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Painting

jenelson1

I'm New Here
Hello All. You will be sick of me by the time I get all my questions asked. I see many planes that seem to paint the plane after it has been finished. Is there a reason behind this? I just brought home a project and I have paint and would like to paint some of the surfaces before they are on the plane. Has anyone done this as they go along? I will wait to do the graphics after it is together. I will Alumaprep, Alodine and then probably Poly-Fiber Aerothane. I have used this on my SeaReys and it works well. Thanks
 
I’ve done it both ways; fly then paint and paint then fly. Pros and Cons for each:
- Paint then fly provides for easier prep. You still have to fully assemble the plane to get the rigging and wingtips fitted, so no savings there.
- Fly then paint. Here you get a second chance to find the weeping gas tank rivet before you screw up the paint job. You also get to do any needed mods that present themselves during Phase 1.

I made my decision based on the season. I painted the RV-10 before flying as this was fall going into winter. I painted the RV-8 after flying as it was spring and I did not want to miss the good flying weather.

Carl
 
I would say there's a lot of people doing both, and neither is right or wrong.

In my case I hired paint out to a shop at a different field so it made sense for me to get the plane done and fly it to the paint shop at a later date.

There are a lot of factors, for example how complicated your scheme is and do stripes etc. cross independent surfaces, do you have a dedicated paint booth or not, could there be late-stage modifications -- just think it through and decide what's best for you.
 
No primer

So what do you all think about this:
Prime and paint the fiberglass bits (tips, canopy windscreen trim, aft skirt, etc) as they are done prior to final installation. Painter will do whole plan at a later date. This way, i am not flying around with primer parts.
 
So what do you all think about this:
Prime and paint the fiberglass bits (tips, canopy windscreen trim, aft skirt, etc) as they are done prior to final installation. Painter will do whole plan at a later date. This way, i am not flying around with primer parts.

My painter didn't want to see any pre-primed parts, on account of potential materials compatibility issues. Also the primer is intended to chemically bond with paint and you lose that once it fully cures (or so I'm told / have read). There are some exceptions (for example steel hinge brackets, interior that won't get top-coated), but that's the common wisdom as I understand it.
 
Paint booth

I have an inflatable paint booth that fits in my hangar. It works very well and have amazed even myself how things come out. I just finished a hull for a SeaRey. I don't have a lot of money in the guns but the mid grade HVLP gun from Harbor Freight works good.
 

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Fiberglass

So what do you all think about this:
Prime and paint the fiberglass bits (tips, canopy windscreen trim, aft skirt, etc) as they are done prior to final installation. Painter will do whole plan at a later date. This way, i am not flying around with primer parts.

That's what I am doing. Aluminum was all Alodined. Plan is to vinyl wrap the aluminum.
 
Choices

My painter didn't want to see any pre-primed parts, on account of potential materials compatibility issues. Also the primer is intended to chemically bond with paint and you lose that once it fully cures (or so I'm told / have read). There are some exceptions (for example steel hinge brackets, interior that won't get top-coated), but that's the common wisdom as I understand it.

So I started using the rattle can primer on the fiberglass tips for the tail feathers. But that got me thinking that this primer is not very good. So i plan to take that off and spray with some very high quality Sherwin -Williams aircraft primer that is compatible with the paint I plan to specify for the whole plane. I figure it cant be worse than repainting an existing aircraft.

OK I have rethought this when looking at another thread on paint buffing. painting now CAN be worse that not painting since removing old paint could be tough. maybe i will just paint the inside and leave primer on the outside.




As others have said, don't expect the painter to fix all your mistakes. therefore I have to fix them as I build.

Lastly, I see the difficulty in painting the canopy skirts, especially on the inside, once they are glued on.

But I understand your comment on compatibility. Hence the reason I spent $$ on good primer and top coat, and just got done building a paint booth to reduce the amount of prep the eventual painter will need to do.
 
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Paint

...<snip>

Lastly, I see the difficulty in painting the canopy skirts, especially on the inside, once they are glued on.

<snip>...

Paint the skirt befire bonding. Cleko the skirt. Climb in. Mark the bonding areas. Remove. Mask the bonding areas. Paint the rest. Bond it in place. It was more difficult to paint it on the canopy but I didn't have a choice. I didn't want fasterners showing. It's Siflexed using clekos. Remove the clekos. Fill and prep. Mask the rest. Paint.
 
For builders that do their own exterior paint, I suggest:
- Finish the fiberglass parts, all the way to the point they are ready for final paint. Use the same primer that you will use for final paint. I use PPG DP-40LF two part expoxy primer for everything - it is fully compatable with all the PPG urethane paints. When time for final paint fix any remaining defects, sand with 400 or so grit paper then prime and top coat.
- Final paint the interior. Do this during construction not after flying. This is done once all the parts have been fabricated, fitted and parts that can be removed are out (so you don’t end up messing the paint job). I use the same PPG primer but single stage PPG urethane top coat. This wears like iron - in the previous builds now going back 20 years the interior still looks like the day it was painted.
- As previously posted, things like the inside of the canopy skirt need to be final painted before assembly.
- I use the same single stage PPG top coat (but a darker shade of gray) for all the powered coated stuff as well as baffles, the panel and such. I hate the bland powered coat - it just looks unfinished.

Here is a simple paint booth I made from a neighbor’s old party tent. It does the job.
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Carl
 
I’ve done it both ways. IMHO the best way is to fly first then paint. You want to make sure there are no issues with the plane. Once all your bugs are worked out then think about paint. Also, nothing makes a better wing holder than the fuselage.

Primer. Don’t prime any exterior surfaces then let them sit. If you were to bring a primed airplane to me, I would have to remove the primer and adjust the bill accordingly. I can’t warranty my work unless I control the process from beginning to end. If you do your own paint work it’s best to prep, clean, prime, de-nib, and paint in the shortest time possible.
 
The choice is largely practical.

If you can't paint at home, chances are you'll fully assemble and paint later. And since very few airports (or T-hangar neighbors) want painting near other airplanes, you'll need to fly somewhere, probably to a hired gun. Which is fine. Painting is not for everyone.

I came out of the tube and fabric world, where airplanes are fully built, then completely disassembled for cover and paint, then re-assembled. Not surprisingly, I paint before going on the trailer. It's soooo easy to paint parts when they can be flipped and rolled on stands set to a suitable height, and lighting can be controlled.

Even if you assemble, fly, then paint, all the small parts and movable surfaces are coming back off anyway.

Delaying paint until after flight test doesn't have much merit. We're not building prototypes; RV assembly has nothing experimental enough to require airframe configuration changes. The "leaky tank rivet" comes up a lot, but as a practical matter, only the very worst will show themselves during the initial period. Many leaks don't appear until after G-loading. Blisters typically don't show up until after exposure to warm temperatures and G-loading...and of course require paint.

Carl is right; for sure paint the inside at home while it is bare. And yes, for interiors two-component paints are well worth the extra effort, single stage or clearcoated.

Build a few lights on stands. Place them so they light across the surface, and you'll be able to better see how the paint is hitting the part. And painting is a skill. Practice on an old fridge or Uncle Bob's rusty pickup truck before shooting your new airplane.
 

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I had a customer bring an RV-8 in pieces one time. I asked him if he wanted to fly it first then paint and he replied “no, I built it correctly”. This wasn’t his first rodeo so I believed him and went to work. Later when he had the plane home and assembled, he had a roll issue that he couldn’t trim out. As a last ditch effort he tried bending the trailing edge of the left aileron. He got it bent enough to fly level but in the process cracked the aileron and ended up building a new one.
 
He got it bent enough to fly level but in the process cracked the aileron and ended up building a new one.

One guy over-squeezing a trailing edge radius isn't an argument against painting before flight test. He had to paint an aileron he broke. Most of us squeeze 'em without even cracking paint.
 
One guy over-squeezing a trailing edge radius isn't an argument against painting before flight test. He had to paint an aileron he broke. Most of us squeeze 'em without even cracking paint.

It’s the only story I have today. After driving back from Oshkosh my brain is only at 50%.:)
 
I will go the Vlad route - I will fly and paint it “some day”. He has how many 1000 hrs on his? Some day must be really soon!
 
I flew mine a year and a half naked because I couldn't bear to take it down for paint - I was having too much fun flying it.

I'll paint the next one before flight.
 
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