Jester241

Has anyone ever tried painting a plane instead of monokoting it? Obviously you'd have to sheet the whole thing in balsa and it might a bit more. Does anyone know of any advantages or dissadvantages of painting? For someone experienced in finishing wood,it seems it might be just as easy or easier to paint then monokote,but there could be alot of factors I'm not aware of. Any thoughts???

FallDownGoBoom

My Feedback: (1)

Usually you end up sheeting it in balsa and then covering the balsa with lightweight fiberglass cloth, which is attached using finishing resin or dope or Minwax Polycrylic or whatever's your favorite. Then you get to prime/sand/repeat as necessary for as long as you can stand it, then paint the plane, add decals, and put on what's hopefully a fuel-proof clear coat.

More work than Monokote or Ultracote? You bet. But (assuming your painting skills are lot's better than mine) it'll look great, be different than everybody else's ARF, and won't peel off.

Gringo Flyer

My Feedback: (18)

Here is a good place to start http://www.tompierce.net/190/html/paint.htm

Also do a search here on RCU for painting or glassing and you will have hundreds of hits.

flipstart

I have never been a fan of monokote plastic coverings-just looks too arfy. But I am really bad at fiberglassing. So I just cover the fuse with solartex, as well as rest of plane , prime and paint away. Clearcoat if using glow fuel. Sure makes for a nice model that is one of a kind.

eroc144

My Feedback: (1)

Done right, a painted finish is a thing of beauty and will last for a looooong time. It will take you longer to complete than film, but if you're a builder it's a skill worth having. Check out the warbird forum for some excellent painted finishes.

Do not paint directly onto balsa - you need a solid base to apply the paint and balsa will quickly dent and ding, and there goes your nice finish. If your plane has open bays (eg, not fully sheeted) then you'll have to cover those areas with fabric, koverall, silkspan, tissue, etc and then paint. If it's fully sheeted then you could fiberglass it with .5oz cloth, or use any of the previously mentioned coverings. You'll need to use paints that are fuel-proof (dope, Nelson's, klass-kote, etc) or apply a finish coat that's fuel-proof (water-based polyurethane, etc).

If you go this route, then invest in good brushes or a quality airbrush - low quality painting gear will drive you nuts and send you back to back to film faster than anything!

EG

Jester241

Yeah really,I forgot about the "glassing" thing. You'd definetly be better off to do that to protect against dings and whatnot. I feel I've got the experience to paint it very nice,but that glassing requirement would be new to me and I dont know if I'd be willing to do all that then take the chance of smashing it yet considering my flying skill level(not bad,but not great). I think I could cover a plane in monokote fairly nicely also in less time,plus I wouldnt have as much pride to loose if I crash it. I think due to the glassing thing I'd better wait till I get a tad better flying before investing that much time and effort to make a masterpiece. I think it would be fun,and I think I could do it,but I dont want to smash it. We'll see,maybe I'll do if for someone else if they pay me a couple bucks.......lol.

Redback

I had my first shot at glassing a couple of years ago when I rebuilt my TF Corsair after a terrain impact event!

Whilst I would not describe myself as a brilliant finisher of aircraft I was pleasantly surprised at what I was able to achieve. I used a foam roller to apply resin onto the cloth, however there are many posts describing different ways.

I am now starting to use plastic coverings less often, mainly to give a more durable finish.

Terry

Campy

My Feedback: (1)

When painting you need to have a "stable" surface. Wood is not a stable surface. Changes in humidity and/or temperature are going to make the wood move. This is going to crack the paint - maybe not immediately, but it will happen (usually within a year ). The glassing provides a stable surface for the paint.

An "old time tip" - apply a covering of the LIGHT WEIGHT silkspan to the surface and paint on that. The silkspan is lighter than glassing, however, it is not as dent resistant. On the plus side you can cover open bays with it (instead of sheeting) and a coat or 2 of waterbase polyurethane will provide an excellent base for painting.

Gremlin Castle

My Feedback: (14)

I have a couple of fifty year old controliners here with no cracks in the finish. The wings are silk and dope while the fuselage and tail group is sanded balsa with balsa filler painted over it and sanded before the final color coats were put on.

Check out my gallery for painted airplanes many over ten years old still taking a shine and crack free.

NikolayTT

Hi Guys,

It seems most answers consider top quality surface and so much work to do like this "thing"
will get better protection from crash, which is not the case indeed. If it is nicer looking and
you crash, then you will feel more sorry, isn't it ? Why to invest in your nerves break down ?

So where is the limit of spending time & money VERSUS the beauty life expectancy ?

I bet any of those nice or not so nice birds look quite the same from a about 50 meters,
and that is one more reason to not spend too much effort on those things.

The best pait job I got was from a Car Reparin/Painting shop - Fantastic Metalic Colors and
Very expensive too, just to hang it on the wall and watch it only, but is that the purpose of
an RC plane is a mater of taste I guess, isn't it ?

Cheers,
Nick

da Rock

Matter of taste? Yes

Ever been to an automobile concours d'elegance?

Matter of function? Can be.
Silkspan and dope can cover an airplane for almost no cost. And make the airplane stronger than most plastic films. And if done with skill, make the airplane lighter than plastic film covering. And almost always make the airplane completely fuel proof everywhere.

Is it worthwhile to have the airplane completely fuelproof everywhere? I have a 35size Hots built back in 1980-something. It was painted. With one coat of epoxy paint.

Not everyone can paint well. And not everyone can cover with plastic film well.

Unfortunately, nowadays nobody paints unless they have to. And couldn't if they could find fuelproof paint. It's no longer available like films are. So the argument is basically moot.

bobcat10_4

I have done all three methods and have found ups & downs with all.

PAINTING:
Yes, painting takes a bit of prep-work; the way the model turns out depends on your patience as well as temperature and humidity. I will be painting my 1/5 scale Skylane ( if I can ever get to that point). The only reason I said what I said in (), is that I'm a perfectionist and this will be the first and only scale model I build.

MONOKOTEING:

This method does take less time, but there is still a bit of prep involved. It doesn't cover up EVERYTHING. I've covered alot of planes with monokote and even the older silkspan\dope coverings. Just use care on angles and contours; wrinkles on a film finish can agrivate ther builder to no end.

FIBERGLASS:

My experience with fiberglass, other than streghening the wing center section, was on an older pattern plane I built in the late 79's. I glassed the foam planked wing and stab. Then I painted it; unfortunately, I didn't prep the glassed area's well enough and could see a little of nthe glass texture in the paint job. Hope this helps,

Bobcat

bobcat10_4

And give you a buzz while apllying it,if your not careful.

NikolayTT

The is in fact a "FOURth" way = CMPro - they got it all Quality for Price better than one can do at home; check
also Nitroplanes. All comes from "Mother Indo/China" and makes less and less sense of building ordinary planes at
home, maybe only the Scale Competitors could still mess up with all those techniqies. Sure, this is a "bit"
provocative statement but I am with Very Friendly Intentions to make it that B/W statement in order we can
evaluate propely WHAT is really making sense and we cannot do that if ignore "Mother Indo/China" - they are
already too good to ignore and in all sizes airplanes - for example also ARF-Composites are made there.

Cheers,
Nick

Fredsterman

Indo/China!
Isn't lead heavy[sm=idea.gif]
Keep the children away from it

goirish

Can you use automotive clear lacquer over silk or coverite? Don't want to change the color just make it fuel proof.

da Rock

Don't know what the base of automotive lacquer is nowadays, but would assume if they still call it lacquer then it hasn't changed. And if that's the case, the addition of banana oil in the old days was one way to make lacquer fuel proof. It was called banana oil because that's what it smelled like. It is a liquid acetate.

I never did it. Always bought Aerogloss.

NikolayTT

I am using the cheapest car paint, and on it, after everything is done, I place a thing layer of
Gloss Fuel Proofer made by

Flair Products, Blindson, Wiltshire, England, tel. 01793/721303.

It takes 48 hours to be fully ready to fly. No problem after that with Nitro, Acetone,
Methanol and Gasoline, and remains very glossy for ever, surely even after the
plane is in pieces.

Is there anything wrong with this type ?

jessiej

Quality of finish is largely a matter of pride in workmanship and acomplishment. As a resuli I suppose this would be of little importance to the ARF crowd. Somehow i get more pleasure from admiring the craftmanship of someone I meet than that of some anonymous and unseen Chinaman.

We all have diffenrent interests. A quality covering and and paint job will indeed be more durable and beautiful than the plastic coverings which look, well, plastic. Those who have seen top of the line C/L precision aerobatic models will have a real appreciation for this.

All that about durability aside I find that I soon become bored with a model soon after completing construction, testing and trimming. (I get bored with ARFs before I finish reading the ads).

jess

WMB

My Feedback: (1)

I just started flying my first plane with a paint job. Used Koverall, filled weave with dope, and used rattle can primer and enamal. While I was in the dope and paint phase, I was wishing I had used Monokote. I would have been flying much sooner. Now that it is done, I'm pretty happy with the results. It has many imperfections, but at 4 foot or more, they all disappear. I was in a hurry to finish and laid the paint on kind of thick. It did come out a little heavier then I had hoped, but flies great and looks awesome in the air! Not sure if I will do it again.
MikeB

Mastertech

My Feedback: (31)

Fuel proof paint is probably easier to get than covering. Don't think so? how many hobby shops are in your town versus how many paint and body shops and their suppliers.

NikolayTT

Yes, I agree, we should have in fact "divide" the people into at least Two Groups, More-Pilots and More-Constructors,
makes good sense in order to understand this Discussion. Of course the "division" is not with sharp borders, but it
is there for sure if one have a look how many hours he is flying vs. how many hours he is building. And that is true,
everybody is different. On top of everything, the person-in-question changes with the time by this or that reason.

Anyway, in this respect I am expecting much changes in the market when I look at Indo/China INPUT.
I hardly believe one can achieve the quality of ARF-composites and especially CMPro at the price they
are sold. Of course one can spedn 10000 $ but that is not to be flown I guess in a relaxed manner.
And nowadays more and more chinese suppliers are joining the market which is already quite
saturated by many non-chinese makers. Since the pricess most likely will not go down, the only models
which continue ahead will be the High-Detailed Fiber Glass constructions.

It will make more pressure on the Precise-Home-Builders to put more effort and time to beat the ARFs.

QUESTION: - Would you give the control on your very nice bird to some one on the airfiled even just for
a part of the flight and under which conditions ?

Even if you do not deliver an answer the "thinking" is enough, isn't it.

Nick

sscherin

My Feedback: (1)

I recently did my first painted plane..

Will I do anther? oh yeah.. My Citabria is going to be painted and I may even rip the film off my PT-17 and recover it in fabric.

Why well it's the look and feel.. for those planes fabric just looks right.. I feel the same way about the Stick.. It's a vintage design and I felt it deserved fabric.

When it comes to cost it's a draw..

Yeah the fabric is cheep but by the time it's finished you didn't same much.

The best part of the painted finish is the lack of seams.. They all get blended in when it's done right.

I wouldn't do it for every plane? Nope. Sometimes I prefer the shiny plastic wrap look.
I wouldn't do it for a trainer either.. No sense making it any more complicated than necessary.

Shivershot

Hobby poxy made a filler for wood that was like thinned out wall spackel.it was like a gritty glue. They don't make it anymore that I know of but you painted it on thick, sanded it (sanded easy to)then primed and painted. It made the wood hard as a rock and filled all the grain to the poimt that it made it look like it was metal or plastic. Maybe someone knows of something like it?

dhal22

actually you can be a flyer and a builder. i keep a couple of arfs in the hanger and a couple of more in the box. in the mean time i alsways have 1 or 2 building projects ongoing.