Some colors, specifically Cub Yellow, tends to be transparent. What I have on the bench will have a yellow top wing, and grey for the rest, A liberty Sport, so I was planning on painting it a single base color first, but not sure yet if it should be Silver, so thought I would ask first before buying it. Going to use Randolph for the grey, Sig for the yellow and other colors since I would only need a small amount, and the smallest Randolph is a quart.

So should I use Silver as the base for everything and apply my color coats over that? I was thinking to prevent bleed to apply a couple clear coats over the silver.

I used silver, really aluminum, dope and then yellow on a Bob Dively SU-2 many years ago. This worked very well. Aluminum is totally opaque so it hides all the color variations in your wood and fillers. Now I use Klass Kote and have been putting down a coat of white before red and yellow. These typically have very low hiding power. The Troublemaker in the photo was done that way.
Chuck

I would use KK, but the smell is ten times worse than dope. It also must be sprayed for a good finish, and spraying in winter time usually doesn't work out very well. I found Rand-O-fill, so going to use that as the base coat. Thanks.

Good looking aircraft. I only have a couple of "nits" to pick, just to make the markings more accurate:
1) The color scheme needs a red ring around the nose, this goes along with the red stripe and chevron to show it's the lead aircraft of section one, as indicated by the "1" on the side of the plane
2) The rudder markings, when using the vertical blue "hinge" stripe, needed to all be vertical. The red stripe was at the rudder trailing edge with the white stripe in the middle. When using the horizontal red and white stripes, there was no blue and the stripes were limited to 13 total, of equal width and with the top and bottom stripes being red

The above said, I wouldn't worry about changing anything if you're happy with it

Hydro,
The deviations in the color scheme were intensional. The fin markings are not accurate either: TM-1 for Tony Bonnetti Troublemaker rather than a Martin Torpedo bomber and a serial number that looks a whole lot like my AMA number! And I came way short on the number of wings the plane with those markings had. Well shoot, it ain't sittin' on the Saratoga either!
Chuck

I like the Randolph dope. The fuse is ready for the prime color now, the silver rand-o-fill came out really nice. Still have the wings left to base, but have one more coat of Nitrate to do on one side first. Need to take a break though, the fumes got to me last night and I couldn't sleep. I need to build a new extractor system using the lasers extraction fan and 6" hose. Having the exhaust fan overhead isn't pulling the fumes out.

Why I left the high VOC paints

Behr Latex and WBPU clear,, the days of dope and epoxy paints are gone for me forever

I need fuel proof paint, and the only one that works is 2K clear over Latex. I'll take the dope over spraying clear, the overspray gets on EVERYTHING! WBPU melts under glow. I used it on my runup bench and spilled some fuel, turned the finish into glue before I could wipe it off.

I have a Corsair I am doing 2K over latex, and have to make a spray booth in my garage next spring to finish it. It looks great so far, but ran out of 2K before I could get the fuse completely done, and still have the bottom of the wing to do.

It's a good thing it's not sitting on the Saratoga because, if it was, the tail feathers would have to be all white!!!!!!!!!!!
BTW, I was doing some researching and found that the number of wings didn't matter, it still would have had that yellow-orange coloring. There are pictures out there that actually show Wildcats with that paint scheme as well.
Getting back to my last post, now that I know the why behind the paint scheme, I wouldn't change it either. Happy Holidays

Wrong,, 100% glow fuel proof,, the above plane has a ys120, I run 20/20 fuel
I used an airbrush,, very little over spray and can paint in my basement,, no smell

https://www.systemthree.com/products...ethane-topcoat

Wrong,, 100% glow fuel proof,, the above plane has a ys120, I run 20/20 fuel

https://www.systemthree.com/products...ethane-topcoat

I consider Minwax as WBPU, not what you posted which can be considered auto enamel, which what that link shows as Marine enamel. Its like Eastwood European Clear 2:1, completely different animal than what I was thinking of. It is something I am planning to use on my B-25, but a spray booth is a must as the overspray can make a mess as it has a long dry time and can make everything sticky it lands on. It is 100% fuel proof though, and makes a nice hard high gloss finish that can be color match and polished. Considering that the B-25 Tootsie I am modeling after is a high gloss blue, I want to get as much shine as I can.

Downside is on fabric it can crack, where dope remains flexible to not crack.

LOL,, ok man,, consider it what ever you want,,, it's a water based polyurethane

If you ever get tired of the toxic fumes and spending vast amounts of cash, give it a try, I did and will never go back

​​​​​​When I do a dope job I always put down a couple of coats of white before I start shooting colors, no matter what color I'm using. However; the control line guys like to use that silver/aluminum dope on their stunt planes, sort of like a primer. Those guys do some gorgeous finishes, too.

As far as fumes go, I wear a charcoal respirator when I'm doing a finish. I also have an exhaust fan running in the shop that vents outdoors. I don't get overspray on anything in my shop.

carl

I went with Rand-O-Fill for the base and it works great. The polar grey will cover in one coat from my test. I will have the wings base coated tomorrow and Sunday can try the yellow and see. I found that if I lift the lid on my laser and crank up the blower and do the doping in front of it then no fumes are smelled anywhere in the house, and I checked airflow, I open the door to the garage and there is a breeze that flows down and into the room. I just need to set up a work bench in front of it now for applying the dope and I'm good. Everything has been Nitrate coated and sealed, sanded and ready for color. I still need to order some 4 ounce bottles of blue and black and replenish my Stix It pint, nearly empty.

I have done white before on a Cub and it too was transparent and took several coats before fully covering, where the Rand-O-Fill covered completely in 2 coats. It blended very well too, no brush marks, can't say the same for the white. My yellow Cub has no brush marks, but has about 8 coats of yellow! If the top wing covers in two coats, then I know the trick, if not, well, keep trying.