Paint Question

I am getting ready to repaint some parts of my plane with a different color but have no intention of stripping the entire plane of the base white paint. Not being a painter I'd like some advice from the painting gurus out there. I think the current paint on the plane is a single stage because when I wet sanded a test area with 1200 grit sand paper the color came off and if it were a bc/cc paint I would have expected only the clear to come off. So my question is if there is any way to tell what kind of paint was used, enamel, acrylic, or urethane? I will be using a primer/sealer before painting on the new color and not sure what types of primer/sealer and paint I should use.

primer sealer

Hi, I am by no means an expert painter. However I do know that a cured paint properly cleaned first then sanded will take your new primer sealer just fine. As for as what kind of paint now thats a can of worms. I tried some pit from aircraft spruce, didnt like it. I have finally decided to go with deltron basecoat/clearcoat. You will get many responses on the type of paint for sure.

Here is what I would do in your case, thouroghly clean with soap and water first. I used dawn dishwashing liquid, rinsed good. Sand with about 400 grits or so being careful not to go to bare metal, then prime and paint. My motto is ya cant get it too clean before painting. Hope this helps

bird

To capflyer

Depending on the age of the aircraft and the last time the paint job was done the product most likely used was a polyurethane. Enamel coatings have not been the conventional aircraft paint since the 70's so that is one way. As for what products to use I would suggest a couple of PTI's products. PRIMERS: For the aluminum parts i would suggest using the PTI's wash primer followed by the epoxy primer. For the composite parts you will not need the wash primer. You can use either the epoxy primer or the epoxy sander filler primer (this choice depends on the consistency of the composite substrate i.e. pinholes/imperfections). Topcoat: After all the prep work and priming is finished I recommend using PTI's single stage polyurethane.

I would be more than happy to walk you through the application process and offer any technical support that I possibly can.

A quick little test to do is to wipe a small area with some acetone or MEK on a rag. If no paint comes off there is a good chance you have a 2 part(base plus hardener) urethane paint. If it is easy to wipe down to bare metal chances are good you have a 1 part enamel. As far as what paint to use, everyone has a different favorite but mine are JET-GLO and Alumi-Grip. Easy to use, looks great, lasts long time.