<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS">just bought a top flite gold ed P-51. i'm trying to save it for this winter or early spring next year before i begin building it, if i can hold out that long. i got it early because of a good deal through tower hobbies. some kind of power deal. i've been wanting one for a long time but never got around to it. 140.00. the other 30.00 it would have cost me, went for the 'B' model conversion kit and a couple other small items. ANYHOO... i've never painted anything of this size with anything other than multiplerattle cans. i do know how to paint and must say i do a pretty damn good job with it. i want to glass it with PolyC and wrap my fingers around my new HVLP detail gun and some paint from warbirdcolors.com. not knowing how many pints is in a spray can (maybe 10 or so oz.'s???)poses a problem to figuring out how many pints of paint i need for the plane. i'm going with the light gull grey on the belly and the o.d. green on the rest of it just like the Shangri-La paint job. plus a thing of primer and a little black and white for D-Day stripes. kind of doing my own thing, but that's the basics of it. they say for the HVLP guns to thin about 25-30% with water, but i'm not how far a pint will go. they offer the grey and o.d. green in 1/2 pint, 1 pint, and 1 quart. the black and white is offered in those sizes, plus 1/4 pint. now 1 pint being 16 oz., thinnedat 30% would put it atjust under 21 oz. with possibly2-3 light coats and a wet coat, should a pint of the green and a pint of the grey and a pint of the primer be enough? i will be buying some cheepy latexpaint to figure out the detail gun as i have never used it and don't know how it reacts. but by then i should be fine with it. can anyone with experience with these paints and size of plane please help me out. the stuff is pretty spendy at 20 bucks a pint.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...LXHU81&amp;P=K

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...LXHV03&amp;P=K</span>

The Home Depot sells what they call testers cans for the colors you do not need alot of. A pint for each of your primary colors should do you just fine. You are gonna need a good fuel proof clear coat once you are done. You will also need to be patient in between colors. Latex takes a while to dry completly or it will pull of with tape. I usually wait about a week in between colors. Good Luck, Dave

<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS">i was reading about the warbirdcolors paints and primers, and they said there was a 'kicker' catalyst that you mix in with their paints and that fuel proofs it up to 15% nitro. i just want to get some paint from home depot or somewhere to figure out all the shinanigans with the HVLP gun, as i just bought it and never used one. now i'm having second thoughts on whether or not to glass andpaint or just use the monkeykote. i'm not even sure this plane is worth tricking out. they don't even have a cockpit kit for it. i probably will just for change, but i'm definitely looking at a lot more work, with the cockpit details. the PolyC should be a lot lighter than the epoxy finish. what do you use for the fuel proofing after the latex? just lustrekote clear or something? does that 'stuff' play nice with the latex paint? how about some other acryllic or laquer clear coat?</span>

You would be surprised at how far 8 ounces of paint will go. You will reduce it with reducer so you may end up using 2.5 ounces of paint to get 4 ounces in the pot. Now if the paint needs a catalyst, watch what you use as a respirator.

I have used a lot of the automotive paints. They work great but are not cheap. They are a two part mix and good for 50% nitro after a clear coat.

Practice with your gun with Testors cans from the hobby shop or the enamel cans from the depot. I have 6 HVLP guns and love them. Use low pressure and the paint goes so much farther without the over spray.

Buzz.

Crash, You might have a look at latex paint info on [link]http://www.vaillyaviation.com[/link]. He really spells it out in detail. There is a learning curve with latex, but for me, I think it's the ticket. As discussed earlier, Home Depot can mix any color you want at about $3 per sample container. Cheap, unlimited color choice, and no smell! On my current build, I'm experimenting with fuel proofing clear coats. You can mist Lustercote directly over latex with mixed results. If you put it on too heavy, it will wrinkle the latex. My next experiment was with Minwax Polycrylic over latex. The Polyc does NOT react with the latex. Once that was dry, I sprayed the Polyc coated parts with Lustercote for fuel proofing. Works great! The Polyc acts as a barrier between the latex and the Lustercote. This may be the Holy Grail I was looking for.
Also, some people use gloss or semi-gloss latex. I use flat because some sample colors only come in flat and it sands much easier than gloss latex. Hope this helps.

"now I'm having second thoughts on whether or not to glass and paint or just use the monkeykote."

Smacks Crash upside the head!

Dude, your not going to build that beautiful Mustang then plastic shrink wrap it? No way! We won't let you!

Time to go on a high fiber diet! Go get lots of big cheap boxes of cereal and start eating! Two a week. Now take the empty boxes and practice painting those until your ready to paint by next Spring. After 48 P-51 painted boxes you should be a HVLP expert.

<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS">so i guess the plane is worth the tons of time and money putting into it? i just see all these other planes here and think i'll never be able to do some of those things. i guess it does just take practice and TONS of patience. i haven't bought any monkeykote yet and AM anxious to use the paint gun, but seeing the prices and no cockpit kit and being my first warbird, i feel it won't be the master piece i have visioned in my head. but i'll go for it, more than likely anyhoo. but DAMN, people got some nice planes out there.</span>

Hey Crash this book taught me a lot on finishing planes. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXL792&P=ML


Spend the money and time painting those cereal boxes. Seriously you get the skills you need for the model really fast that way. Don't learn to paint on models. You'll only get to paint 4 or 5 a year. If you do boxes you have over 50 in a year. Don't think of painting boxes as wasting paint. Your learning hard won skills.

I suppose I would consider any plane you build to be a practice plane, unless it's the last plane you plan on building. Building is a bit of an art form. Each plane should get better with experience. That TF P-51 isn't really a diamond, but it's no dog either. Do your best work on it and be proud of your accomplishment. Just know that your next plane will be better from the P-51 experience.
Painting boxes before the plane? Probably good advise. Once you settle on a paint and technique you feel comfortable with, you will only get better.