If you are a professional aircraft painter, what do you want to see done before the plane enters your shop? What prep details make for a great paint job over a good one?
Hoping to start a thread to collect best practice tips when it comes to prepping for a great paint job as you progress through the build.
It would seem to me properly prepping for paint begins during assembly. Guessing the order of steps and advice will also depend on whether you are priming or not.
For example, I have decided to prime with two part epoxy primer.
Should I prime all faying surfaces?
Specifically places like:
-overlap of closeout tabs
-overlapping skins
-where piano hinges are attached to the elevators and pitch trim tabs.
-Should I prime hinges or leave them alone? I've seen some painted and some not.
-etc, etc. etc.
When is the best time to paint the interior?
Should interior cabin parts use the same two part epoxy for priming or a different primer designed to go under the chosen interior finish?
Do you like to see powder coated parts like brackets scuffed and primed, or just scuffed before riveting to aid future application of primer and paint?
How much bodywork do you like done before it comes to you? Would you rather do the bulk of the filling and fairing to eliminate builder induced issues?
Some other opinions I've read. If you plan to have your plane painted, don't lubricate hinges before paint for fear it could interfere with adhesion. Don't use corrosion inhibitor until it's painted. Don't polish skins as the compounds can get in the crevices and cause possible adhesion problems.
Properly deburring the edges of skins can help to eliminate paint failure along edges.
What else?
Looking forward to hearing everyone's experience/opinion on this subject.
Hoping to start a thread to collect best practice tips when it comes to prepping for a great paint job as you progress through the build.
It would seem to me properly prepping for paint begins during assembly. Guessing the order of steps and advice will also depend on whether you are priming or not.
For example, I have decided to prime with two part epoxy primer.
Should I prime all faying surfaces?
Specifically places like:
-overlap of closeout tabs
-overlapping skins
-where piano hinges are attached to the elevators and pitch trim tabs.
-Should I prime hinges or leave them alone? I've seen some painted and some not.
-etc, etc. etc.
When is the best time to paint the interior?
Should interior cabin parts use the same two part epoxy for priming or a different primer designed to go under the chosen interior finish?
Do you like to see powder coated parts like brackets scuffed and primed, or just scuffed before riveting to aid future application of primer and paint?
How much bodywork do you like done before it comes to you? Would you rather do the bulk of the filling and fairing to eliminate builder induced issues?
Some other opinions I've read. If you plan to have your plane painted, don't lubricate hinges before paint for fear it could interfere with adhesion. Don't use corrosion inhibitor until it's painted. Don't polish skins as the compounds can get in the crevices and cause possible adhesion problems.
Properly deburring the edges of skins can help to eliminate paint failure along edges.
What else?
Looking forward to hearing everyone's experience/opinion on this subject.
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