The only thing I want to know is how you paint all that checkerboard. ??? Do you put down the lighter color first and then spend the next six months to a year applying individual checker masks? Use frisket and cut in place? What's the secret?

LOL. I sprayed all the white base coat first, then I made aluminum templates by hand, then I placed wide hard backed 3M masking tape down on a piece of glass and cut all the checkers, placing them in position one by one, next I sprayed all my black, then I carefully peeled all the tape checkers only and fogged a touch of black around the edges, next I peeled everything, cleaned and clear coated. Here are a couple pictures during the base coat.

Bob

Wow, a picture really is worth a 1,000 words, so much for the pissing contest.

Hello guys<div>I like this selection where your talking about painting your planes with auto paint, I'll be getting to that very soon. My question is: How do you prepare a plane for the paint. Do you cover the fuselage &amp; wing with dope &amp; silk span? I've used automotive paint, but on a mostly fiberglass plane years ago, I'm not sure where to start now. My wing is balsa and has no covering on it yet. I'm still in the building process, but getting close enough to start thinking about preparing it for covering &amp; painting. I need to know what is the best cover skin that would be used for automotive paint? </div><div>Any information would be greatly appreciated!</div><div>
</div><div>Gerry  </div>

That's a good question Gerry, my next project is re-covering a 1/4 scale Spacewalker with worldtex fabric. I also intend to paint itbut I had planned on useing rattle can paint.
I'm sure someone with experience will chime in with the correct answer.

The open bay areas, I cover with Stits covering system, the sheeted areas I cover with 3/4 oz. cloth and Minwax oil based urethane, I then prime fill the entire airframe as I would an all composite airframe and prep for topcoat.

Bob

I covered my Spacewalkers with Solartex, a similar product to Worldtex.

I sealed the weave, in areas that were simulated metal, using Minwax Polycrylic, and then primed them. Open bay areas were not primed, just painted with the color coats.

Now that is a sweet looking Spacewalker!

Bob

Thanks Bob !

You are very welcome! [8D]

Well I finaly got around to painting my cowl and wheel pants today. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. One thing I figured out real quick was that a little goes a loooooonnnnnnnggggggg way. I mixed up 6oz of color following the manf. instructions. After the first coat on everything I was sitting there looking at my handy work, patting myself on the back when I looked over at the Preval sprayer. There was less that a 1/2 oz gone. After 3 coats there was still 4.5 oz left. I vaccum sealed it in a pint mason jar. I then proceded to do the clear coat, appearently the first time didn't sink in. Again after 3 wet coats I still had 3.5 oz left over. Again I vaccum sealed it in a pint mason jar. I hope my wife doesn't find out how I used her new $300 vaccum sealer.
I think it went well. It took me a couple of coats to figure out the difference between a wet and a dry coat. Dripping off is wet, hehe, maybe too wet. Oh well, you'll never see the runs at 60 mph.
How long will the extra paint and clear last sealed in a jar?
Can I spray more clear after it has cured? When I finished I spotted a potential mistake. The cowl is red and white. I painted the white first a couple of months ago then masked it off and that is how it's been sitting. My intention was to paint the red then peel off the masking tape before I sprayed the clear. That didn't happen. Can I spray another coat of clear later? I know that when I peel off the tape there will be a ridge line where the tape was. I would like to wet sand the ridge line and spray another coat of clear after everything has cured.
The Preval sprayer worked really well, I figured out it's better to have enough sprayers for each color and the clear. Now that I've seen how easy painting is I believe I'll invest in a paint gun and compressor.

I'll post some pictures later after everything has dried and can be handled.

A couple of pictures if they'll load. My camara does not seem to like red too much.

The temp in my shop was 72 deg. and the humidity was 65%.

Depending on the paint, especially auto paint ,if you wait too long to paint your other colors it will bubble up. It is best to do all painting before your base coat is cured. Now just so you know not because a paint is dry means that it is cured. Some take hours while others take days or weeks. So there is a window in which to get all your painting done before things go south.

I hav'nt read whether you are using single pack or 2k.If it's 2k and you've sealed the jar well and put it in the fridge it may last a day or so,after that it's toast.

I'm not sure what "single pack or 2k" is. I'm using 2 part paint and reducer. I've got it vaccum sealed in a mason jar in my cabinet. It's only about 4 oz. so if it's done gone bad it's no loss.

If you use DuPont Croma Systems base coat clear coat you can activate the base colors with base maker, use what you need from each color then reseal the cans and they will be usable for many years to come. The clear coat is another story of course, mix only what you need, spray, and what is left is toast within hours after that. The great thing about the DuPont base coat is you can spray each color 30 minutes apart with an ambient temperature of 70 degrees or warmer and you can use the Dupont base maker activator in different temp ranges. The final really great thing about this system is that if you are spraying many different colors that take you days, weeks, or longer for that matter, no problem; the clear coat adheres to the base coat with no issues.

Bob

If you are going to wait not hours but days or weeks as you say between coats on a multi colour paint scheme in different colours that require masking and can't be bothered rubbing the surface down,be prudent and use a clear adhesion promoter between coats to insure adhesion.

There are no issues with adhesion using this system as explained earlier, so forget about the use of promoter with this stuff. I/we have been spraying a couple of hundred gallons a year of this stuff for the last 20 years or so in business, and have yet to need promoter. Just saying...

Bob

So have i and what i said was not for your benefit as you know what you are doing.It was meant to guide people who almost never spray anything and as you know prep skills vary a lot.

Why does everything posted on RCU have to turn into a debate? Prep is not the issue of what I stated at all because the prep you speak of comes in to play from the time of the substrate your priming through the base coat applications, the chemical linking of the DuPont Croma Systems base coat clear coat is all that is needed after that; even weeks, or months later, really! If I or someone were going to use another top end system like Sikens, Sherwin Williams, PPG, or some other low end base coat, clear coat systems then I would agree with you 100% and use a base coat stabilizer and or promoter prior to the clear coat application, but I will state it one more time. This is not needed with the DuPont system I am talking about... Here is just one of many for instances. I designed, built, and painted my Staudacher almost 14 years ago with the DuPont Croma Systems, it took me around 3 or 4 weeks to by the time I got all the base coat and finally clear coat applied; and guess what, no adhesion promoter's or stabilizer's used just like the countless finishes I/we have done over the years, and even today, there is no chipping, peeling, dulling, fading, bla, bla, bla on the Staudacher... On a side note, I have very high end customers that we design, manufacture, and finish countless components in the aerospace, head of state aircraft, and corporate aircraft industries, I have written many manufacturing process specifications, including product preparation and finishing over 25 + years ago. Not that it matters to most but these processes must be in place, recognizes, signed off by an FAA/DER and maintained and followed yearly in order to design, manufacture, finish, and conform any product that goes into any certificated aircraft. So, the processes I am stating in this thread are the same as I have used in business all of my adult life, these processes will work very well for anyone that chooses to use them. for those interested, take a look at my profile picture gallery, all finish work was performed utilizing this system and these processes.

Looks like i'll have to repeat myself.I was'nt talking to you as you know what you are doing.I'm talking to guys that never spray much and are likely to use any one of the various basecoat/clearcoat systems or for that matter direct gloss solid colours.You don't need to confuse the issue for them by stating your qualifications,they are meaningless in this context.We are describing a simple process.

Old Fart,

I think I have stated enough times to you that I was talking about a particular finishing system that needed no promoter between the base and clear, even if weeks or months had gone by, and I don't care who is prepping the surface, with that said it also seems you wish to ignore that part of what I stated in the first place for some reason. I guess you have your own agenda to get out, so have at it. There are those that get it done and share their own results, and then there are those that spend allot of time posting of getting it done, but never seem to have anything of their own to share besides keyboard chatter.....

Bob

i have no agenda it's good that guys like painting their aeroplanes and show everybody what they look like when finished,it's eye candy.

And then their are some who don't need paint to be a master artist.

Eye candy.</p>

If thats all done with covering i'm an admirer,can't use the stuff well myself.