For the maximum safety when using catalyzed paints (paint with hardener added separately) you should be using an air feed or positive pressure mask.
Years ago, I worked with a painting contractor who sprayed an interior commercial building roof with a two-part epoxy paint. He used a cartridge respirator. Thirty-six hours later he was dead of epoxy poisoning. Once a catalyzed paint's vapors have saturated your bloodstream, they cannot be made non-poisonous. The reaction to this inside the body is to cause swelling of internal organs, very ofter the heart. Such reactions are often mistakenly diagnosed as heart attacks.
Take my advice and don't play around with catalyzed paints such as auto paint (PPG, Imron, etc) without good breathing apparatus. I have two friends who own body shops and both of them use positive pressure masks, which supply clean outside air to them while painting.

Regards,
Al

Well, I painted my stuff today. The parts turned out great. I'd post pics but my very old digital camera won't upload pics to Windows XP. Considering I have never used a paint gun before I was surprised how easy it was to get a good finish. I had some parts painted last year by a friend who works in the automotive paint field... my parts look as good as the ones he did with expensive Dupont paint.

On the Omni paint: The color match is so close that I can't tell the diff between the paint and the monokote unless the light hits it just so... probably a sheen issue more than a tone issue.

The Omni bases have a tendency to orange peel just a little (maybe it is due to my lack of painting skills, don't know), but the clear coat hides it. I had to have one color (light purple) mixed in PPG Deltron 2000 since the Omni line couldn't match the color. The Deltron lays down much nicer than Omni, but at $50 a pint for Deltron vs. $15 for Omni, it better lay down nicer.

As for the solvents, catalyst, etc. I now have first hand knowledge of how incredibly nasty that stuff is... no joke. I painted in my garage with the door up and I used a respirator with organic canisters. With the respirator on, I couldn't smell the paint, but I realized that some is still probably getting thru. After the garage aired out, I stepped inside my house and I was blown over. Somehow, the vapors managed to seep thru the ceiling of the garage (split level). I had to herd up the pets and air out my house for 45 minutes before I could tolerate it inside the house.... and this was painting with the garage door UP!

Geez Eaglewatch... nasty bed time story... especially since I just got done painting. I already have swelling of internal organs... OK, I just ate too much at Christmas.

MonkeyBoy et al

As a flier who used to spray paint every plane, ( dope rubbed out like lacquer) who is not satisfied with the monokote "chase the wrinkles" game I've followed these posts with interest.

Did you keep track of the weight you added through painting ? If you did the other piece of info. I need is the size of your airframe.

Since you did get some vapors through the mask be certain to let me know when you croak and how bad it was getting there !

JUST KIDDING !! I painted a pattern plane many years ago with a two part enamel known as Polyasol sp??. I had no mask just a very high capacity exhaust system and I'm still flying . Not smart, just lucky that time.

When I used the Omni, the recommended mix was just a little too heavy for my gun nozzle. I ended up doubling the reducer to get it just right. I was using the single stage paint straight to gloss (no clear coat).

My gun is a .8mm nozzle and I think the mix is set for something around 1.3mm. I also found out too much reducer is not good either but that was up around 4x the recommended amount.

Onewasp: I painted parts for a 35% Carden Edge 540. I weighed the cowl before and after but not the hatch or wheel pants. Cowl weights 18-1/8 ounces before painting and 21-1/4 ounces after for a total weight of primer/paint/clear on the cowl of 3-1/8 ounces.

Geez, I hope I don't croak... I want to live long enough to fly the plane I just painted .

Thuddriver: I did not use the Omni single stage paint, I used the MBC base coat and then shot clear later. I had too many colors to mask for MTK (wait 9 hours to tape.)

Has anyone tried the new Porter Cable spray gun model PSH2? There are two models one has the small 4.5 oz cup on top. This looks like a really nice gun. It has a separate air volume and separate fluid control and the usual fan control. As with all of the Porter C stuff it should be a nice gun for painting our size projects. I got this from Lowes for $49.94 without tax. I have been using the Badger 400 with good results,but when I saw this gun I had to have it.

Yeah, the dry time on the single stage Omni was the only annoyance.