New RV-8 Paint Job!

[Fulltron Aviation]

Another one completed! Thank you Mark Smith for trusting us! We love how this one turned out.

 

[Low Pass]

I like the layout! Classic and not too "swoopy."

 

[Bandera]

Nice

 

[PaulvS]

How would the various colors be masked and sprayed, typically, during the painting process?

E.g. the fuselage has 5 colors, so would the whole thing be sprayed white first, then blue over the white (masking areas of white that are going to stay white) etcetera for the remaing grey and black and red stripes?

Seems it would be challenging to allow adequate time for initial coats to harden for masking, yet not wait too long to spray on the final clear coat within the "window" to ensure cross-linking to previous coats.

 

[Webb]

Another stunner. Marlin did you right!

 

[Bandera]

How would the various colors be masked and sprayed, typically, during the painting process?

E.g. the fuselage has 5 colors, so would the whole thing be sprayed white first, then blue over the white (masking areas of white that are going to stay white) etcetera for the remaing grey and black and red stripes?

Seems it would be challenging to allow adequate time for initial coats to harden for masking, yet not wait too long to spray on the final clear coat within the "window" to ensure cross-linking to previous coats.

In general, I like to do everything all white, or whatever the base color is, first. That gives me a nice canvas to do the layout work.
For most of the year paint will dry overnight and you are back on it the next day. In the cold winter months you may have to wait an extra day.

 

[PaulvS]

In general, I like to do everything all white, or whatever the base color is, first. That gives me a nice canvas to do the layout work.
For most of the year paint will dry overnight and you are back on it the next day. In the cold winter months you may have to wait an extra day.

Thanks, that makes sense assuming single stage paint? Many of the new style 'great' paint jobs these days seem to be base coat + clear coat. I noticed the data sheets for some (automotive) paint brands state that the clear coat must be applied within 12 hour window of spraying the base coat. So it wouldn't be too easy to mask and spray all of the 5 different base coat colors within the 12 hours before doing the clear. Or is there a trade secret for how the pro painters do it?

 

[AzAero]

You could split it up to make it more manageable. Complete wings and associated parts in one session, mask up and move on to fuselage, etc.

 

[Fulltron Aviation]

Thanks, that makes sense assuming single stage paint? Many of the new style 'great' paint jobs these days seem to be base coat + clear coat. I noticed the data sheets for some (automotive) paint brands state that the clear coat must be applied within 12 hour window of spraying the base coat. So it wouldn't be too easy to mask and spray all of the 5 different base coat colors within the 12 hours before doing the clear. Or is there a trade secret for how the pro painters do it?

Paul, different paint manufactures have different specifications on the window open to clear coat. Ours is Spies Hecker which has an indefinite time, so we can spray the base and clear it a week later.

 

[WWhunter]

Definitely a nice looking paint job. Personally, I am done with blue, but that doesn't mean its not a stunner!