UV Smooth Prime

[rvbuilder2002]

Originally Posted by RandyAB

Thank you Scott for the application tip. I think that I will try with straight epoxy as you suggest. When you say squeegee, are you referring to a rubber squeegee or plastic like a credit card?

By squeegee I meant the process/action used, not the actual tool.
I have used plastic scrapers, body filler spreaders, etc. Anything that will spread and the material being used and leave little excess on the surface will work.

As Kyle mentioned, the benefits of Smooth Prime are it sands easily and dries relatively fast (depending on conditions).

[RandyAB]

Originally Posted by rvbuilder2002

By squeegee I meant the process/action used, not the actual tool.

Thanks Scott. I thought I would double check.

[RandyAB]

Originally Posted by Kyle Boatright

Yep. There is an RV-6 around here somewhere as evidence.

The thing I like about UVSP is there is little wait between squeegee coats. It does its job well, and sands easily. The wait before applying an epoxy primer or finish coat is the downside.

Thanks Kyle. I've done one wing tip with straight epoxy (messy) and will do the other as you describe with several coats of UVSP squeeged on and then top coated. We will see how they compare.

[AeroDog]

Originally Posted by RandyAB

I'm doing my fibreglass work now and have read a bunch of different threads on how to prepare for priming. A lot of different options. With respect to the UV Smooth Prime, do I have to do a bunch of pinhole filling before applying it or is this primer meant to fill the pinholes with one or two applications and some sanding?

I've never painted fiberglass. What are the consequences of not filling pinholes?

Jerre

[RandyAB]

Originally Posted by AeroDog

I've never painted fiberglass. What are the consequences of not filling pinholes?

Jerre

Small divots in the paint.

[Charles in SC]

I have been using a product from Southern Polyurethanes Inc that has worked great. I still have more to do. I called their tech line which happens to be the company owner's cell phone. He was very helpful. What I did was to first go over it with resin by the smear roll and sand method. There were still a few pinholes after this. I used SPI's 2K regular build epoxy primer. I squeegeed it on then tipped it with a small chip brush and sanded it after hardening. It seemed to work great. The only thing I had to do special was to add some of their retarder to slow down the set up time. This also thinned it quite a bit which helped it get into the holes. I was glad this worked because I did not want to have to spray the epoxy stuff.

[RandyAB]

So I've tried applying the UVSP to one of the wingtips. I've tried dripping it on as well as brushing it on followed by squeegeeing it with a flat piece of 30 thou scrap aluminium. I find that it dries really fast and quickly becomes the consistency of drywall mud. in the end most of it gets scraped off which I suppose is ok I suppose because this layer is really intended only for the pinholes. When it dries I am going to sand it fair and roll or spray a layer over top and then re-sand. I wonder if Kyle or Scott would comment on whether this mimics their experience.

[Kyle Boatright]

Randy, your experience is normal. The squeegee coats should only leave enough behind to fill the pinholes. Personally, I prefer to use a bondo spreader or a defunct gift card as a squeegee. I think those would be more flexible than a piece of aluminum.

[RandyAB]

Originally Posted by Kyle Boatright

Randy, your experience is normal. The squeegee coats should only leave enough behind to fill the pinholes. Personally, I prefer to use a bondo spreader or a defunct gift card as a squeegee. I think those would be more flexible than a piece of aluminum.

Thanks Kyle. I'm going to use my wife's credit card. That will save lots of money!

Did you try spraying?

[az_gila]

Originally Posted by Charles in SC

I have been using a product from Southern Polyurethanes Inc that has worked great. I still have more to do. I called their tech line which happens to be the company owner's cell phone. He was very helpful. What I did was to first go over it with resin by the smear roll and sand method. There were still a few pinholes after this. I used SPI's 2K regular build epoxy primer. I squeegeed it on then tipped it with a small chip brush and sanded it after hardening. It seemed to work great. The only thing I had to do special was to add some of their retarder to slow down the set up time. This also thinned it quite a bit which helped it get into the holes. I was glad this worked because I did not want to have to spray the epoxy stuff.

I tried that with a similar Kirker 2K epoxy primer.

It did work but I found that un-thinned West epoxy was easier to do and seemed to have better results. The temperatures were in the 80's so the West stuff was pretty thin and runny anyway. It just seemed to squeegee better.