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reply > What's Primed? ...mothership vid

jeffw@sc47

Well Known Member
My link to the YouTube vid did not allow me to reply on YT, therefore this thread.

When I received my QB RV-14A fuselage about 3 1/2 years ago it was not primed. I expected that it would be, as I asked that specific question when I ordered it and was told it will be primed with an OD Green Sher/Will primer.

So I called Van's support to report that and was told that the primer on mine was a clear primer. That was complete BS, but there was nothing I could do - so rivet on, but not very pleased with the brush-off bogus answer.

I did a few things to try to verify that it might be clear primed. Had a few EAA Chapter members look at it to give their opinion. No one thought it was primed with a clear primer. Is there a clear primer? Pretty poor customer support and inspection at Van's before shipping a QB out as completed.
 
My link to the YouTube vid did not allow me to reply on YT, therefore this thread.

When I received my QB RV-14A fuselage about 3 1/2 years ago it was not primed. I expected that it would be, as I asked that specific question when I ordered it and was told it will be primed with an OD Green Sher/Will primer.

So I called Van's support to report that and was told that the primer on mine was a clear primer. That was complete BS, but there was nothing I could do - so rivet on, but not very pleased with the brush-off bogus answer.

I did a few things to try to verify that it might be clear primed. Had a few EAA Chapter members look at it to give their opinion. No one thought it was primed with a clear primer. Is there a clear primer? Pretty poor customer support and inspection at Van's before shipping a QB out as completed.

They use a wash primer that has a dulling look to it, post a pic we can clear it up real quick :D
 
There IS a clear wash primer and that is what they use. It turns the silver color a bit towards a duller grey shade. Compare a primed surface to a non-primed Alum sheet and it will be obvious.
 
did bunches of things to confirm primed - no joy

The QB fuse was delivered 3 - 4 years ago and I painted the interior, can't send a pic now.

One of the things we did was compare other non-primed aluminum skins and other parts to the interior, looked the same. Scratched here and there a little to see if anything came off.

Nothing close to a grey shade or any other color shade or tint.

Never came to any conclusion other than bare metal.
 
The QB fuse was delivered 3 - 4 years ago and I painted the interior, can't send a pic now.

One of the things we did was compare other non-primed aluminum skins and other parts to the interior, looked the same. Scratched here and there a little to see if anything came off.

Nothing close to a grey shade or any other color shade or tint.

Never came to any conclusion other than bare metal.

Jeff,
I don't doubt that you tried a number of things to confirm that there was primer on the assemblies, but I can assure you there is.
There has never (at least not in my 25+ years at Van's) been a single QB kit to leave the factory that wasn't primed.
 
The QB fuse was delivered 3 - 4 years ago and I painted the interior, can't send a pic now.

One of the things we did was compare other non-primed aluminum skins and other parts to the interior, looked the same. Scratched here and there a little to see if anything came off.

Nothing close to a grey shade or any other color shade or tint.

Never came to any conclusion other than bare metal.

Unless you painted the inside of the entire fues, there are other parts that can be open to take a picture. There is a huge difference between a untouched skin and one that has been primed by VANs and in my opinion, unmistakable. There won't be any tint of color but the dullness is very clear.
 
Unless you painted the inside of the entire fues, there are other parts that can be open to take a picture.

...and with all of those described attempts to make a determination there wasn't a single photo taken at the time? Something as important as the priming on a QB and it wasn't documented in any way, even to correspond with Van's about it. Odd.
 
Odd?

That is odd.

What's odd is that you have to point out that you have to label that it's odd. It is what occurred at the time - it are what it are. Live with it, life doesn't follow many steadfast rules and everybody is somebody different. I ended up living with it, so should you. Facts are facts.

If I had a picture it is not likely that you would be able to discern that fine of a detail anyway.
 
PICS - Interior fuselage primed ?

Here are 4 pics of the fuselage arrival October 2016 and into November having mated the rear empennage and then the rear canopy and some of the floor panels. The primer on the empennage bulkhead, the floor panels and roll-over was what I did.

After being told that the fuselage interior would be primed a dull green color and recently seeing Vans' video featuring the green primer, the clear primer story finally seemed very dubious.

Fuselg primed? - 1.png

Fuselg primed? - 2.png

Fuselg primed? - 3.png

Fuselg primed? - 1 (1).png

There wasn't a hint of any color in the fuse interior.
 
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Here are 4 pics of the fuselage arrival October 2016 and into November having mated the rear empennage and then the rear canopy and some of the floor panels. The primer on the empennage bulkhead, the floor panels and roll-over was what I did.

After being told that the fuselage interior would be primed a dull green color and recently seeing Vans' video featuring the green primer, the clear primer story finally seemed very dubious.

View attachment 13843

View attachment 13844

View attachment 13845

View attachment 13846

There wasn't a hint of any color in the fuse interior.

Yup, It's primed....looks just like my QB fuselage.
 
That is odd.

It is what occurred at the time - it are what it are. Live with it, life doesn't follow many steadfast rules and everybody is somebody different. I ended up living with it, so should you. Facts are facts.


Maybe. There is also the tendency for people to build things up over time and remember things that happened 3 1/2 years ago differently than they really did. Stories can be like snowballs.

As to facts being facts, I'm reminded of an old saying about the evidence necessary to support big claims. In this case, there is none.
 
After being told that the fuselage interior would be primed a dull green color and recently seeing Vans' video featuring the green primer, the clear primer story finally seemed very dubious.

View attachment 13843

There wasn't a hint of any color in the fuse interior.

Jeff, I can clearly see that it was primed and if a piece of raw aluminum with the vinyl removed was laying on the aft belly skins in the above photo you would have been able to see a stark difference.

As for the difference in primer in the recent video.... A lot has been published in the past few months about the primer previously used and that a change has been made to a different product, and why.

In simple terms, if you run across someone still building on a QB kit from 15 years ago and you take a close look, it will look just like yours. If you want to check again yourself, find an area that you can reach (such as underneath the seat pans) where you wouldn't have applied any primer, and rub it with a white rag with some lacquer thinner on it. You will get a light hint of green on the white rag,
 
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P60G2

Looks like P60G2 to me. Maybe not the green stuff they sell us in the US. Perfectly sprayed thin coat.
 
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