painting solartex?
 

I am covering my 1/4 cub with solartex and need to come up with a good paint to use. I tried a can of lustrekote on the elevator and cockpit and it isnt covering well at all. 2 heavy coats on the elevator and I can still see the wood bracing and frame work through the fabric. 2 lighter coats on the cockpit area and I can clearly see the wood grain. Ive used a whole can already. At this rate I will use a case of cans to finish it out. If I switch over to a water base paint can I finish painting over the lustrekote or will it be a mess? Read both about latex house paint and also nelson's water base paints. Any ideas or opinions would be appreciated.
thanks
Jeff

I use automotive paints on all my planes and they are covered with Natural Solartex, it takes a nice paint job and you can't see through it.

what color of Solartex did you use? what color of paint are you trying to apply? in the cockpit area what did you seal the balsa with before you applied the paint?

[QUOTE=2 Piece;12319384]what color of Solartex did you use? what color of paint are you trying to apply? in the cockpit area what did you seal the balsa with before you applied the paint?[/Q
painting with cub yellow. I didnt use anything in the cockpit area before applying the yellow. I read lustrecote's site last night and they recommend using primer first, followed with color and then clear. I believe I will try a can of primer and see how well it covers. by the time I have to purchase a spray gun and the paint I would probably be better off using the rattle cans if the primer covers well.
thanks
jeff

Well yellow is a color that is naturally very transparent. First off, never, ever, never, ever apply a "heavy" coat of paint. It does nothing but add weight. Always apply very "light" coats with about 10-15 minutes "flash" time in between each light coat.
You must seal the wood in the cockpit area before you apply a primer or paint. Primer does not do a very good job of sealing the balsa and you will not be happy with the results. There are products out there to seal balsa, I like to use Zap finishing resin.
You didn't answer the question, what color Solartex are you applying the cub yellow over?

boy I am screwing up on all points so far. Glad I havent done too much yet. I am covering with natural colored solartex. I already have a couple of coats of yellow in the cockpit area so I cant seal the wood now. Can I use a krylon light grey primer instead of lustrekote? I am thinking of spraying the primer over the yellow that I have already sprayed so all the yellow will match. I still have 2 full cans of yellow, how many more cans of color might I need? I am thinking 2 cans of primer and one or two more cans of color.
thanks
jeff

imho, you would have been better off to cover the plane with cub yellow Solartex and just painted the cowl and any other parts that were not covered.
there is no way I can tell you how much paint or primer you are going to need, to many variables. you will need to sand the yellow you applied to cockpit area.
Primer is not a sealer. Primer is an adhesion promoter for the paint. there are some high fill primers you can get in rattle cans, spray the high fill primer then sand most of it off, then repeat until the area is smooth. on unsealed wood it takes lots and lots of coats of high fill primer and sanding in between coats to get a smooth surface. it is always best to use a sealer before using a primer or color coat. without seeing your plane it is really hard to try and advise what you should do to finish the painting. I will say this, I will highly recommend that you start over on the elevator, as in remove the painted Solartex and repaint it with a light coat of primer followed by a couple light coats of cub yellow. Right now you have heavy coats of paint on a part of the airplane that should be kept as light as possible, and anything else you do to the elevator will only be adding more weight. Cubs are generally tail heavy airplanes and extra coats of heavy paint on the elevator will only make it more tail heavy. Recover the elevator, I know it will not be fun, but it is good practice and you are learning a lesson. I always recommend that people make a small practice wing panel, cover it and paint just the way you will be covering and painting the model. this will give you a chance to see how your finishing products will work together and give you a chance to make changes before you start painting the plane.

Leroy that's a nice paint job on the Cub!

Leroy,
Beautiful job on both. Love the first one!! Are you using single stage enamel with hardener or base coat clearcoat?
Thanks,
Fred

2 Piece pretty much hit the mark on primers and sealers. The discussion has mostly been about Lustercote but I find that these observations are true for other types of paint when you are trying to lay down a coat of yellow. Most of the yellow paints I have run across behave like a clear coat in that their performance is influenced by what lies beneath. Both yellow Lustercote and yellow dope are really pretty transparent and need a base coat in the same manner as a two stage automotive paint. BTW I would test a sample before trying to mix paint types. The appearance of the yellow Lustercoat is strongly influenced by whatever is beneath it. As 2 piece notes the Lustercote primer isn't a particularly good sealer but the coats that you have put on the bare wood should have largely sealed it. One thing the Lustercote primer does is provide a consistent base color so that your yellow will come out consistent. Depending on the paint type, colors from the yellow to red range will be effected by the underlying surface. Automotive painters use different base coats to get a desired effect.The short version is you will need a consistent primer across the aircraft to cover up the underlying structure and to get a consistent shade of yellow.

I had someone else mention that primers wont expand well once painted and out in the sun and could cause small cracks in the finish. Do I need to stay with lustrekote as a primer or can I use a hardware store primer?
thanks
Jeff

Thank you Vincent, it's been awhile and I see your back to building.

Leroy

I would say stick with what the paint says to use. They have Lusterkote listed as a lacquer on Tower hobby page. And mixing lacquer base and enamel base primers will make a big mess. Unless you know for sure what type paint base you have lacquer or enamel I would not take a chance. I do not know for sure what Lusterkote is, my guess would be lacquer but that would only be a guess.

Yes I am Leroy, I hope that you didn't take offense to me not making a comment on your Tiger's paint, because I've already have seen it and you know I admire all of your work. Come on over and visit when you can. It's good to be back at the build table! Very quiet though, not like before...

It's PPG's Omni base coat/clear coat on the cub, Spacewalker has Sherwin Williams 4th Dimension base/clear coat, both over natural non primed Solartex. All exposed wood is sealed, sanded and sealed again with nitrate dope, no need to primer it.

All aluminum is sanded and primed with self etching primer, fiberglass is primed with hi build Dupli-Color primer sanded and painted. There is a lot of paints and primers out there, one needs to know the compatibility of all the products he's going to use, Google Compatible paint charts and then do some tests. Knowledge will make you a good painter, without it you'll become a mess maker.

Leroy

It's PPG's Omni base coat/clear coat on the cub, Spacewalker has Sherwin Williams 4th Dimension base/clear coat, both over natural non primed Solartex. All exposed wood is sealed, sanded and sealed again with nitrate dope, no need to primer it.

All aluminum is sanded and primed with self etching primer, fiberglass is primed with hi build Dupli-Color primer sanded and painted. There is a lot of paints and primers out there, one needs to know the compatibility of all the products he's going to use, Google Compatible paint charts and then do some tests. Knowledge will make you a good painter, without it you'll become a mess maker.

Leroy

I have found that Latex paint from Lowes or Home Depot works very well and price is great. I buy the small tin of sample paint for about 3 or 4 dollars. They can match any color you want, just take a sample of want you want the match. I have used the painted and the unpainted Solartex, and matched the unpainted parts as well. I have built several Balsa USA kits and have used the painted and I have painted others. The latex paint can be sprayed on or brushed and sealed the clear Minwax Polyclic water based. I have planes that or over 6 years old that still looks great, also you can weather paint as well. Here are so examples of my planes covered with Solartex.

Colored Solartex unpainted parts; (cowl) painted with latex:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2206951

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2206952

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2206953

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2206954

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2206955

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2206958

All of these are painted Latex
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2206963

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2206964

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2206965

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2206966

I hope this helps

Fair Winds & Happy Flyin'
Rich

What are you powering it with, glow, gasoline or electric. If not glow, most any paint will work. I've often used latex (gasoline power) with good results. If glow, an epoxy paint will work well and there are other, just make sure the paint is fuel proof. Klass Kote is an excellent and long lasting epoxy paint, expensive but worth it.