kenh3497

Has anybody used lacqure instead of dope when filling the weave of fabric? If so what was your experiance. I'm thinking abouttheis as dope & thinner (nitrate) is hard to find and shipping can be a killer sometimes.

Ken

countilaw

Lacquer will dry stiff and brittle and will turn yellow with age. I started using dope on my planes back in the late 50's and have tried many, many different types of paint. I've always gone back to dope to seal and fill fabric. If you have small airport in the area that you live, you can usually get dope near by. I've got several small airports in my area and I get clear dope and thinner by the gallon from the aviation supply across the street from the airport. It's cost about $45.00 a gallon.

Maybe some of your buddies will go in together and get a gallon and divide it up into pints or quarts.

Frank

abufletcher

Since lacquer doesn't shrink the fabric, you might as well just use Polycrylic. And remember that lacquer is almost the exact opposite of fuel-proof so you need to think about what you'd be putting over it and how well that bonds with the lacquer.

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

Dope is not hard to find. Look at Aircraft spruce, or Brodak. And Dope is a type of lacquer. I just painted an entire 1/4 scale DR1 with the stuff. It is the best thing going as a finish goes.

TFF

Montezoma, IA should have some. Brodak and F&M shipping is not bad.

abufletcher

VG, what did you use for the color coats over the dope?

kenh3497

Catalyzed lacquer does not turn yellow and I was planning to paint over the top anyway, using urethane automotive products.

Yup, I was aware of the non shrinking properties and as I mentioned above what it will get painted with. I thought about the WBPU also.



All I'm looking for is something to seal the weave of the cloth. Yes dope is the best product. Nitrate dope would be the logical choice but as it doesn't really shrink I was looking for alternatives. I have left over lacquer on hand from doing the trim and doors in our house. The WBPU is attractive because of the lack of order and it dries pretty fast also.

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

I used latex house paint. The layered effect was done with the airbrush. I prefer to use the Butyrate as I like the shrink. It keeps things tight!

countilaw

I've never hear of catalyzed ( catalyzed meaning a two part application using a catalyst to facilitate curing) lacquer. But seems that you have all the answers, so I'll just back out of here.

Frank

LesUyeda

Just for the record, there are:

Tautening and non tautening Nitrate and tautening and non tautening butyrate.

Nitrate will stick to just about anything/everything.

Butyrate will continue to shrink forever, and so it is recommended that only butyrate be used over butyrate, else the continual shrinking of butyrate will crack other overcoats.

Never heard of "catalyzed" nitrate, and have used an awfully lot of different paints over the years.

Les

sensei

Catalyzed lacquer ?

Bob

All Day Dan

My Feedback: (5)

Ken, Here's what I do. Take it from here. Dan.

Brush on a full strength coat of Valspar Lacquer Sanding Sealer NAS1420. One of those two-inch inexpensive disposable brushes is ideal for this application. Sand lightly with 220-grit sandpaper. Apply ¾ ounce fiberglass cloth over the surfaces brushing through it with the sealer thinned 100% with lacquer thinner. Sand lightly with 220-grit sandpaper. Brush on another thinned coat of the sealer. Try to fill the weave of the cloth as much as possible. Sand with 220-grit sandpaper. Brush on two more coats of the thinned sealer. Sand with 150-grit sandpaper to keep the surface flat and smooth.
Spray on three coats of Pacific Coast Lacquer’s PCL 913 lacquer based primer thinned 125%. Sand the first coat with 100 grit sandpaper, the second coat with 150-grit sandpaper and the last coat with 400-grit sandpaper. A Devilbiss touch up gun with a medium tip was used.

kenh3497

Here is a Sherwin Williams product....

[h=1]SHER-WOOD® Catalyzed Lacquer (PRECAT)[/h] SHER-WOOD® Catalyzed Lacquer (Precat) is a fast drying, high performance, catalyzed lacquer for the general wood finishing market. After catalyzation, it provides 6 months pot life as a precat lacquer.

littlera

Latex paint over tautening Randolph's nitrate dope is my standard finish. Still experimenting with clear over sprays over that.

sensei

Pretty cool.

Bob

LesUyeda

Ok. To what advantage.

Les

retransit

My Feedback: (18)

I use Klasskote exclusively. I have to deal with humidity and lacquer (if you can even buy it anymore) blushes, as does dope. When I painted cars, I used a retarder and slow flash-off thinner in high humidity. Sometimes just thinner and retarder lightly on top of the color coats.

I've also never heard of catalyzed lacquer. It's a single part paint.

Here are pictures of my Fleet after painting. No primer used, just top coat color.

retransit

My Feedback: (18)

I found this link on pre-cat lacquer.

http://www.woodshopnews.com/columns-...e-new-standard

There is some concern about shelf life.

jkpape

Lacquer is not fuelproof

sensei

[QUOTE=retransit;11623361]I use Klasskote exclusively. I have to deal with humidity and lacquer (if you can even buy it anymore) blushes, as does dope. When I painted cars, I used a retarder and slow flash-off thinner in high humidity. Sometimes just thinner and retarder lightly on top of the color coats.

I've also never heard of catalyzed lacquer. It's a single part paint.


This is why I posted a ? when I read "catalyzed lacquer" because I also remember back in the day when I was an automotive painter and was forced to paint with DuPont Lucite lacquer and had to deal with the exact same blushing issues with presence of any humidity, not to mention the crazing and checking found in lacquer finishes that followed in relatively short time spans compared the base coat clear coat systems of late.

Bob

retransit

My Feedback: (18)

Bob, I read a bit about the pre-cat lacquer and apparently the catalyzer is added just before sale. So in essence, it is a two part paint, although the customer doesn't add anything. That is the reason for the short shelf life after it is purchased..

DuPont Lucite was a nitrocellulose lacquer and it had an infinite shelf life as far as I was concerned. I never experienced crazing, although the re-finish on my GTO (I didn't apply it) did experience some minor crazing before it was stolen.

kenh3497

If referring to lacquer.... It is readily available just about anywhere. I only want to use it to seal the fabric in place of dope. No or very little shrinking is necessary as the fabric will take care of that before doping or "lacquering" as it were.

I can't find it now but there was a web site that was selling waterborne products that take the place of dope. From what I gathered it was a "two part" urethane product. Maybe that is the way to go as i intend to use an automotive urethane clear over the top to fuel proof everything.

As far as lacqure not being fuel proof, I painted several planes back in the early 80's using DuPont automotive lacquer and that paint was fuel proof enough that I never had any issues unless I soaked the plane in fuel and let it set. Incidental spills were not a problem.

Ken

sensei

Sorry to hear that about your car, I once had my truck stolen right out of my driveway, so I do know how that feels. The crazing I experienced was mainly in show car finishes with multi colors, and very high build clear coats, and would show up usually in 2 to 3 years. Personally, I would never consider going back to lacquer, there are just too many great finishing systems out there today to choose from...

Bob

LesUyeda

Ken. I was referring to "catalyzed" nitrate.

Les

jkpape

I had a Byron A4 that was painted with automotive lacquer. A little spill of 10% nitro messed the paint up within seconds. I wiped it off ASAP. It softened & dulled the paint. I was able to buff most of it out with rubbing compound. So, I would not recommend a lacquer finish on a nitro powered model unless it clear coated with something that is fuel proof.