over.

[Bill Phillips]

Dave, I'm about finished painting my RV-8a and to start final assembly. I started assembly of my over pressure paint booth in June and have been painting all summer long. Still have one elevator and the rudder to top coat. Hopefully this week maybe. It has cost about $1000. for paint and such, plus/minus and tons of prep work. I just cannot afford $7/8 K for somebody else to do what I knew I could do. Not everybody is in the same boat though. Building a kit is mere mechanics. Follow the plans, drill, cleco, dipple, debur, rivet. Do it enough times over and over and you have a plane at the end. Painting is art needing some skill and talent. Not eveybody has. I've seen plane paint jobs that were very sad and I'll bet most of you readers have as well. Though I've painted show cars and cycles, boats and planes and motor homes since I was a teenage kid it still took me several sessions to get my "touch" back. That is before I was satisfied with the product. You painters know exactly what I'm saying. So not to discourage you I recommend you do a bunch of self assessment and decide what quality your willing to accept before you start shooting paint. I'll be glad to answer any questions off line and best regards, Bill