painting advise please
05-07-2003, 06:46 PM
#1
painting advise please
Well I'm finally going to start painting my new plane. It looks like this weekend will finally be warm enough to start spraying. I've never painted an entire plane before, just cowls and small stuff so this should be interesting. I'm pretty sure I have everything ready to go, but I'd like to hear from the experts. Any rookie mistakes that I can try to avoid?
The plane is all primed, sanded and smooth as silk (smooth as 400 grit paper anyway). I'm going to use House of Kolor Urethane paints and an Iwata gun and airbrush. Here's the before picture, hopefully have an after picture this weekend.
Ben
The plane is all primed, sanded and smooth as silk (smooth as 400 grit paper anyway). I'm going to use House of Kolor Urethane paints and an Iwata gun and airbrush. Here's the before picture, hopefully have an after picture this weekend.
Ben
05-08-2003, 01:47 PM
#2
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painting advise please
Ben,
Is that all sheeted and glassed? What did you use?
Is your Iwata gun an automotive detail gun, or just an airbrush? You'll need a good sized pattern to do it right, and an airbrush won't cut it.
BTW, what kit and size is that and what engine are you using? Curious since a glassed and painted plane can be a little heavy for a 3D plane like that?
Neo
Is that all sheeted and glassed? What did you use?
Is your Iwata gun an automotive detail gun, or just an airbrush? You'll need a good sized pattern to do it right, and an airbrush won't cut it.
BTW, what kit and size is that and what engine are you using? Curious since a glassed and painted plane can be a little heavy for a 3D plane like that?
Neo
05-08-2003, 02:26 PM
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painting advise please
Ben, I don't know if you are mixing your own colors. Last time I painted my plane I did not make enough paint to cover the whole thing and the second patch I made the colors did match very closely to the first one this gave me a lots grief. what model of Iwata do your have and what type of paint you are planing to use ? remember spray very thin coats and don't try to get it all with one shot.
05-08-2003, 02:32 PM
#4
painting advise please
NEO,
The airplane is a 32% 3W Extra. The fuse is gel coated fiberglass and the rest of the surfaces are balsa sheeted foam that I glassed with .56oz. cloth and EZ-Lam epoxy resin. I was concerned with doing a glassed/painted finish on this type of plane, but I wanted to give it a shot (I have little interest in other types of planes). I managed to keep the weight gain to a minimum thus far by being careful on material selection and application. I have a target weight of 25lb., heavier than one would like for a 1/3 scale extra, but reasonable for this plane I'm told. I'm going to use a ZDZ80 single for power. I don't think thrust will be a problem, it's the wing loading that concerns me most.
I'm using an Iwata 100 gravity feed detail gun and an Iwata eclipse airbrush for the small stuff.
The reason I decide to paint this plane is to avoid the wrinkles that always develop in my covering jobs. I've tried a thousand techniques with that stuff and none held up. I've seen some professionally done covering jobs that sat in the sun all day and still looked great, but I think there's some voodoo magic involved.
Ben
The airplane is a 32% 3W Extra. The fuse is gel coated fiberglass and the rest of the surfaces are balsa sheeted foam that I glassed with .56oz. cloth and EZ-Lam epoxy resin. I was concerned with doing a glassed/painted finish on this type of plane, but I wanted to give it a shot (I have little interest in other types of planes). I managed to keep the weight gain to a minimum thus far by being careful on material selection and application. I have a target weight of 25lb., heavier than one would like for a 1/3 scale extra, but reasonable for this plane I'm told. I'm going to use a ZDZ80 single for power. I don't think thrust will be a problem, it's the wing loading that concerns me most.
I'm using an Iwata 100 gravity feed detail gun and an Iwata eclipse airbrush for the small stuff.
The reason I decide to paint this plane is to avoid the wrinkles that always develop in my covering jobs. I've tried a thousand techniques with that stuff and none held up. I've seen some professionally done covering jobs that sat in the sun all day and still looked great, but I think there's some voodoo magic involved.
Ben
05-08-2003, 05:18 PM
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painting advise please
Ben,
Gotcha, you should be pleased with this one then. My partner just finished an awesome third scale Edge 540T at 25lbs plus 1.75 pounds in the nose to balance with the same ZDZ80 you have. Total 26.75 pound plane flew it's first 3 flights last weekend and had tons of power and floated extremely slow... wing loading was not an issue at all. It landed nice and slow, even with the idle set a little high for the early flights. You can see his plane at this thread:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/showthread...works+edge+zdz
and here:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/attachment...&postid=754245
I agree about your issues on covering sag/wrinkles... they're a real pain in the arse. You should have great luck with that Iwata gun, take your time and she'll be a real winner!
Good Luck!
Neoo
Gotcha, you should be pleased with this one then. My partner just finished an awesome third scale Edge 540T at 25lbs plus 1.75 pounds in the nose to balance with the same ZDZ80 you have. Total 26.75 pound plane flew it's first 3 flights last weekend and had tons of power and floated extremely slow... wing loading was not an issue at all. It landed nice and slow, even with the idle set a little high for the early flights. You can see his plane at this thread:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/showthread...works+edge+zdz
and here:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/attachment...&postid=754245
I agree about your issues on covering sag/wrinkles... they're a real pain in the arse. You should have great luck with that Iwata gun, take your time and she'll be a real winner!
Good Luck!
Neoo
05-10-2003, 12:57 PM
#6
painting advise please
Well I won't be able to get any painting done this weekend 
.
The forecast said 75 degrees and partly sunny, and I did see the sun at about 6:00 am. Now it's 60 degrees and raining about as hard as I've seen in a while. Not supposed to quit anytime soon either.
I should have kept my painting plans a secret, the weather is always out to get me. If someone in Arizona/New Mexico could please send me some real estate brochures, I gotta get out of this miserable place.
Ben
.The forecast said 75 degrees and partly sunny, and I did see the sun at about 6:00 am. Now it's 60 degrees and raining about as hard as I've seen in a while. Not supposed to quit anytime soon either.
I should have kept my painting plans a secret, the weather is always out to get me. If someone in Arizona/New Mexico could please send me some real estate brochures, I gotta get out of this miserable place.
Ben
05-11-2003, 10:56 PM
#7
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To Painting Guy
I've lived in Punta Gorda FL for 10 years now. I buy paint from Radio South that is prepared for the conditions I will encounter. We FLY almost every day year round..Try this area, you'll love it..[ My wife sells real estate here. She will set you up with a web site to look around. 941-637-3945.. NO CHARGE for this service]
05-12-2003, 12:38 AM
#8
painting advise please
Florida does sound good, I have relatives in New Port Richey. One of these days I'm gonna just start packing and only have to see snow on TV! I just ordered some paint from RadioSouth for another project too.
As crappy as this weekend turned out to be, I did get some painting done. Made pretty good progress. The two main colors (white/yellow) are on just about everything. Only have some yellow to put on the tailfeathers and airbrush a few black and silver trim. I'll put up a few pics tomorrow, I'm ready to pass out now.
Ben
As crappy as this weekend turned out to be, I did get some painting done. Made pretty good progress. The two main colors (white/yellow) are on just about everything. Only have some yellow to put on the tailfeathers and airbrush a few black and silver trim. I'll put up a few pics tomorrow, I'm ready to pass out now.
Ben
05-23-2003, 01:31 AM
#13
Making a little more progress:
I'm really having a good time with this project. Once you've used automotive paints, all the hobby paints seem like such a waste of time. I finally finished all the trim (except the wings), and hopefully get the clear put on this weekend.
What do you guys think so far?
Ben
P.S. I hope Mike McConville doesn't mind me "borrowing" his trim scheme
What do you guys think so far?
Ben
P.S. I hope Mike McConville doesn't mind me "borrowing" his trim scheme
05-24-2003, 03:41 PM
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painting advise please
bdphil- What a great job you have done so far! I have a 33% Fiber Classic I am about to start and was considering using a single stage paint for weight savings. Have you ever used that type paint? If so what are the pro's/con's of using it? Thanks, Ricky
05-25-2003, 01:29 AM
#16
painting advise please
I don't know much about single stage paints. The only single stage stuff I've used is the 'ol rattle cans, and I never had much luck with that stuff. I don't think you'd be saving much weight by using the single stage stuff? The paint I'm using (House of Kolor) covered really good in one or two light coats, and I'll probably just use one or two coats of clear. I shot one coat of clear tonight and I'll look at it tomorrow and see whether a second is really necessary. I'm not going for the really deep shine that the custom car guys get with 20 coats of laquer, just a smooth shine that will hold up for a while (providing I keep the plane together for a while 
).
One problem I did have was shooting the silver trim on the wings too heavy and something mysterious happened. The colors next to it got partially dissolved? It wasn't that the color blead throught the masking tape, it was like solvent soaked under it. Needless to say the wings need a little reworking before clearcoating. I'm getting close though. I did weigh most of the parts before glassing, and before painting, so I'll let you know how much weight I picked up.
Ben
).One problem I did have was shooting the silver trim on the wings too heavy and something mysterious happened. The colors next to it got partially dissolved? It wasn't that the color blead throught the masking tape, it was like solvent soaked under it. Needless to say the wings need a little reworking before clearcoating. I'm getting close though. I did weigh most of the parts before glassing, and before painting, so I'll let you know how much weight I picked up.
Ben
05-29-2003, 10:20 PM
#17
painting advise please
Finally finished painting!
Just a little final fiddling to do and a few days to let the clear have plenty of time to harden and we'll see how it flies. I don't have the numbers organized yet, but I estimate 2 pounds total for glassing/painting. That's about what I planned for (and about what I was able to shave off elsewhere). Soon as I get it all together we'll see what the total is.
I don't think anything less than ~1/3 scale would give the ability to offset the finish that I put on. I probably could have put a lighter glass job on, but it was my first effort. At this point I'll be happy just to see it fly!
Ben
Just a little final fiddling to do and a few days to let the clear have plenty of time to harden and we'll see how it flies. I don't have the numbers organized yet, but I estimate 2 pounds total for glassing/painting. That's about what I planned for (and about what I was able to shave off elsewhere). Soon as I get it all together we'll see what the total is.
I don't think anything less than ~1/3 scale would give the ability to offset the finish that I put on. I probably could have put a lighter glass job on, but it was my first effort. At this point I'll be happy just to see it fly!
Ben
06-02-2003, 01:24 PM
#21
Couple of numbers
I finally managed to record some weights of the finished parts. I only did a few (I was in too much of a hurry to get it assembled).
First number is the weight of just the sheeted foam surface, and the second is the finished weight (glass and paint):
Horiz. stab+elevator (one half)
4.8oz.
7.2oz.
(a little heavy, but I did these first and refined my technique for the rest)
Wing+aileron
35.5oz.
40oz.
rudder
6.2oz.
7.5oz.
The fuse/cowl/pants and vert. stab were fiberglass so they were just painted. I didn't reweight them, but I'll estimate 1/2 to 3/4 lb. of paint.
That brings the total weight of finishing to 1.5 to 1.75lb. Not too bad.
The wingspan is ~95" and wing area ~1450sq. in.
Dry weight 24lb. plus I'm gonna need about a pound in the nose (I really tried to avoid that, but maybe I'll go with a 100cc engine down the road).
We'll see how it flies this week - hopefully, but I can tell you that it looks ALOT better than monokote.
Anyone have any numbers on how much weight a film finish adds to a 1/3 scale extra?
Ben
First number is the weight of just the sheeted foam surface, and the second is the finished weight (glass and paint):
Horiz. stab+elevator (one half)
4.8oz.
7.2oz.
(a little heavy, but I did these first and refined my technique for the rest)
Wing+aileron
35.5oz.
40oz.
rudder
6.2oz.
7.5oz.
The fuse/cowl/pants and vert. stab were fiberglass so they were just painted. I didn't reweight them, but I'll estimate 1/2 to 3/4 lb. of paint.
That brings the total weight of finishing to 1.5 to 1.75lb. Not too bad.
The wingspan is ~95" and wing area ~1450sq. in.
Dry weight 24lb. plus I'm gonna need about a pound in the nose (I really tried to avoid that, but maybe I'll go with a 100cc engine down the road).
We'll see how it flies this week - hopefully, but I can tell you that it looks ALOT better than monokote.
Anyone have any numbers on how much weight a film finish adds to a 1/3 scale extra?
Ben
06-25-2003, 03:35 AM
#23
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painting advise please
That really rocks..... I used to do some painting years ago with acrylic urathane. You could color sand and rub it in a day.... Really awesome stuff... but that was a long time ago...
Is this three part paint? What did you use to mask in between colors?
Is this three part paint? What did you use to mask in between colors?
