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Advice / Suggestions on Painting the Interior

Brett H

Active Member
I am point in time where I need to paint the interior. The Finish Kit has arrived and I am almost ready to start on it.

I have the full interior package. So, a minimum amount of painting will be needed. Also, I primed the interior aluminum pieces.

Two questions.

Regarding gloss and matte / flat paint, any reasons to pick one over the other? Are reflections an issue?

The interior pieces are the Pewter / Ash color combination (i.e. gray). Also, based on the small area to be painted, my lack experience painting with a spray gun and I am planning on doing this at home, my plan is to use a ?rattle can?. Any suggestions on color / brand of the spray paint?

Thanks.

Brett Herrick
Columbus, Indiana
 
I've found Rustoleum brand rattle can paint to be the most durable, although it takes a while to cure.

As far as matte and gloss go, I'd recommend a darker color and flat paint to minimize reflections inside the canopy. I have my interior paint is a gloss tan and the reflections are noticeable when I'm taking pictures from inside the canopy. Otherwise, I don't notice them.
 
Also went with Rustoleum rattle can gloss almond. I tried some other paint that was a matte finish and those areas are more difficult to wipe clean and vacuum.

Did not consider reflections as a problem but will see in 4-6 months.
 
I'm going with the Jetflex WR like many others here. I have the paint now and I'm just at the point of starting to do some spray testing on some scrap pieces. We'll see how it goes this weekend.
 
JetFlex WR worked well for me as well.

Tips: Spray it first onto scrap parts ... there IS a learning curve if you are looking for a smooth finish. It is a very thick paint (think almost as thick as sour cream) and it does require a little thinning with distilled water ... and, in my case, I also needed a larger tip on the spray gun to obtain the desired finish.

Cleanup with an ammonia and water mix, then acetone to remove the film left behind after the big stuff is cleaned up. The paint forms a film almost instantly when it hits air, so don't leave the lid off the can any longer than necessary to pour. I also found spraying wine preservative (a mix of argon and/or nitrogen) into the can prior to putting the lid down tight really helps keep the paint fresh in the can.

The paint is very durable after a couple weeks of curing.
 
Vans powder coat color

When I was painting the interior, 2011, I contacted vans about the color used on the parts received already powder coated. I took as many parts as practical to a local powder coat facility who used the same Cardinal colors. I had the parts, flap handle, seat backs, inspection panels, fuel tank neck, etc powder coated the same grey color. I also bought from them cans of shake-n-shoot matching grey color. I used the spray paint on the sides, under the panel area, and the exposed baggage floor area. Not much in the imagination department but it came out nice in my book.
The panel got a stone (grey speckle look) darker grey powder coat from the Cardinal color chart.
I still get some reflection but not bad.
 
In the Jet Flex Camp

I was in the same quandary when the time came and I did the same thing?got on the jungle telegraph and asked around. I heard from two or three trusted sources that they?d had excellent results with the Jet Flex WR, applied with a very inexpensive HVLP gun from Harbor Freight. Bruce Hill on this forum was the first. I had precisely zero experience with a real live spray gun and was hesitant to go that way, well?let?s make that ?terrified.?

The other option I was considering was the same you mentioned, SEM spray cans. I primed quite a bit using the SEM self-etching primer. Results were top notch but the cost was breathtaking. That paint is about $17 per can and it used a lot. So what?s a mother to do? The cost factor pushed me to give the gun a try ? or should I say give it a shot? (Sorry ?bout that.)

I bought the Jet Flex from SW in San Diego and the exact model number gun (69705) from my local HF for 30 bucks cheap, and opted to try it on some test pieces first. I tweaked the adjustments and the spray distance until I found what seemed to be the best combination, then shot some scrap flaperon skins and the underside of one of the baggage floors. About 20 minutes later when the paint was completely flashed off, I was delighted to behold that it looked as perfect as any pro could do it. I went ahead and did the whole interior floor and sidewall bulkhead assembly based on the test result. It was that good. That gun and that paint really work. I couldn?t be happier (and more relieved).

The finished job turned out every bit as good as the test pieces. No runs, no drips, no errors. Just follow the directions that come with the paint and the directions for the gun. Shoot with everything within the recommended temperature range. Keep the gun moving, equidistant from the work surface and at right angles to it. Overlap the passes about 50%. If your air is dry and the parts and the painting environment are clean ? I mean really clean ? expect success.

One observation: After I had finished the test pieces, I was at first convinced I had blown it completely. One of the worst orange peel jobs ever was lying there mocking me to scorn. Must?ve had some or all of the adjustments and techniques wrong. But then, as the paint started to flash it flowed out and laid right down beautifully.

This is supposed to be about education and recreation. I?d say jump in and get both. Happy airplane building.

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John, did you have a decisant dryer on your air line or just a moisture separator?

Yup. Desiccant dryer, absolutely. Since I was coming from the dark place of ignorance, inexperience and fear, I even bought a new air hose, dedicated for painting only. The dryer lives on it.
 
one more opinon

go dark.....flat is not as nice to touch, but easier to touch-up.
but you'll likely be touching it up MORE, as it isn't as scuff-resistant.

no free lunch eh?

no use painting dark, then putting in light upholstery and wearing white clothes.
that's ALLL you'll see in the canopy when you look around on a bright day!...kind why we do glareshields flat black!

YMMV, my silly $.02
 
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Regarding Jetflex WR:

1.) Any suggestions as to where to purchase it?
2.) What type of gun to spray it with?
3.) What type of Personal Protective Equipment is needed (i.e. mask, etc.)?

Thanks.

Brett
Columbus, Indiana
 
Regarding Jetflex WR:

1.) Any suggestions as to where to purchase it?
2.) What type of gun to spray it with?
3.) What type of Personal Protective Equipment is needed (i.e. mask, etc.)?

Thanks.

Brett
Columbus, Indiana

1.) Try http://www.aircraftpaintsupply.com in Chillicothe, OH
bought mine over the phone from Sherwin-Williams Aero distrib in SoCal, showed up at my door in two days. Water based, NO hazmat fee.

2.) Harbor Freight SKU 69705, the one with the regulator included

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3.) This Kind, from Lowe's, Menard's or equivalent honey-do generator store...

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4.) Like Majuro15 mentioned in a previous post, also get a desiccant in-line dryer, which is also from your favorite local home Homestuff warehouse, same as the mask. Air supply obviously needs to be clean and dry.
 
Many thanks for all of the responses. In particular, I appreciate John's detailed responses.

The Jetflex WR seems like a good option (i.e. fairly easy to spray, limited smell / fumes (i.e. key for spraying at home), good durability and easy touch up).

Two more questions:

1.) I have primed the interior metal pieces will the Sherwin Willims rattle can self etching primer (i.e. scuffed with a scotch brite pad prior to priming) prior to riveting. Is the rivets not being primed an issue?

2.) What is needed to prepare the primed surface prior to spraying it with Jeflex WR (i.e. nothing, lightly scuff with scotch brite pad, degrease, something else)?

Thanks.

Brett Herrick
Columbus, Indiana
 
prior to priming) prior to riveting. Is the rivets not being primed an issue?

2.) What is needed to prepare the primed surface prior to spraying it with Jeflex WR (i.e. nothing, lightly scuff with scotch brite pad, degrease, something else)?

Thanks.

Brett Herrick
Columbus, Indiana

Keep everything covered as well as possible after priming to prevent contaminants from settling on it. Plastic sheeting drop cloths work well.
At paint time, go over the surfaces to be painted with an air gun - again, the dryer the air the better.
Last thing before spraying, lightly wipe down all surfaces with a tack rag. That is what worked for me. Wishing you every success.
 
Just did my first batch of Jetflex WR. I started with 10% DI water and decided that wasn't enough. I shot 3 test pieces then decided to dilute a little more and then I shot the F-704 assembly. It came out really nice for my first attempt.

I prepped the pieces by using maroon scotch Brite on my Akzo primer followed by a wipe with a tack cloth.
 
I realize spray cans are easy, and eco-friendly feels good....but for plain 'ole toughness, painting the interior with the same products used on the exterior has a lot of merit. By "same", I mean a quality epoxy primer and two-part single stage acrylic urethane, or two part base/urethane clear.

I have a flat black glareshield in the tip-over canopy, and the panel itself is semi-gloss, but the rest is PPG DCU urethane clear. Canopy reflections have not been a problem, and at 600 hours, there is little or no seat belt damage. I don't use carpet, so shoe grit has scratched the painted floors, but it's surface only, not enough to penetrate the clearcoat.

Do not paint the cabin side of the stainless steel firewall.

 
Lessons Learned Spray Painting My Interior

First, thanks to all of the people who have helped me.

Regarding the decision to spray gun paint it or rattle can it, I glad that I went the spray gun route. Spray painting was a new experience. It generally went well. Yes, I wish the spray paint would have ended up a bit smoother (i.e. I think the root cause of this is overspray). But, it is my belief that by spray painting I got better coverage than I would have gotten with rattle can, that it turned out better than if I had used a rattle can and allowed me to gain a better understanding of spray painting (i.e. I had no prior spray painting experience).

I selected the Sherwin Williams JetFlex WR because of its low fumes (i.e. my house in a residential area and I painted it in my garage) and recommendation of others. I would use it again. I diluted the paint 17.5% (i.e. it was in the middle of the recommended 10 ? 25%).

Trying to get the standard color chart for JetFlex WR from Sherwin Williams was not successful. After multiple requests on the Sherwin Williams website, they finally sent me the standard colors for all of their paints EXCEPT JetFlex WR. So, a phone call to them, explained what happened and they said that they would send it. It never came. I finally got the standard color chart from the distributor in Ohio.

Yes, I used the recommend Harbor Freight HVLP gun. The first one had to be returned. It would not come apart to be cleaned. The second one didn?t want to come apart either. But, the store manager finally got it apart.

Building the paint booth went well. One inch PVC pipe made a good structure that the plastic was wrapped over. I would have liked the ?door? for entering and exiting to have sealed better. I had two twenty inch fans with furnace filters in front of them pulling the air out. It is not clear how much air flow is right amount. Does more air flow do a better job of removing the over spray or does it spread it around more? In hindsight, I wish I had run the fans on high rather than low. Finally, pressing some of the PVC pipe connections together rather than gluing them worked well and allowed the paint booth frame to be taken apart so that it could be stored in my attic.

My path to learning to spray paint was to use scrap pieces of aluminum, advancing to internal inspection covers that run down the center of the fuselage, then onto the baggage compartment skins, then the seats and then finally the interior of the fuselage.

Lessons learned:
1. Spray painting with distilled water was cost effective way to learn what the spray gun adjustments did
2. In the diluting the paint, weigh the paint and water to added to separately and then mix. This way you can?t add to much water to the paint.
3. Painting parts hung vertically didn?t work for me because they moved around too much.
4. The Harbor Freight stand for holding the spray gun was well worth the cost.
5. Going through the motions as to how I was to spray a part was good practice for when I was actually going to spray paint the part.
6. Spray painting the edge and then the whole part didn?t work for me (i.e. I got a funny line approximately a quarter of an inch inboard from the edge). So, I just spray painted the surface making sure to start spraying before the edge and stopping after the edge.
7. The mask, google and Tyvek suit didn?t limit my ability to spray paint. I?m glad that I wore it.
8. I setup the spray gun by allowing maximum paint flow, adjusting the spray pattern to what was designed and finally the air pressure to what gave a nice spray pattern.
9. I went away from the Harbor Freight filter / dryer to its large pressure drop when the spray gun is flowing air and its length. I switched to a filter dryer from Lowes that is the size of a small orange.
10. Purchasing multiple quarts at one time rather than a gallon made it easier to stir the paint and minimize the time that it was open.
11. Cleaning the gun right after spraying kept the gun from plugging during the next use. Unfortunately, during drying of the spray nozzle with an air hose it slipped out of my hand and was damaged. Efforts to purchase a replacement spray gun at the local Harbor Freight has not been successful. Of the 7 in stock, 5 wouldn?t come apart to be cleaned and 2 came apart at the wrong location.

Once again, many thanks for those who helped me with this. I couldn?t have done it without your help.

Brett
Columbus, IN
Starting on the Finish Kit
 
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