This is my first time using DCU flex-n-flat clearcoat to get a matte finish.

To my surprise, the upper surface of one wing has come out pretty glossy, wihle the rest of the aircraft is nice & flat. Any ideas what causes such discrepancies ? More importantly, any idea how to fix it ? Whenevr I try to buff my gloss finishes they always end up pretty matte (!), so maybe some light buffing with a cutting compound can dull the surfafce a bit ?

if your looking for the exact same finnish you may have to do it again all at the same time, you wont be able to match it by sanding or buffing, things that affect its degree of gloss are dry time and amount applied, you have to spray it very even, you might be able to blend it to to the adjacent area reducing it more and dusting it lightly from further away, but its not easy.. good luck hope this helps.

george

I'd PM David Reid, he has sprayed a lot of that stuff and when I used it for the first time, I had a few email exchange with him.

I have used flex n flat before. It is important to keep the batch your spraying mixed well. Give the pot a swirl or two every other minute to keep the solids mixed. Same happened to me my first time.

Gordon..keep us posted here will ya, cause I'm going to use it for the first time this weekend on my F15 and I'm worried too because I've had this (unopened) for about 8 months..I might get new hardner..but I'm worried about the finish also! Thanks Kevin

I have never seen that problem and have sprayed a quite a few airplanes with it. How about some details of how you mixed it. Did you add any gloss clear to it? How much did you thin it?

You can spray just the one panel that is hosed up as well. You can also adjust the amount of sheen by adding percentages, by volume of 2021 (or other suitable gloss clear) I often do this on a project because the 2060 is just too flat by itself.

No gloss added.

In each case, I mixed 6 parts of 2060 to 1 part of hardener (DCX61 ?), and four parts of reducer (DT860?). The instructions on the can are for 6 to 1 to 1 mixing, but I used a little more reducer to try to avoid having too heavy a coat laid down. Both mixes came from the same can of clear, hardener, and reducer. The only difference that I am aware of, is that they were sprayed on different days (because I had to re-do the vinyl on one wing).

Gordon

Gordon,

I had a similar experience and found that I did not reduce it sufficiently. Being that these products are designed for automotive, I find I need to reduce my amounts by sometimes up to 100-200% more than recommend.

I Sprayed Flex-n-Flat on my KC and reduced it by about 150%. It came out dead Flat.

Hope that helps.

Hey Gordon, it has been a while since i shot 2060, but I though thte mix ratio was 5 - 1. Anyways, that won't make a differnce. I normally reduce it out 150 - 200%, mix it 6 - 1, and then add 10 - 14 parts of reducer. I spray the mixture at 70 psi and about 12 - 14 inches from the surface. The clear finish on my Mig only weighed 2 ounces when complete with this method.

Hey John - looks like we have something in common - the number 2 ... I think my clearcoat added only 2 lbs to my airframe !

Gordon, no expert here, but I have seen this once and the problem was that the semi-gloss appearance was caused by another coat being applied over the first at a later time (after it had dried for awhile). Whenever we shoot it now, we make sure to get it all done at the same time and not to re-shoot once it has dried.

Although I may have found your culprit, unfortunatlely, I do not have a cure. The one I'm referring to was never "fixed" and just left alone for fear of making things even worse. In your case, you may have to do something b/c it's a wing, our case was just a canopy.

George