How to restore interior paint?

I'm getting to the stage where I need to start thinking about repainting or cleaning up the interior on the -3. It was originally painted with automotive DuPont Nason light glossy gray, which looked great but has taken a beating over 400 flight hours + being tossed around in a tornado, disassembled, hauled around, and worked on for 3 years. Anyone have decent luck with rattle cans? How do you clean/prep the surfaces in such a tight area?

The Nason paint was a good choice. The process to recover the old paint would require a scuffing and one additional coating. Rattle cans are a sub-par choice, they just do not hold up long tern.

You may consider Vinyl wrap as currently being discussed here in other threads.

Bevan

I would stick with the DuPont or compatible paint. Rattle cans won't hold up as well, and if you ever want to go back to a DuPont or equivalent, it will be much harder after the rattle can.

The basic procedure is to disassemble what you can, scuff with scotch brite pads, follow with a wax and grease remover, mask and paint.

You just want to take the shine off the paint with the SB pads.
If there is bare metal, you will need to primer those spots.
Put wax n grease remover on wet and immediately follow with a dry cloth. Don't let it dry or there is a good possibility you will have pitting or dimples in your paint.
You should use compressed air to blow out the corners or you will have lots of dirt in your paint.

It will be worth the work.

Hope that is somewhat useful.

Thanks Mike, that's very useful and follows what my gut told me--that it will not be easy to do it right!

Yeah Stripes, the Nason is a great paint. There was duct tape on the fuselage baking in the sun for a few months before I got it. I finally just removed the last bits of it using Goo Gone and a sanded piece of broken canopy as a scraper. It didn't hurt the paint one bit. The interior would actually probably look fine once it's cleaned up, but there are some chips here and there, so it won't look "new" unless I redo it.

AircraftWraps is looking promising for refinishing the exterior!

KatieB said:

Thanks Mike, that's very useful and follows what my gut told me--that it will not be easy to do it right!

Yeah Stripes, the Nason is a great paint. There was duct tape on the fuselage baking in the sun for a few months before I got it. I finally just removed the last bits of it using Goo Gone and a sanded piece of broken canopy as a scraper. It didn't hurt the paint one bit. The interior would actually probably look fine once it's cleaned up, but there are some chips here and there, so it won't look "new" unless I redo it.

AircraftWraps is looking promising for refinishing the exterior!

Click to expand...

Both our RV8's have vinyl brushed metals and carbon fiber with TEXTURE! You will never know you dont actually have a "Brushed Titanium" panel!

We have anything you need. Let us know...

We start small... like a panel... then we hook ya!!!!

You will join the Wrap Mafia!

*True story: we sent our black carbon fiber to a builder. Yes, its the same price as whats sold elsewhere. Obviously we only use THE BEST as stated before.

That builder sent cash wrapped in an envelope and stated, "you didn't charge enough. Go have a few beers on me". This is why I love working with my fellow pilots/builders. You would never get this elsewhere.

*** that builder might have something to do with exhaust systems? Started with a "V" and ended with "man"?

Bevan said:

You may consider Vinyl wrap as currently being discussed here in other threads.

Bevan

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I have been considering vinyl wrap, particularly the carbon fiber look 3M wraps. I had two concerns. Firstly, and most significantly, there are so many nooks, crannies, and tricky little areas around roll bars, spar pass through, seat areas etc etc that it would be a nightmare to install I think. Second, I'm concerned that in the (hopefully) very small chance of fire in the cockpit that the smoke from the vinyl would be incapacitating very quickly.

I've been judiciously using various solvents starting at weaker (water) and moving to stronger as necessary (up to acetone) to clean existing paint from stains and hoping to find some touch up that is a match.

AircraftWraps said:

We start small... like a panel... then we hook ya!!!!

You will join the Wrap Mafia!

Click to expand...

LOL! I have also been contemplating how to label all my switches and breakers... So I can send you my panel face, all drilled, cut & filed, with the design sketch and have you wrap it?

KatieB said:

LOL! I have also been contemplating how to label all my switches and breakers... So I can send you my panel face, all drilled, cut & filed, with the design sketch and have you wrap it?

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We are doing just that right now as I post this.

We have a RV7 panel. The owner traced the panel on paper. He then wrote the labels where he would like them. Colors, style, etc... We will be sending him a digital proof via email that he can still make changes to. Once he's satisfied, we will print. In his case it will be on a carbon fiber with white lettering except where he decides he'd like red or yellow or... anything!

You want zebra!? we can do zebra!

He sent us his panel so we will install and ship back. We can also print from the traced paper sketch and send to the builder for he/she to install. (caution with this option)

AircraftWraps said:

We are doing just that right now as I post this.

We have a RV7 panel. The owner traced the panel on paper. He then wrote the labels where he would like them. Colors, style, etc... We will be sending him a digital proof via email that he can still make changes to. Once he's satisfied, we will print. In his case it will be on a carbon fiber with white lettering except where he decides he'd like red or yellow or... anything!

You want zebra!? we can do zebra!

He sent us his panel so we will install and ship back. We can also print from the traced paper sketch and send to the builder for he/she to install. (caution with this option)

Click to expand...

Can y'all post some pics of the panel with lettering? I've been trying to figure out what way to go about cockpit labeling, this might just be the best way yet.

p51dplt said:

Can y'all post some pics of the panel with lettering? I've been trying to figure out what way to go about cockpit labeling, this might just be the best way yet.

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I too am interested in this. I'd like white lettering over black carbon fibre look. Trying to figure out how to do with without dry rub on or clear labels.