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Flat Finish Paint

Like a rat rod gray .. ? Would work fine except that every time you touched it with something oily or scuffed the surface it would show a mark. I find that mine is always getting wiped down to get bugs and stuff off, and a flat finish would quickly become something else.

Or you could use a low gloss wrap that's really popular on a lot of high end cars right now ... might hold up better.
 
I’ve done flat a couple of times. It’s hard to keep clean and you can’t polish out imperfections.
 
Vinyl

You might buy a few samples on vinyl and place them outside as a test. Easier to clean than flat paint.
 
Flat Paint

I actually already painted it in Sherwin Williams MIL-PRF-85285E Lusterless (Flat). It’s essentially flat Jetglo that complies with a military specification. It’s tough as nails. I accidentally dropped my biggest flat blade screwdriver on it and not a scratch. However…. The airplane is 30 MPH slower than before I painted it. My airspeed and GPS indicate the same with no wind. Compression is good. I was just wondering if anyone had painted theirs flat and if their performance suffered. I love the color and finish but 30mph is a bunch.
 
30 mph loss? Yep, that's significant. I recall a post awhile back, here on VAF IIRC, about the performance difference between flush riveting and round head rivets. Seems they glued split peas on the exterior of a Spitfire to simulate domed rivets and suffered a 25 mph loss.
OTH, a flat finish can look really cool.
Care to share a pic of your lusterless bird?

Doug
Seattle area
 
I’ve had customers claim a slight increase in speed, like 2 or 3 mph, after painting but never a decrease.
 
Airspeed

30 mph loss? Yep, that's significant. I recall a post awhile back, here on VAF IIRC, about the performance difference between flush riveting and round head rivets. Seems they glued split peas on the exterior of a Spitfire to simulate domed rivets and suffered a 25 mph loss.
OTH, a flat finish can look really cool.
Care to share a pic of your lusterless bird?

Doug
Seattle area

That's a lot. Is it possible the paint changed the flow around the ports or got inside?
 
I actually already painted it in Sherwin Williams MIL-PRF-85285E Lusterless (Flat). It’s essentially flat Jetglo that complies with a military specification. It’s tough as nails. I accidentally dropped my biggest flat blade screwdriver on it and not a scratch. However…. The airplane is 30 MPH slower than before I painted it. My airspeed and GPS indicate the same with no wind. Compression is good. I was just wondering if anyone had painted theirs flat and if their performance suffered. I love the color and finish but 30mph is a bunch.

Gloss comes from a very flat and defect free surface area. The flatter it is the better the gloss. "Flat" paints achieve their effect by leaving millions of defects in the surface that create a mountain range look at the micro level. This disrupts the light reflection and gives the flat effect. No surprise that putting this on your wings will spoil the airflow at the boundary layer. We have seen fiberglass planes called slippery and get speed advantages because of it.

30 MPH surprises me a bit, but I definately would expect a flat paint to reduce speed. Dan just posted a 4 knot increase just by waxing his plane, which smooths out the surface with it's very thin layer. A smooth and defect free surface area matters.

Larry
 
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Flat paint...........

Wanted to fly instead of paint. This is VeriPrime. Soon I will paint it but will go with grey military instead and not go completely flat. Paint adds weight....:D

Bugs and oil etc can be an issue but then it looks more military.
 

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Wanted to fly instead of paint. This is VeriPrime. Soon I will paint it but will go with grey military instead and not go completely flat. Paint adds weight....:D

Bugs and oil etc can be an issue but then it looks more military.

Veriprime does nothing to prevent corrosion. Also, when it comes time to paint, paint stripper will not take it off. MEK and scotchbrite will though.

I’ve been down the veriprime road many times.
 
VeriPrime

Veriprime does nothing to prevent corrosion. Also, when it comes time to paint, paint stripper will not take it off. MEK and scotchbrite will though.

I’ve been down the veriprime road many times.

Well, SuzieQ has been flying since 1997 primed with VeriPrime and no signs of corrosion anywhere, including interior. But: 'tis a privilege to live in Colorado for multiple reasons. This should NOT be a tickler to start the Primer Wars again.....:p

My experience with that primer is likely not as extensive as yours but I have roughed it up with fine-grade sand paper and painted over it. That paint has STUCK. That may be different when I decide to paint the entire airplane but I'll be doing some testing of paint adherence first.....and may even remove it with the MEK/Scotchbrite route first...... Now: flying without issues.....

My favorite story of this paint scheme: I was at a fly-in somewhere in Colorado and standing in front of the airplane talking to people about my pride and joy. A muscular young man with two young women in tow stopped in front of SuzieQ and, with his vast aviation knowledge and in his rough masculine voice, declared "Yeah: this was a trainer during WW II." :rolleyes: I could have ruined his whole day right there and instead I said.......'Yeah'.......:D:D:D They walked on without further discussion.....
 
DESCRIPTION
A two-component, self-etching primer designed for spot, panel and overall repairs. It is fast-drying and provides excellent corrosion resistance and direct-to-metal adhesion.


Cut and pasted from website from product details.
 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kBbUxpSGHvMZgnLKJMkccPPHTHo1pDfF/view?usp=sharing
30 mph loss? Yep,
view
that's significant. I recall a post awhile back, here on VAF IIRC, about the performance difference between flush riveting and round head rivets. Seems they glued split peas on the exterior of a Spitfire to simulate domed rivets and suffered a 25 mph loss.
OTH, a flat finish can look really cool.
Care to share a pic of your lusterless bird?

Doug
Seattle area

No sweat Doug. Here’s a photo of the airplane. New to the vans photo pasting thing. Might take a couple stabs.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kBbUxpSGHvMZgnLKJMkccPPHTHo1pDfF/view?usp=sharing
 
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PPG Desothane Milspec flats

At my dayjob, we do depot maintenance for a large USAF flying gas station, which is entirely flat grey, AKA "Camo Grey" and some flat white and black for the markings. We use PPG Desothane which is a very robust 2 part urethane aircraft paint. It doesn't have the same full flat absorbency that leaves grease marks and stains, and can be washed like any other paint. I painted my RV-4 with gloss Desothane white 12 years ago, and it is some of the most durable paint around.
 
Desothane

I run a restoration shop and we've been using Desothane since 2007. The flat colors turn out amazing and it's a very durable paint.
Just last week I had to paint a replacement canopy on a P-40. We had originally painted the plane back in 2012. I pulled out the 10 year old Desothane for that plane mixed it and sprayed it. It sprayed good, cured good, and match up perfectly to the original paint. There was no UV fading in the original paint as far as I could tell. It's amazing stuff.

Brandon
 
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