hi, does anyone have any suggestions on a system that would be efficient and effective in painting a 110 inch long model rc plane made of fiber glass fuselage?
i have looked at HPLV spray guns, cheap but the compressor needs to be big and thus expensive. i have looke at paasche air brush, low price (199) with compressor, however, seems it will take long time to do job. anyone have any advice, thanks

I'm sure many will disagree with me but, if this is your first and only try at painting and you do not want to go to the expense of a gun and other equipment, Klass Kote (a two part epoxy paint) will brush on very nicely and flow out so there are no brush marks. This makes a very durable and nice looking finish using a brush only. The paint and hardener are not inexpensive though. However, usually a single coat is enough and you wont find any finish more durable and fuel proof for all types of fuel.

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cost as much as the Paasche and can always run an airbrush too. If you have not used any kind of spray equipment, practice on something other than the main project. Thinning paint , spray pressures, spray pattern and pass pattern takes some practice and experimentation. Once you have the equipment, you have it forever not just one time.

Ortho, Here's what I do. Dan.
Here is a finishing technique that is easy to apply, takes about two weeks and yields a good result. Brush on a full strength coat of Valspar Lacquer Sanding Sealer NAS1420. One of those two-inch inexpensive disposable brushes is ideal for this application. Sand lightly with 220-grit sandpaper. Apply ¾ fiberglass cloth over the surfaces brushing through it with the sealer thinned 100% with lacquer thinner. Sand lightly with 220-grit sandpaper. Brush on another thinned coat of the sealer. Try to fill the weave of the cloth as much as possible. Sand with 220-grit sandpaper. Brush on two more coats of the thinned sealer. Sand with 150-grit sandpaper to keep the surface flat and smooth.
Spray on three coats of Pacific Coast Lacquer’s PCL 913 lacquer based primer thinned 125%. Sand the first coat with 100 grit sandpaper, the second coat with 150-grit sandpaper and the last coat with 400-grit sandpaper. A Devilbiss touch up gun with a medium tip was used.
Apply a coat of Kilz oil based primer that is thinned to two parts Kilz to one part naphtha. A Devilbiss touch up gun with a heavy duty tip was used for all the paints.
The prototype model was painted with Benjamin Moore’s oil based paints. It took two coats of paint, each thinned to a mixture of three parts paint and one part naphtha. The model was painted in a two color scheme, not necessarily representing any particular plane. All the trim were painted with Rustoleum. The camouflage is applied with a Paasche airbrush. The overspray was compounded off.

I've found Iwata Eclipse airbrushes to be much better than any Paasche or Badger. The Eclipse BCS can spray anything.

There is simply no way I'd want to paint a model that large with any sort of air brush.

For what you're doing and if you'll be doing enough of it then a nice option that is sized to work well on our models would be this gun;

http://www.harborfreight.com/air-too...gun-66871.html

And of course you'll need a compressor that supplies at least 5 CFM at 40 PSI. More is better. And if you're working in humid conditions you'll want a water separator and inline drier. Otherwise you'll end up working with water based paint even if you didn't plan on it....

Get a quality 1 qt. spray gun for your base colors and an automotive touch up gun for trim colors. An airbrush can be used for really small stuff. You will be glad you got the 1 qt gun. The automotive touch up guns get really hard on your hand after a while and don't hold very much paint. I've gotten cramps from them.