Painting

[Guest danda]

Hi all I'm thinking of repainting my little Diamond what is the best way to do it, how do I rub back the material and what is the best type of paint to use?

 

Or would it be best to take it to a spray painter?

 

Don

 

 

[Student Pilot]

Roller with textured foam, use a 4" brush in the corners.

 

Seriously if you want a resonable job take it to a painter. One thing to consider how is you weight? painting will add weight.

 

 

[Admin]

Now you all may laugh at this but I did hear a few years back when I was in NZ that the reason why Air NZ did not want to paint one of their aircraft in black for the "All Blacks" was that dark coloured aircraft use more fuel:confused: - is this at all possible???

 

 

[Yenn]

Don't know if they use more fuel but black is certainly not recommended for plastic planes, they get far too hot and I wouldn't use it on fbric for the same reason.

 

Ian

 

 

[Student Pilot]

Now you all may laugh at this but I did hear a few years back when I was in NZ that the reason why Air NZ did not want to paint one of their aircraft in black for the "All Blacks" was that dark coloured aircraft use more fuel:confused: - is this at all possible???

Yip, the heavier the more fuel they use, if it makes 10+ kg's with a little Aircraft imagine the weight penalty with a thing the size of a 737.

 

 

[Guest danda]

Hi Student pilot woulden't textured foam cause a lot of drag?

 

Don't want mine black already have enough problems with Kiwi's having married one not much fun in our place during the cricket or rugby (don't tell her but she is the Love of my live as long as she doesn't run over my foot with her wheel chair )

 

Don danda

 

 

[Ultralights]

i dont think the textured foam would make much if any difference to

 

drag, as the tecture bit of the paint will be in the stagnet air arouns

 

the surface, actually it might even improve aerodynamics as it

 

might create a little more turbulance and re-energise the air, as

 

vortex generators do.???

 

 

[pylon500]

Hi Don, Yoou realise that the textured foam roller comment was a joke?

 

The one thing you will need to watch out for is the fact your aircraft is covered in fabric, so any solvents used on the paint could loosen the covering.

 

Where there is no fabric (turtle deck, wing leading edges and ailerons) you could use paint stripper, but don't go near the fibreglass bits!.

 

Knowing Gary, there is probably not a great deal of paint there, so just carefully rub back the entire aircraft with 400 wet'n'dry (done wet), clean with a 'tack' rag and prime.

 

Do a piece of aircraft at a time, wing, tails, wing, fuse,cowls priming each as you go.

 

Arthur.

 

ps, I'm not a painter, so ask around to get a feel of the best proceedure.

 

 

[Guest micgrace]

Hi

 

Arthurs right. Dismantle as much as possible. Unfotunately if fabric wasn't doped correctly in first place (paint lifting?) and you can't get lucky by peeling off sheets of paint (not likely) will need to replace.

 

I would be far less than keen on using paint stripper (unless there was huge paint buildup)and at the end of the day, all you could really do is rub back, v. light prime and least possible coats topcolour. I'd actually use 1200 to provide a keying surface only and if it was the same or similar colour, skip the primer, if no bare metal and where there is bare metal, light prime.

 

Aprofessional will use a rotary sander to remove paint but will make short work of metal without full training. The trick being just to remove sufficient paint to primer but not to touch the metal. Easier said than done. around rivets, only by hand.

 

Then, 1200 again and rub and rub till happy. Best not to use anything less as requires more preparation at the primer stage when using 400 unless a lot of chips, scratches etc to feather, then no choice but use 400 then prime then 1200

 

Also use wax/grease remover with tack free rag.

 

Also, if mass balanced, rebalance.

 

It is possible, but NOT certified, to use auto 2 pac paint with flexiadd but this turns intoa jobfor a professional real fast.

 

For home use, bit hard to go past enamel (fills scratches) and assoc. components of system.

 

There is an awfull lot that can go wrong. To minimize test the system on a small area (removable panel) first. And don't change.

 

The worst thing that can go wrong is incompatibility between thinners (top coat) and originalprimer. Full paint strip to cure if unfortunate. This is the main reason to test first.

 

hope this helps somewhat. Micgrace

 

 

[Guest danda]

Thank you all for your help and fun may leave it for a little while and save up and get professional to do the job.

 

Arthur i did understand the roller was a joke although looking at the paint job cracki think Garry may have done just that star cracks on the top of the wing paint pealing from the aluminium so I thought i may flash it up a bit.

 

I will put the new 503 in first and work out the prop and enjoy doing that.

 

Don