Hi Guys,
I purchashed an older pattern planes from my friend this last summer and I wanted to re-paint the model. It has some dings and nicks that I filled with bondo and now I am re-sandind those spots. I never did much painting , just cowlings and little things like that. But back to the plane, it has a fiberglass fuse and sheeted wings and stab. It dos`nt look like the wood sheeted wood was glassed , just primed and painted. I have some left-over cans of Ultra-cote and wanted to use it. Do I wet sand between cotes, how many cotes of paint, and what grit sand paper would you recommend? I do not have a air compresser or any painting equipment, so I was going to try with the canned paint. I heard that you can get good results even from a can? I just need some direction on where to start and what perperation I need to make. Any suggestions would be a great help. Thanks in advance.

regards,
Frank

I would suggest stripping the plane down, otherwise the added paint is going to add a lot of weight. When stripping it down be VERY CAREFUL is using a stripper as many of them will attack/play havoc with the fiberglass.

Once it is stripped down you can either apply glass cloth or silkspan to the sheeted areas and paint in the usual manner.

If the wood is not covered it will eventually crack the paint due to moisture fluctuations in the air.

Campy,
Thanks for your quick reply. What kind of stripper do you recommend?
Frank

That I can't help you with. I do know that Zip-Strip will play havoc with fiberglass - found that out the hard way.

Perhaps someone in the Scratch building or Question answer forum can provide more specific information.

I wouldn't strip the plane down just to paint it, if it doesn't need a complete
over-haul. Just sand it lightly with some fine paper until it "all scratched-up",
then do any filling as necessary. I wouldn't use Bondo, because it is too heavy
and too hard to sand. Use a regular light weight balsa filler.

Wipe the plane with some lacquer thinner, and prime it. Get plenty of primer on it,
a couple coats. Then lightly sand the primer to get it smooth, and paint away.

If you get the paint on smooth, you shouldn't need to sand or buff the paint.
Use several light coats. Try not to use more paint than necessary, it will just
keep adding weight.

FBD.

thanks guys,
Now at least I have an idea on which way to go . Is lacguer thinnner a product you can buy at home depot or a hardward store?

thanks,
Frank

Yup

And they have packs of wet-or-dry sandpaper that you'll need, and it's cheaper than LHS prices by far.

I second the idea that you just sand the present finish not use paint remover, but would like to add some details. If you hand sand the present finish with wet paper, you can easily produce a very good (and clean base for your paintjob. I'd start with 320 or 400 paper and if you do it right one sanding should be good enough. It's not hard to sand just enough if you're careful. Put a drop of dish soap into the water and keep the surface wet and you wash the sucker down as you prepare the surface. Dry it off, tack rag it, let it dry overnight, and paint it.

Wiping it down beforehand with lacquer thinner is a good idea but do it outside and let it sit out there awhile afterwards as well. That stuff is really strong. You might consider denatured alcohol for the same job. It's slightly less aeromatic (and toxic) and does a good cleaning job. If you use the thinner too liberally around joints and cracks, you might loosen up old glues that might not stiffen back up so go lightly around any cracks you find. Use plenty of paper towels. You want the liquid to lift old oil and it will, but it won't remove it unless you hose it off, so use the paper towels often and keep using a clean dry one. If you just wipe the plane down with one rag all you've done is spread the oil evenly over the entire surface.

Oh yeah... I said "hand sanding" but you really want to use a sanding block. Using one by hand does wonders to the old surface, especially if the previous paintjob wasn't real smooth. Without the block you do some smoothing, but it's not half as flat as the block will give you.