Primer/paint the canopy slides

[AntiGravity]

May be a dumb question, but I live in the Waikato in NZ which is very wet. Therefore I am priming everything with two-pot epoxy (PPG DP40) on my RV-8. I'm at the point where I am working on the canopy and just wondered whether I should primer the slides or whether doing so would cause problems with the, er, sliding? I ask because I see lots of photos of painted planes with bare aluminium slides. What do you think?

[alpinelakespilot2000]

Originally Posted by AntiGravity

May be a dumb question, but I live in the Waikato in NZ which is very wet. Therefore I am priming everything with two-pot epoxy (PPG DP40) on my RV-8. I'm at the point where I am working on the canopy and just wondered whether I should primer the slides or whether doing so would cause problems with the, er, sliding? I ask because I see lots of photos of painted planes with bare aluminium slides. What do you think?

Jeff-
All of the RV's that I've seen with painted rails (especially the side ones) are really chipped up and ugly from the action of the rollers. I have seen a couple of builders anodize them and they looked much better. In general, the vast majority that I've seen are left bare aluminum. I doubt the weather will do much to them, especially since they are, I think, very corrision-resistant 6061. Good luck.

[C-J]

Jeff,

Buff them with a cotton wheel and buffing rough then just use car or airplane polish on them from time to time. They will look great and be protected.

[AntiGravity]

...tough call !! I do like the anodized option though. The rails may be 6061, but the cap strip on the center rail is 2024-T3 .063" so would need protection just the same as the rest of the plane. At least I'm getting the hint; no paint. Gotcha . Thanks guys.

[LifeofReiley]

Primer...what's that...???

[AntiGravity]

Originally Posted by LifeofReiley

Primer...what's that...???

...you probably don't even know what water is in Texas, huh?

[Rick6a]

Originally Posted by AntiGravity

May be a dumb question, but I live in the Waikato in NZ which is very wet. Therefore I am priming everything with two-pot epoxy (PPG DP40) on my RV-8. I'm at the point where I am working on the canopy and just wondered whether I should primer the slides or whether doing so would cause problems with the, er, sliding? I ask because I see lots of photos of painted planes with bare aluminium slides. What do you think?

Jeff,

On my -6A, I took many small canopy parts including the side rails, canopy handle and latch, the "dog house," and the center track rail to an anodizer. The price was under $100 and it didn't matter if it was just one part or many parts, the price was driven on how many items could be placed into a dipping basket at one time. Available in many colors including clear, if I had it to do over again I would have had the side rails anodized black and some in clear...but then the price would have been double what I paid.

Surface prep is important. Small scratches not blended out will show right through the anodize.

[Pilottonny]

These rails are anodized, but after cutting to length, drilling, etc. you probably want to have them anodized again.
I will get them black-anodized, that way they will go better with my gray interior and don't stick out so much when the canopy is open.

Regards, Tonny.

[AntiGravity]

Hi Guys,

thanks for those reponses. I'm going to go with blue anodize and they will go nicely with my intended paint scheme, interior and blue anodized modified rudder pedals. I'm going to phone the anodizing guy after the weekend and find out how big his tank is.

Cheers,

[brad walton]

Hello AntiGravity--I primed my RV-8 canopy side and rear slides with DuPont Variprime, Corlar epoxy primer and finshed with Imron. I only have a bout 75 hours so far, but no chips and no binding. No problems, works great and protected from the elements. My opinion is it looks better than bare also.