Hi all, I'm a newbie at r/c model aircraft, although i have done some modelling before. I've purchased an ARC Modelfly Ready 2, a high wing trainer quite popular here in the UK and recommended to me by many people.

What my main concern's are involve painting the model:-

1. Is it ok to paint it? With a .46 engine i should be ok on weight, i assume?

2. It is moulded from A.B.S plastic. From what i can acertain, the best paint to use would be 2K/2-pack/2-part isocyanate based epoxy paint, for compatibility with the plastic and fuel resistance. This is not going to happen as i haven't got a spray booth or an air-fed respirator ! Has anyone got any ideas as to the next best paint i could use? I'm thinking 1K/1-part acrylic car paint, or something like a model acrylic with a fuel proofer over the top. If this is an option, what type of proofer ?

Any help gratefully appreciated.

cheers

Mark

You should have no problems painting it. Make sure you lightly sand the surface with some 220 or 320 grit paper and THOROUGHLY clean it with ALCOHOL, NOT PAINT OR LACQUER THINNER. Paint and/or lacquer thinner (among other substances ) have a very high probability of softening the ABS/plastic.

Since you do not have spray equipment, you will need to go with spray cans.

Apply a THIN coat of primer and let it dry before painting. I would avoid the "High Build" primers unless you need to cover/fill scratches. If you use high build primer, you should wet sand it with 400 grit prior to panting. If you can find a white primer go with that. The color(s) will be more true and if you are using light colors (yellow, etc ) it will take fewer coats to cover.

The ACRYLIC auto paint will work well - 2 or 3 THIN coats are better than 1 thick coat. Just be sure of compatibility - you can put enamel over lacquer, but not the other way. I suggest also doing a test panel. Spray some of the paint on the panel and let it dry. Then put some raw fuel on it and let it sit for several hours. When you wipe the fuel off youwill know if it is fuel proof or not. FWIW - ACRYLIC paints are USUALLY fuel proof. If you do not need to add the weight of a clear coat don't.

If you do need to clear coat it, I would use Ultracote clear OR a polyurethane (MinWax sells polyurethane in spray cans ). Oil base poly is fuel proof, however it will start to yellow in about 8 - 10 months. Water base poly is fuel RESISTANT to 15% and WILL NOT YELLOW. By fuel resistant I mean that if you clean your planes at the end of the flying day you will be fine. If you leave the residue and associated junk on the plane overnight (or longer ) the poly will soften up on you. If you can not find spray cans of poly, use a FOAM brush to apply it - you should not see any brush marks in the finish.

I avoid Lusterkote as I have had very poor results with it. Results ranging from frequent "spitting", poor color matchs, mis labeled cans and the paint just not "laying" properly.

I just re-painted my trainer last week so it looked good, i posted a forum and the guys told me to use Rustoleum (stay away from the silver, chrome, metallics and flat black), Rustoleum is quite resistant to glow fuel. I used Rustoleum and it worked great, i finished putting the finishing touches on it in the morning and went flying that afternoon, the fuel from the engine did nothing to the paint. Just a sugestion.