confused again...lol

[bird]

Well I was thinking of using deltron bc/cc. As I have in the past on my k5 blazer. Then my memory kicked in. The clear coat must be shot soon after the basecoat and then you only have about a 48hr window to color sand and buff. So.....I wanted to have three different colors on my airplane. I have no idea how to accomplish that with a basecoat clear coat system. I would have to shoot my white then let cure, mask and shoot my blue then let cure, then shoot my grey. What I dont know is if that can be done and then scuff the whole thing then shoot the clear. I am not sure, my concern would be only getting a mechanical bond with the clear rather than a chemical bond. So once again any advice or ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

bird

 

[hydroguy2]

How to paint your plane in 1 day.
prepped the day before and last wipe down at 0700 on paint day

1030hrs 3 coats of yellow and the striping started

1500hrs still laying out stripes, takes time to get both sides

couple hours later the purple is on

then the green

Took a while to to unmask our work, clean the booth and shoot the clear coats, so by 2100hrs we are beat. Whew!

No sanding or buffing if you're lucky

 

[PCHunt]

Should that have been: "How to paint your fuselage in one day." Or did you paint the wings as well?

Seriously big day of work!! What paint were you using that you could mask over fresh paint so quickly?

 

[hydroguy2]

you're correct, Fuselage only. wings were done 4months earlier and the tail group and some 30 other pieces were done at other time.

The paint was a combination of PPG and Dupont. After the paint flashes off we wait about 20-30 minutes and the surface is secure enough to tape without leaving tracks.

 

[dedgemon]

Not exactly

then you only have about a 48hr window to color sand and buff. .
bird

Bird,
A common misconception is that you want to color sand and buff before the clear gets "too" hard. In reality this is incorrect (although often repeated). After the clear gets as hard as it ever will, you will get the best results from sanding and buffing. In order to polish something you want it to be hard so that you can transform the big scratches into smaller ones. Good quality wet sandpaper will cut just fine on fully cured clear (the body shops do it all the time). And you will be buffing with an air or electric buffer so you will plenty of horsepower. Good materials will have no problem.

The real issue is the timing of the paint work and all of the trim. I painted my '8 last year and ran into this. The wings were 3 colors (silver metalic base with 2 trim colors). I found that the wings took basically all day to prime, wait, silver base, wait, tape and shoot color 1, wait, tape and shoot color 2. I then shot the clear first thing next morning. The clear (PPG 2002) has a 24 hour recoat window.

This worked really well, but it is a lot of work. Just plan it well so that you know what you can accomplish in the time you've got. Fortunately the DBC base coats dry quickly and I was able to tape on them in 1 hour with no problems.

Good luck

 

[bird]

thanks David

David, it sounds like you are using a system very similar to what I'm looking at. Makes sense about the buffing, I've never actually done the buffing but will be practicing on other things to get proficient at it. I was wondering if it would be too much to ask if you could put together the paint and primer numbers that you used and send it to me? That would be a great help to me. Just asking at the paint stores is not a good thing to do for me. If I had the part numbers to present the supplier and then just be asking for the colors, things might go better for me at the store. Oh and the 24hr clear recoat you mentioned, that is about applying additional coats right?... thanks again

bird

 

[dedgemon]

My paint approach

bird,
I painted my 9 with ppg DCC and it was fine. I used base clear on the 8 and I now prefer that system.
Heres what i did one the 8. It worked great. Im sure others will tell you that my paint will surely fall off since i didnt do it exactly their way. Dont worry, more than one way to do this.

1.scuff with red scotchbrite and soap and water. clean with alchohol until perfectly clean. dry.
2.prime with one medium coat DPLF epoxy primer. color of choice.
3.two medium coats of DBC base 20 minutes apart. i use the activator (DX57 i think).
4.wait 1 hour, then tape and shoot DBC trim (2 coat 20 minutes)
5.repeat until you cant stand it.
6.after giving last coat of DBC 20 minutes to flash, shoot two medium coats of 2002 clear. 20 minutes apart.

Note that all of these flash times assume paint mixed to spec, 70 deg temps, relatively dry etc. You might need to modify the wait times somewhat if the paint isnt flashing well.

Hopefully this helps. It takes some digging. This is a system that seems to work really well.

Good luck

 

[dedgemon]

my approach

by the way. i generally wait 30 minutes after priming before shooting the base. no curing, no sanding. If your environment isnt clean enough to shoot primer without sanding, then it isnt clean enough for base or clear either.

 

[dedgemon]

one more thing

just noticed the question on recoat times. thats a matter of the base that you are using, and is the max time that you should before top coating the base.

shoot the clear all at once. (shoot a coat, let it flash, shoot another coat).

hopemthat all makes sense.

 

[bird]

thanks very much

Thank you very much, I can handle this process easily, that you used on your 8.
ppg basecoat and clearcoat. I will begin trying to get all the exact numbers for the primer and paint. You have been a great help, so thanks again and happy flying.
bird

 

[dedgemon]

My 8

Heres mine.
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showpost.php?p=386094&postcount=240

 

[bird]

Looks great

David you plane looks absolutely great. I hope you have some good weather to so you can get some flying time in it. I would love to go help ya put some hours on it....heh heh, have a good one and thanks again.

\bird