tenacious101010

My Feedback: (97)

I used the above paint and found that it not only would show and places it was touched as dull, but the paint is in fact not fuel proof. I had used some Plasti-Kote bumper Chrome paint and put gas on it twice, letting the puddle set till it evaporated and it never softened. They qare both enamel paint. I havent tried it on a plane, but the Dupli-Color is definatly no good for gas, maybe with a clear coat it will work, but it may turn it grey. The Dupli-Color looked great, but not for long.....
Denny

NM2K

My Feedback: (14)

Forty years later and folks are still looking for fuel proof paint. Just when we began making some headway in the chemistry of paints toward obtaining good looking, stable colors that withstand glow fuel or gas/oil, the powers-that-be change the laws and forbid our paint manufacturers from making desirable products because of ingredients or processes.

I don't know your experience level in this area, but long ago and with a different type of liquid finish (butyrate dope), it took me quite a while to learn that a single coat of dope can take several weeks to cure thoroughly. Then start adding many, many coats of dope and you can see that it might take a year or longer to get all of the colors you wanted/needed to apply to cure sufficiently before proceeding with the next step was possible. Learning all of this hastened my switch to plastic film finishes. I'm just a hacker, so the ultimate in finishes is not required to keep me happy.


Ed Cregger

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Well Ed, didn't anyone tell you about K&B two part epoxy paint?? It was around when I was in short pants. K&B is long gone but today we have several others out there for modelers. I was told about Klass Kote paint so I gave it a try. It too is a two part epoxy paint and if you happen to find some old K&B part one then the KK part two works in it very well. The stuff isn't cheap but it mixes 50/50 then thins down another 50% for spraying. It goes a long way. The stuff is bullet proof!! Warbird colors is another one that a lot of folks are using, I haven't tried it but I hear nothing but good things.
None of these are cheap but if you are painting something as nice as those planes in the photos what's another 50 bucks.
Klass Kote also makes clear if anyone is looking for a very good clear coat to go over spray can paints. I would say more about the other paints but I haven't tried them yet.

tenacious101010

My Feedback: (97)

I agree, there are many advantages to using shrink film. One of those advantages is not that is does well out in the hot Florida sun. The other thing is that it is near impossible to wrap a flat shoot of plastic over many small radius compound curves and keep it wrinkle free. If I were doing sport planes like a stick, ot a semi scale plane, shrink covering is the way to go, even on 60 size warbirds. As the planes get bigger, and the small details are incorperated, glass and paint seem to be the best option.
As of today, I have painted three planes with Baer Latex paint from Home Depot, it is by far the best when all factors are considered in my opinion. The silver is not a bright aluminum, but it is as good as the aluminum shrink wrap that is available and a whole lot cheaper. One quart of the Home Depot Latex is $20 and will paint 2 to 3 planes, you cant beat the cost of this stuff or the cleanup. I believe it woudl cost around $60 to do the same size plane in shrink wrap. Not to mention that the shrink wrap seldom lasts as long. I live near Lakeland FL and when I go to Top Gun and ask about what paint some of the nicest planes are using, I hear it is Latex, more and more. I just thought I would try something different and wanted to share that experience to save anyone else the expense and trouble. Good luck with your projects no matter what method you use and please post the results so we can all learn! Oh and in the background of the Mustang fuselage hanging on my carport, in case you guessed what is there, yes, its a Mustang radio reciever and a Merlin Engine block

Denny

NM2K

My Feedback: (14)

I started using K&B paint in the Seventies. It was very durable and virtually permanent, even though the colors weren't all that great for someone such as myself (not skilled in paint mixing).

Then, as you pointed out and as I remarked about in my post, the EPA forced changes in the K&B formulations that affected durability, cost, etc. I was done with painting. I never did get around to using Latex paint for modeling, even though some folks had impressive results.


Ed Cregger

warbirdcolors

My Feedback: (5)

Here's yet another alternative, which IS fuel-proof, gas-proof, and foam safe....

http://www.warbirdcolors.com

andrew66

The big thing with "spray paint" is the cure time. I noticed with tremclad, it states that the finish doesnt really cure until about a week. I bet it isnt fully cured for about a month or so. And that probably depends on temp and humidity.

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

being a avid warbirdcolors user I couldn't say more about the positive results I have gotten from using them, but they don't have a silver paint in there selection.

what I have used is this paint from Modern Masters its a int/ext silver house paint, its not completely fuel proof but didn't melt when I wiped fresh 10% nitro fuel on it, after just a day of drying, being a latex I would think it would be gas resistant also if alowed to fully cure.

what I did do was to clear coat the silver with warbirdcolors clear, there was no adverse reactions, the clear stuck to it well, the silver looks pretty good,and the wheel wells are now fuel proof .

the clear had no affect on the look of the silver paint

smithcreek

My Feedback: (25)

I used Randolph butyrate and haven't noticed that. I've sprayed 3 colors in one day, two of the base color and started flying the planes two-three days later. Maybe it's matters what brand the dope is?

NM2K

My Feedback: (14)

I'm sure that the brand and even the colors within a given brand can make a substantial difference. So can spray painting versus brush painting. I was thinking of brush painting when I wrote the post. Back when I used dopes of various types, I didn't own a spray outfit. I did own one when I was using Hobby Poxy and K&B Superpoxy paints. Man, that seems like forever ago.


Ed Cregger