Paint options, your opinions please

Ok, I really wanted to use Stewart Systems water based paints when I paint my 12. Having zero experience with a spray gun, I want to self learn - you know, experience to be gained and entertainment? As I approach the end of my build, I am getting more and more leery of the SS system in that almost all of the SS finished AC that I see don't have a nice glossy finish. I am willing to do the work necessary to achieve a glossy finish but don't want to do it twice - you know what I mean.

So please advise me as to which paint company and specific product numbers please, with which you have had great success. I don't need a show quality finish but don't want to be disappointed as I approach my AC each time I fly. Thanks for your input here. I appreciate.

Hard to beat a single stage urethane..I like PPG. Not hard to do if you learn to "read the paint" when applying. I'm not an expert, but learned myself on cars. I have less than 1K in my RV-4 paint, and it always gets compliments. Simple one color shoot, and you can do graphics in vinyl if you choose. I painted mine before final assembly in homemade booth. I dont know much about the SS, but I dont know anyone that has done it either.

I've only shot their EkoPoxy and clear gloss EkoCrylic. I'm a painting newbie.

The primer was not hard to learn. I like it and, if I had more to prime than I do at this stage, would use it more.

The gloss coat was interesting. I never got the hang of spraying on very thin coats as they recommend and that's my fault. That said, I did get a nice gloss, marred by various defects, orange peel being the most common.

I haven't tried rubbing it out. Perhaps that would help. This was on an interior piece, and the gloss was to see how hard it was to paint.

Dave

fixnflyguy said:

Hard to beat a single stage urethane..I like PPG. Not hard to do if you learn to "read the paint" when applying. I'm not an expert, but learned myself on cars. I have less than 1K in my RV-4 paint, and it always gets compliments. Simple one color shoot, and you can do graphics in vinyl if you choose. I painted mine before final assembly in homemade booth. I dont know much about the SS, but I dont know anyone that has done it either.

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This is the way to go. Find a local auto paint supplier. Talk to them about what brands they carry (PPG, Naison, etc), then go with their product line, since it will be available locally. A single stage urethane is as simple as it gets.

FYI - painting is a very tedious process to get things right and to learn the appropriate skills and techniques. Sanding paint off of an airplane is as unrewarding as it gets. It can be worth having a local auto paint shop do your painting for you.

Only tried the Primer...

I tried the ekoprimer and maybe I was doing it wrong or who knows. But I was not happy with the hardness of the primer... Was easily scratched. I gave it a go because it is water based and I didn't want to deal with toxic stuff.

Long story short I ended up scraping all of the paint off and redoing it with a 2K epoxy aviation primer. And yes the prep is extremely time consuming but it is much easier to spray and tough as nails.

No Idea about the top coats or any of that. Never tried that.

Again just my experience. maybe I was doing something wrong but it didn't work for me.

Paint Experience

I have spray painted Lacquers, enamels, Single stage, base coat/ clear coat and Dupont Emron paints but I am not a painter...I am a backyard mechanic that built an RV6 starting 20 years ago. Lacguers and enamels have pretty much been replaced by newer paints. Emron had a very durable finish with high shine but took some skill to spray & was very difficult to polish out errors. I had a paint job on a C170 last over 30 years & remain as good as new to this day with Emron. My RV6 was my first base coat/clear coat and was the simplest to do and took the least skill but, while my RV6 has been flying 15 years, it does not come close to the Emron. Repaint will be needed way before 30 years. It still shines but is not as durable, scratches easily, and also chips somewhat but most car painters ( and RV builders) load up on the clear as it builds up the shine more and probably increases durability. This adds weight at an alarming rate so I limited the coats...my weight is about 1030 pounds. A real good shine and interior could make it 1100 pounds. Your choice is either performance or looks but it is a choice. I never did a water base paint job but the industry is being pushed that way and, at my age, I will never try it. All painting was done in make shift spray booths with outside air sources as a one time event, all were less than $1500 each and were to be my last paint job.

Dick DeCramer
N500DD built & flying
RV4 accident rebuild.
RV8 sold
C170, Luscombe
Faribault, MN

fixnflyguy said:

Hard to beat a single stage urethane..I like PPG. Not hard to do if you learn to "read the paint" when applying. I'm not an expert, but learned myself on cars. I have less than 1K in my RV-4 paint, and it always gets compliments. Simple one color shoot, and you can do graphics in vinyl if you choose. I painted mine before final assembly in homemade booth. I dont know much about the SS, but I dont know anyone that has done it either.

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I will be using the PPG system as well. 9000 series primer/base/clear. It is also California compliant. I attended a 3 day PPG Aerospace training session (really tough to get into....mostly for large paint shop customers) and feel confident I can do a white plus 2 accent color metallic design on my own. But if you have any spraying experience at all it is pretty straightforward. I will be renting an auto paint booth and painting before assembly in a few months.

Used SPI epoxy primer and single stage Nason polyurethane top coats. All sprayed with a turbine HVLP. May not be show quality but it is light and looks good to me when I walk into the hangar. Also less than $1000 in paint cost.
Painted before final assembly in my shop with a big exhaust fan and curtains. Very little overspray using an Apollo gun. Primer was applied per SPI instructions and SPI owner recommended Nason because he did not like using SPI polyurethane with a turbine HVLP gun. Primer is a direct to metal type. Wash with Dawn, then SPI degreaser, sand, wash again with SPI degreaser, spray primer.

Using a single stage like Imron is the easiest way to get a good high quality paint job as a non experienced painter. Without experience, runs, orange peel, dry spray and other such issues are unavoidable unless you just get plain lucky. The positives associated with single stage urethane are, (1) durability (2) simple ability to blend if you get hangar rash (3) easy to cut and buff out runs and other imperfections. On the downside it is more time consuming and labor intensive but the most durable. Another thing to point out is using solid colors is preferable to metallics as metallics are not able to be sanded and buffed.

If I were in your shoes I would get a good quality paint gun for the paint and a cheap harbor freight gun for the primer. You can drive yourself bananas trying to use a cheap HF gun with a large fluid tip for spraying paint. The Devilbiss Finishline 4 FLG-670 is my recommendation. Go to a local junk yard and get a couple of wrecked fenders to practice on and learn on them. You?ll be surprised how quickly you learn how to lay down a good pattern on a practice part. There are many good YouTube vids for beginners.

Just like learning sheet metal skills, painting is a skill that has to be acquired also. In the end it is very rewarding to have a plane that YOU built and painted when you hop in to go flying! Good luck.

I painted Custom paint jobs for years, isocyanates are dangerous to you and people around you.
Use vinyl wrap. I wrapped my airplane and I’d never go back to paint. What I like best about the vinyl is that it’s got some give to it, so it doesn’t chip like paints, I’ve put it over Imron and pulled a sheet off without heating it well and it pulled off the paint. That’s how good it binds to paint under it.
It looks amazing and if you get sick of it you heat it pull it off and reapply new vinyl. It’s super easy to clean, just use plexus, like on your glare shield or you can wash it just like paint. There’s some pictures at vansrv6.com Check it out.
I used to paint custom paint, flames, drips, endless line, crinkle,all kinds of stuff and I really enjoy doing vinyl
Now instead. It can be done in pieces too, no mixing no set up no drying time. It’s just wonderful to work with compared to paints but it doesn’t hide things so whatever is under it will show just like with paint.
You’ll see rivets just like with paint. If you get a hair under it you’ll see it.

Turbo69bird said:

...Use vinyl wrap...

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Got any good resources for measuring, cutting, and applying unique shapes? I'm debating doing some of the trim on the RV-10 in vinyl, but don't have a clear path from conception to execution. The challenge (IMO) is making the custom graphics look proportionally correct (maybe in mockup form), then translating that to the final material.