I am in the process of beginning to media blast a Fei Bao F-18 that I have in Blue Angels scheme. So many people have Blue Angels already so I wanna do something different but the thought of hand sanding the plane down does not really motivate me to jump on this project. So then I thought what about media blasting it with my media blasting setup and seeing if that can speed up the process as well as do a much better job. The biggest thing I was concerned about was the rivet and panel lines.

I ran some tests on my old A-4 fuse to see how some 80 grit aluminum oxide and it worked pretty good but didn't leave as a good a finish as I liked. I have some 40-60 glass bead coming to try on the A-4 so that will hopefully work better. Glass bead is supposed to leave a much more satin finish that would be better suited for paint application.

Feel free to throw in suggestions or experiences.

Can you take pictures of the process? I'm unfamiliar with it and would like to see how it's done. Is it like this? How do you contain?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SnkeOxcKkk

A baking soda blast is sometimes used when the underlying substrate can't be touched. Leaves a very smooth surface.

Dan

Ian, I have heard that the walnut shell media leaves the smoothest finish-dont know how good it would be a paint removal though. You can get at at Eastbrook.com. Scott

And here I was clicking into this thread expecting to read about some journo' lobbying for R/C jet noise abatement .....

Sean I will shoot some pics when I set up my little blast are, right now I am sacrificing media during the test period but yes it is similar to that. My setup is not nearly as industrial but it is more than adequate for something this size. Below is the blaster i am using. All I am going to do Sean is to make a rectangular frame out of PVC and drape plastic painters drop around it in a shower curtain type of style with a tarp on the ground. I will spray till my media bucket is empty and then collect and poor back into the hopper while straining it in the proper mesh wire (40x40). In the meantime I can post some pics of what I blasted on the A-4 when I get home tonight.

Scotty, I have heard that as well which is why I went with the glass bead, it leaves a nice finish (supposedly) but has enough bite to remove paint.

This is also a media I am thinking about trying Dan, I saw how it works, I am just not sure if my equipment can handle the volume that this needs to shoot because it is so fine. I might buy a small bag and give it a try though.

Ian

I owned a custom body and paint shop years ago.

Whenever I blasted anything I used soda blasting plastics and walnut shells.
The reason is that sand will certainly remove the paint AND the glass. It will also make the plane very wavy, you will have a lot of prep and finishing work before you can paint it. Also heat is a problem with sand. If you stay in the same spot for too long it will get hot and your parts will warp.

Good luck.
Ohh yeah.. It’s also very messy

You can get walnut Media at a local gun store, Used in Brass Shell tumbling.

I will check that out with my local store, my only worry is that they dont sell larger quantities thus bringing the price up. I have an abrasives place across the bay from me that carry larger quantities of all media. I need to drive over there and hit them up.

Jeff

Yeah, that's what I am afraid of hence the testing on the old trashed airframe. I am going to try and get a hold of some soda media to try in my blaster and see if it works, we'll see. As soon as I get the media dialed in then I can start tearin down that baby.

Low Pressure - air pressure is a big variable. On metal, course media and high pressure cause problems, so work your way up on the air

Dennis

Thanks for the tip Dennis, I read somewhere that soda blasting uses anywhere from 10-60 PSI so I will start low for sure. Same range for the glass bead. The oxide seems to like 100 though.

Good stuff guys, keep it coming!!

Great Thread..Let us know how it goes. Pix would be nice as well. Hopefully some of our airframes will last long enough to be repainted.[8D]

Thanks doom, I will post some pictures ASAP, I wont be able to start blasting right away and I am still waiting on my glass bead, (which should have been here yesterday no thanks to DHL) so hopefully I will be crankin soon. I will post step by step of how I go about it.

Ok, well I have made some progress on this. I sprayed some pieces with 40/60 glass bead and the finish was great!! The only problem is that it goes pretty slow. Its not an aggressive media so it moves along pretty slow. Also since it does move slow and requires a good amount of pressure, my poor home compressor is just not big enough to keep going for more than a couple minutes at a time. I will continue to search for better results.

Maybe I will give it a light going over with the aluminum oxide then finish it off with the glass bead.

hey ianober how big is your compressor i think mine is a 5 horse 40 galloon if this is to small then i have alot of sanding ,watching to fine out your progress before i invest in media that won't work, thanks for the effort to find suitable process ,i want to do a bandit with fairly heavy auto paint (composite fuse ,built up glassed wings)what type of surface are you stripping and paint ?

Ian, I am a big compressed air fan. What I did was get the 200 psi compressor at home depot (small space 15 gallon, but at twice the pressure actually has a higher feed rate at 100 psi than most other compressors of it's size) and then I bought a 30 gallon tank on craigs list and put that in the back yard and ran a line to it, so I have 15 gallons of 200 psi and 30 gallons of 100 psi at all times. I have yet to run it out in anything I have needed it for. All this for less than 400.

The 30 gallon tank was off a broken air compressor, cost was about 20 bucks as I recall.

The 200 psi compressor is brand name Dewalt. Wish you continued success.

Thats a good idea Sean, I think I will start looking around on Craigslist and ebay for used tanks. I am also going to call a media blasting house and get a "quote" as a backup plan just in case, that way costs can be measured as far as time as well.

Here are some pics of what I am doing to coral the media so far. Also it may be hard to see but it shows the result of the 2 blasting sessions on some test areas and on the F-18 itself.

Ian, no pix man??

Can you see them, right above your post? They are showing up on mine. Let me know if they are not showing up?

The first picture is obviously my "budget" blasting booth. The second picture is my first test with 80 grit aluminum oxide. The second pic is the glass bead. The underlying surface came out pretty much untouched with the glass bead. The third shot is of the f18 and I think it is a little tougher to get the paint off the 18 because it possibly could be a different brand of paint because it seems to be tougher to come off. The A-4 was painted with PPG and flat clear and seems to come off easier so I think I am going to try stepping it up to the 80 grit AO and see if I cant do an initial blast then smooth it out with the glass bead.

WEIRD, I got them this time around. Looks good

Its tough to see in the last one but the rivet detail was saved by the glass bead.

Well I tried the 80 AO on the bottom of one of my flaps and it takes it off a heck of a lot faster that's for sure. I keeps the rivets and what not but it does leave more pin holes that's for sure. I am at a loss here. I am thinking about taking the flap to a professional house and seeing what they can do with it.

Probably not much more than you're doing. Remember, the rivet detail and such is mostly in the gel coat, gel coat is nothing more than a paint coat in the mold basically so it will come off like the paint does. A chemical stripper might work better for you, but I haven't personally tried stripping paint from fiberglass, anytime I've removed it, I've done it the old fashioned way, elbow grease and lots of sandpaper.