K

KayS

Well Known Member
good morning,

after i sent some pictures of my 7-project home to my buddies and co-workers in germany, everybody was laughing about the colour of the cowling. i don't know how of all things the delivered cowl has to be like that. anyway... that pink has to go away! ...before somebody gets doubts about the sexual orientation of the builder.

thing is... i want to prime it grey. i have really no idea about the paint scheme that bird later maybe gets. it should be easy to apply (rattle cans) and should stick well to provide good adhesion for the paint later.

any recommendations. what primer did you guys use for the cowl and other fiberglass parts?

thank you
Kay
 
Before primer...check this out

I followed this link (VAF discussion somewhere) and my cowl came out great. Bet you can't find the one or two pinholes I missed.

http://www.maddyhome.com/canardpages/pages/waynehicks/chapter_25_skimcoating.htm

Next, follow this link for priming. If you prime first you will discover the amazing amount of pinholes almost invisible to the naked eye.

http://www.maddyhome.com/canardpages/pages/waynehicks/chapter_25_priming.htm

Final paint:

72c7qt.jpg


I realize you just want to spray away the pink cowl color but you should at the very least use link #1 to make sure the surface is smooth and free of pinholes.

Turned out good for me anyway (IMHO),

Gary
 
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Don't use rattle cans. Go to an auto paint store and buy high build primer and it's activator. Buy a cheap large nozzle spray gun at Harbor Fright. Hose the cowling. Don't worry about runs; nearly all the primer eventually gets sanded off. Many applications will be required to create a pin-hole free surface, but one coat gets rid of the pink.

I thin any residual epoxy (West Systems) left in the cup after lay-ups with alcohol so it's watery, then brush onto the cowling's inside surface. Several coats will effectively seal the pores against oil drips, but it will still be pink.

John Siebold
 
Pinholes

FredMagare said:
Wow! That one pinhole looks big enough to be an AIR SCOOP! You might want to do more work on it! :D
Click to expand...

Yea, that's one of the ones I'm talking about Gunny. Now find the other one....LOL

Semper Fi Gunny

Thank you for your long service to our country!

Gary
(USMC 1966-70 Vietnam 68-69)
 
Fill first

Kay,
Unfortunately, there is NO quick fix for the cowl. You can spray the inside with primer just to make it gray if you want, but you have to do a fair amount of filling on the outside before the primer goes on.

I don't think its wise to prime before filling. I think the best adhesion comes from the filler on the bare glass.

My approach is as follows.
Spread a good quality glazing putty (like MetalGlaze) over the entire outside of the cowl with a spreader. This fills all of the craters!
Sand if off (mostly, should really just be filling the big holes).
Shoot 3 coats of PPG K36 high build primer.
Sand to a smooth finish.

This is how I prepped the 8's cowl and the only other thing on it is a coat of epoxy primer, black base coat and clear. None of that will "help fill". If its not smooth before the paint, it will be worse after the paint.

You are now ready for further paint work, and the dreaded pink is covered up.

I think Vans must have done this to discourage people that were flying the glass un-painted.

Sure works!


KayS said:
good morning,

after i sent some pictures of my 7-project home to my buddies and co-workers in germany, everybody was laughing about the colour of the cowling. i don't know how of all things the delivered cowl has to be like that. anyway... that pink has to go away! ...before somebody gets doubts about the sexual orientation of the builder.

thing is... i want to prime it grey. i have really no idea about the paint scheme that bird later maybe gets. it should be easy to apply (rattle cans) and should stick well to provide good adhesion for the paint later.

any recommendations. what primer did you guys use for the cowl and other fiberglass parts?

thank you
Kay
Click to expand...
 
thanks for the replies!

ok, i think i will try the PPG K36 route. i have a cheap spray gun from harbour freight laying around that i never used. hopefully this will do the job after filling the pinholes.

Kay
 
Cheap gun

The cheap gun wll work fine. The K36 doesn't have to go on very smooth, since you will be sanding it.

Make sure you spend plenty of time filling the holes first. The K36 will NOT fill all of those big craters. They need to be filled with glazing putty by hand first.
 
Kay,
Before doing anything, ensure your cowl is fully fitted and structurally complete in all respects.

Time for a decision. Do you want to fully contour and prep to a paint-ready stage? Or do you want to simply seal the glass, hide the pink, and let a pro paint shop worry about finish contour later?

Take a look at this thread:

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=63566, in particular post 22.

If you just want to seal the surface and change the color, slop on some ClearCoat, squeegee to work it into the surface, then roll with a nappy roller to level and remove excess. When cured, sand with 120 just enough to remove the orange peel look; do not sand through the epoxy shell. Shoot with an epoxy primer for color change.

The surface is now oil and fuel proof, but you've introduced nothing which can cause your painter any grief later when he makes surface countour corrections (removing waves, dips and divots) as part of the pre-paint process. The cowl itself, including the shell coat, is still epoxy/glass. He can scuff off the epoxy primer in a few minutes if desired or work right over it; it's a fine base for most everything.
 
Kay,
I've had good results with evercoats metal glaze, but there are several that will work.

Dan has an interesting aproach in the above post if you are in a hurry to cover it up.!


KayS said:
@WAM120RV: yep

@david: what filler did you use?

Kay
Click to expand...
 
Lots of options here

For pin hole filling, the holes really need to be filled, and not bridged over. To accomplish this, the filler needs to be mechanically forced into the pin holes, not sprayed over. You can squeegee or roll a coat on to do the trick.

For my glass parts, I've found a very versatile and easy to use product from Sherwin Williams called "Spread and Spray". See my previous post (thread #9) for more info.

Basically, my method is to roll on a thick coat of high build primer for pin hole filling and fine contour repair. I'm not using thinned epoxy, just the urethane primer rolled on heavy (unreduced). Pin holes are 100% filled. That's 320 wet sanded down, then a second thin top coat is sprayed on and sanded 400 wet prior to top coat. Simple but effective.
 
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