[RVG8tor]

I need some help. I just did my first priming on the skin with the Sherwin Williams P60 wash primer. I've been told to keep it light, but as I sprayed it, it never seemed to coat. When properly coated should the surface be opaque, if so I am doing something wrong. As you can see from the pictures the entire surface is somewhat translucent. It is like the color is not fully mixed. The surface feels like it is entirely covered, but it sure does not look like that. I sprayed most of the 4 oz of primer I mixed up trying to get the surface totally covered. I do not want to add more weight than required for good corrosion control, so any help would be appreciated. The photo make the coating even look lighter than it does in real life.

I shot this with a small touch up gun bought from Harbor Freight Tools, this may be part of my problem, I did not want to use a large gun for such a small amount. It might be my adjustments to the bun. I am not sure how to set the air and pain flow on the gun. Thank in advance. I think this is good enough for corrosion control, I hate to add more to the surface, it I do I will use the rattle cans I have used for the ribs.

Cheers

 

[LettersFromFlyoverCountry]

HVLP gun? I've used the primer at various stages of my project although I mostly went back to rattle cans because of the time it takes me to clean up.

I've got some parts that look like both of these and every now and again I got what I considered to be the perfect result...more of a tint of green. It involved getting the settings right and getting the mixture atomized properly.

I don't think, however, I ever achieved a consistent result from one paint session to another and working with the stuff made me realize I've probably got no business painting my own plane.

I did find that shooting a "tack coat" helped a bit. In any case, you'll be fine with what you've got, I think. The stuff is, like, bulletproof.

 

[wingtime]

see thru

P60 should be translucent light green, If it is drak opaque green your putting it on way to thick and it will peel off. That what the SW salesman told me.

I have been very happy with P60 you just have to get used to using it. It dries very fast so you have to handle it accordingly. With that said it can be temperamental to work with. Be sure you mix the hardener/reducer with the primer exactly as the instructions say. No more no less. Also don't mix up more than your spray gun cup can hold at one time. Another words, if your spraying a bunch of parts at one time don't mix up a big batch before hand. Mix enough for say ? of your cup and then mix more as you need it. I found any premixed primer that is in the pot for a short period time will get a skin on it. Then when you try to spray it will come out in chunks. I found it is best to spray the primer immediately after mixing it.

I use a full size Harbor Freight type gravity feed gun with good results. You have to play with the pressure and gun settings to get it to spray right. It looks like your primer is drying before it hits your parts so it's not flowing out. If you don't have a regulator on your gun get one. Turn the pressure WAY down. 20 psi or so at the gun, maybe even less. P60 seems sensitive to water in the air so you might want to get a line dryer of some type. I have the type that uses a roll of toilet paper as a filter. Works great.

 

[rv9aviator]

You can go to my website (www.jimsairplanes.com)and look at the parts I primed with P-60.
Look at the wing parts and the flaps and ailerons. The paint is translucent to some degree. You can see the sharpee marks through the paint which is a good thing. Van's uses P-60 in the Philippines but it has no color pigment at all. If you spray it until it turns a dark green you have gone too far. The only parts I sprayed with a different primer was on the aft fuselage. I went back to the P-60 as it is much harder than the other primer I tried. I used 2 parts activator and one part primer as well and it went on much better. This worked for me but I am no expert.

 

[Stephen Lindberg]

Looks a little heavy, but OK

Mike: My vertical fin, which you saw, was primed with SW P60. It has a translucent green-greyness to it but you can still see right through it to the metal. Too heavy is not good, I was told. When it is put on right it is sometimes hard for a casual observer to tell if it has been painted at all! That is what Wally Anderson at Synergy taught me. I have since switched to DuPont Chroma Premier which I can buy at Wesco in downtown Olympia. I am using the gravity feed HVLP Harbor Freight gun which is a tremendous bargain. Plenty good enough for primer. I got better results after I added the Motor-Guard toilet paper filter (which really doesn't use TP) that I also bought at Wesco. I also have a Harbor Freight $20 touch-up gun. It works OK but is just as much trouble to clean as the larger gun. I like the big gun better. BTW, that Chroma Premier is really tough paint. I tried to remove some and was not able. I used all sorts of paint strippers, MEK, and acetone with Scotch Brite pads to no avail. Not sure yet how it resists corrosion but it sure sticks to aluminum. Eighty bucks per quart, though, (makes 1/2 gal). I spray a light tack coat, wait about five minutes, then a heavier coat to hide the metal. The work you showed me looked good. Keep on buildin'.