ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

I have a Navy Cub (NE2) that has nav and landing lights. Pretty cool. I bought floats for it a few years back. Thought it would be cool to have a Navy Cub on floats. The floats are still in the box and the Cub only flew a couple times last year. Every winter, I plan on getting it on the floats. Looks like this winter will be no different. No time. I even took it to a couple swap meets, but brought it back home because I have no intension of giving it away. It was kit-built and not an ARF. Someday it would be great to go to that float fly with you.

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

Well since I got home from Cali on the 7th I've been busy with my kitchen remodel,, I have squeezed in a little time to re-install the canopy. Today I ran out of Lacquer for my shelves so I decided to start the finial paint prep,, It will be solid white primer before I add any color.

I've decided to give the Bear Premium Flat from Home depot a try,, I' such a cheap scape I can't see investing another $150 in paint on this,, hopefully it comes out nice

Oh yeah,, I did put together a GP EP 580 just for giggles,,, thinking of getting floats for that too

chistech

Hi Tom. looking good. What will you seal off the Bear paint with? I've been painting a small Kyosho Skyraider kit I built with my buddy using the Klass Kote paint. Like you said it's expensive but luckily between him and I we have plenty of planes on the schedule to be built and painted to use up the colors and quantity that we have so we will get our money's worth out of the KK. Here is a couple of pics of the Skyraider painted with the KK.

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

That does look nice,, are the markings painted also or Vinyl??

Well, my first test apps with the Bear and my airbrush haven't gone well.. I can't seam to locate my touch up size gun,, Moving sucks, I may have to buy a new one

I was planning to use a satin clear poly with the cross linker,, I still need to order that.

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

What a difference a day makes,,
Got the Bear to flow,, looks like I'll need to sand out one spot I lingered at too long, but otherwise the stuff flows out of the air brush nicely once you find the sweet spot.

I'm going to go get them to make up the other colors tonight

chistech

Glad to hear you've had success with the Behr Paint. All the markings on the Skyraider are painted. I've become pretty good at cutting frisket film right on the airframe. Cutting the frisket on the Coverite on the open bays makes you a little nervous but you end up learning the "touch". While it takes longer than decals, the painted insignias and lettering are worth it. Here is the link to the build thread.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_10125701/tm.htm

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

Oh yeah,, Behr,, LOL,,

Struggled a little more with the larger surfaces with the airbrush tonight,, ,, I have to thin it too much to get it to move through that tool,,
I'm going to go pick up another touch up cup tomorrow

one thing I do Love about it is,, I can srpay it in the basement,, No smell

chistech

Isn't it that "smell" that got us building these things years ago! Looking good with the color getting down.

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

Finially got the airbrush to work well. It was recommended by a club member that I thin with Denatured Alcohol, not water. It work the best so far. It dried quickly and didn't splatter or run like it did with water and floetral.

Start masking for the markings,, off to HD today for Blue/Red. I order the satin clear water based poly from Systems Three,, hope it works

chistech

And you thought of retiring it! Nice progress.

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

I know right,,,

It will fly again,, and I am happy about that.

Pretty hard not to pull all the mask, but I had to take a peek.

I had to remount the motor so I could center the red caution stripe on the float,, I had to order new isolator rubbers for the dubro mount,, I think I got my monies worth out of the originals.

I'm excited to try the three systems clear,, I tested it on the blue flat and it didn't make the paint soft at all,, should go on just fine,, once I do the red dot and black trim I'll be ready for the clear

yel914

Nice to see this bird coming together. We seem to do things in a similar manner...Behr paint, hand cut stencils, clear coat, etc. I think the System Three clear is similar or even the same as Nelson's clear. It should go over the latex just fine. I found it hard to spray, but then it's very dry here in Utah. It seemed to dry before it would level out. Also, I cut my blue tape stencils on glass and then apply then to the plane, but what ever works for you. Very nice build/rebuild!

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

Thanks for chiming in,,
It's been a little learning curve using the Behr, I've learned a few things what not to do,, LOL

What do you use to transfer them from the glass to the plane? The Circles and stars were easy, but the numbers were a pita to cut out on the plane

yel914

That latex does have a learning curve for sure. But once you know the sweet spot, it's easy. I use a relatively crude method to transfer my hand cut stencils. They're called "my hands". I just peel them up from the glass and move them to the plane. I mark the location with light pencil on the plane. Any free parts, like the middle of an "0" need to be eyballed into place.
How's that kitchen coming along.

chistech

Looking good Tom. I see a Rochester, MA pond on it's flight intinerary.

On the blue tape stencils, I did the same manual peel off. As another option, you can use frisket film and cut them right on the airframe. Did that too. Little scary when you have open bay areas.

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

Yeah, I tried that with a circle for the red center,, I ended up cutting it onthe plane,,

I rigged up a #11 blade on my compass,, just have to fill the pin hole before I paint,

Kitchen is coming along slowly,, but we got the counter tops in this week,, just cleaned and polished them,, Tile for the splash and floors is next (once the wife pics them)

This piece of granite we choose was pricey, but it looks awesome IMHO

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

Yeap, I hope I can make that happen,,I think that Wedding date is on the 26th,, Memorial day is the 28th,, so that Sunday would work best for me I think,, or early Monday,, We'll be driving back that day,, I don't think we'll stay Monday night,, a lot depends on my wife's vacation days which hasn't been confirmed yet.

Cya

chistech

Not sure where Avon Lake is. How long of ride for you? I know average to OH from my house is about 16hrs. A long one day's drive but it's doable. I would schedule to be going thru NY either bridge around 7pm the earliest. Sometimes the traffic in CT is still pretty heavy at that time.

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

I'm just outside Cleveland, Bing maps says just over 10 hours, but that doesn't include stops, we dont go through NYC,, I-90 all the way into MA. Last time we made the drive we stay a day in Buffalo (Niagara Falls),, that made the trip easier, but we were driving the camper so it was slower going,, Not sure what the plan is yet exactly. I drove straight through from here to Elk City, OK once,, 10 hours is nothing

Tomorrow I pull the tape,, hope all goes well

yel914

Tom, good luck on the tape pull. It seems I always have a little bleed through to deal with. I'm getting better at it, but I still have to work the stencil lines after painting.
Kitchen is really coming along and looking good. They're hard to do when you have to work on them part time and still live in the construction zone! I spent 2 years on mine. My wife got very creative with cooking without a kitchen. She made a pizza and a pie on the BBQ. That's talent!

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

Yeap, Lesson learned, that I've learned before and should know better, Don't mix paints.. I had some bleeding, but I can't blame it on the Behr. The Behr over Behr did quite well and Bonded together very well, but I cheeped out and used some latex primer I had sitting around for the White in the starts and to prime before I did the red caution stripe,, those areas bled. Not too bad and I can touch it up with a brush, but disapointing to say the least.

The worse mistake I made was pulling the mask off the bottom star to see how the Red came out before letting it dry over night. The Red paint mush have softened the White primer just enough to let it lift from the Blue Behr. I may repaint those if the touch ups don't look good.

Something else I noticed while working with this tape,, it doesn't like the water based paints to well. It seams like the water wrinkles and lifts the tape to allow that bleeding,, never had this happen with this tape when using Epoxy, Enamel, or Lacquers. Mostly where I used that white primer, but a little with the Behr too. I think I'd use the Frog tape next time

I still have the Black wing walk strip areas to do, but that should not take long,, I'll try and get that and the touch up done today so I can clear coat it this week

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

I wish it all went on as easy as the rattle can flat black,, the touch up look aceptable so far

yel914

Ouch, that's some serious bleed through! Here's a couple of trial and error things I've found out the hard way. Frog tape was a waste of money for me. Maybe you'll have better luck. Black electrical tape makes a good stencil material with crisp lines. Try spraying a light coat of clear over the stencil before switching colors. Try spraying a light coat of the background color over the stencil before switching colors. Either of these methods help to seal the tape and cover up any bleed through. Try spraying REALLY LIGHT color coats on the stencils and spray away from the stencil seams if possible. Wet coats will seep through the stencils much more than a few relatively dry coats. Also, you can sometimes scrape the dried bleed through off with a razor blade and a light touch. Hope any of this helps out.

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

I think the major issue was with the type white primer I used,, I had to thin it down so much to get it to spray through the airbrush it was just too wet and loosened the tape no matter how lightly I tried to build it up,, it wasn't like the Behr which held it's body, would dry off quickly and stay put. The primer would just stay wet and run as I built it up. I'm sure if I'd have used Behr for the white these issues wouldn't been near as bad. You can see I got a nice line with the blue tape where the blue over yellow is. The white is the problem everywhere.

I'm not thrilled with the results, but I'm glad I choose to experiment on this rebuild project instead of a brand new plane.

yel914

Yea, practice on a rebuilt plane, that's the ticket. I just wish I didn't have so many practice planes!