 |
No, it is not a foggy day
Here I am, applying epoxy primer, or is it paint? I am using a cheap HVLP
paint gun. It works well, but if it reduces the amount of flying paint,
I would like to see how it is with a high-pressure gun! One interesting
thing... the breathing mask that I am using is GREAT! There is no smell
or taste of paint at all with it. |
 |
Between priming and painting
Before doing this, I prepared the aluminum by cleaning it as good as I
could. Then, I used an "aluminum cleaner", which seems to be
an acid to clean again. The aluminum turns fairly white when we leave
this substance on. I applied it with a scotch brite, left it there 15
minutes, then recleaned and rinsed with water.
About painting... I applied an expoy primer. After about 45 minutes, I
applied the first paint coat and the second paint coat within the next
hour. With the system I use, it is a fairly fast process.
|
 |
Those parts are drying
I decided to paint all cabin parts when they were disassembled. I just
feel it is much easier this way and I don't mind that much seeing unpainted
rivets inside the cabin. |
 |
More parts
It is more difficult to do a good job with the smaller parts... L stiffeners
want to fly under the pressure of the paint gun. In the end, I was
holding them in my left hand, while painting with the right hand (yes, I was
using a glove). |
 |
Spar and seats... paint or not paint?
My first intention was not to paint those parts... after all, they should not
be that much visible. However, I had a fairly big left over of mixed
epoxy primer... if I wanted to use it, I only had 8 hours (as per the
specification sheet). So I decided to apply it to the visible ribs, seat
bottoms and spar. I did not prepare these parts for priming as much as I
did with the other parts. I simply cleaned with lacquer thinner... we'll
see if it really makes a difference. |
 |
The System
This is what I used. Omni is a product of PPG. I understand that
this is their "industrial" line and the products are made to paint
shop machinery or stuff like that. The Omni product line is much cheaper
than the PPG brand and the sales person assured me that I would not be disappointed
with its quality. I downloaded instruction sheets that I can share if
you need them. They are on the PPG site, but are very hard to find in
there. |
 |
What it looks like
I'm very happy with the result... hopefully, I won't damage it too much as I
work on finishing the plane. |
| |
|
