ORIGINAL: bem
Hi,
So what paint is best to use if one want it to last many many years without develop cracks, flakes etc? I suppose polyuretane based paint (1- or 2-component) is a strong candidate. I was thinking of for example Ed Kazmirski's personal Orion and Taurus that is in AMA museum - as far as I have seen they seems to be in very good shape even today. Was he using polyuretane paint?
Another example I know about is a gentlemen here in Sweden that has a 55 year old contest line control model that was painted in polyuretane paint and the model is still today basically in same good paint condition as it was when it was new.
/Bo
Bo,
good question. In theory, the
caliber of paint increases with more recently engineered paints. Referring back to post #17:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10705905
starting with Japanese lacquer (and probably dope's as well) and progressing up to the more recent acrylic urethanes, the quality and durability of the paint should increase. Polyurethane paint is very good and it is what I remember using as a kid to fuel proof anything that needed it. In those days acrylic urethanes didn't exist yet. I think they were developed in the last 20-30 years (maybe more recently). So, when possible, I'd be inclined to using acrylic urethanes. I believe they are also less toxic and have less of a smell. Anything that is polyester based (i.e., polyester urethane = polyurethane) has a strong odor and if you are sensitive, can give you a massive headache.
On the other hand, in the interest of longevity (ours, not the models
), we'd probably be better off using water based products including water based acrylic paints as well as water based varnishes from MinWax and Varathane (you probably have different brands in Sweden) for applying glass cloth. Once finished, the nice thing about using water based paint is that the layers can be very thin and wet sanding to flatten the paint is probably not required. As a final fuel proof coat, one could then apply a 2 stage acrylic urethane clear coat, if the model has an engine and acrylic enamel clear coat if the model has a motor (i.e., electric).
I suspect that Ed's models were painted in silk and dope as was probably the convention back in his day. It's possible that the model might have been re-finished, perhaps just the top coat, since it's original paint job. It would be interesting to find out from the AMA what their understanding is of how the model was finished.
So what's on the paint roster Bo? [8D]
David.