Painting over a painted fiberglass plane
 

I have bought a Focke Wulf 190 from a friend i dislike the paint scheme and have decided to pick another is there a link or website that shows the steps to do this ? This wil be my first fiberglass plane.


Thanks

You can remove the existing paint as best you can by sanding or paint remover. After that spray primer on the fiberglass parts and then repaint to suit your preference.

It is a little more involved then that and I would stay away from the paint stripper, some are hot enough to damage the composite matrix.

Bob

Watch out with the primer. Not all primers work with all paints. I tried Rustoleum automotive type primer under butyrate dope with very bad results. The primer wrinkled up immediately despite letting it cure for 48 hours followed by light sanding. Only way to know for sure is to test it.

I believe Rustoleum is a synthetic enamel based primer, and if so just about everything besides enamel, or something water based will burn and wrinkle it, like lacquer, urethane base coat/clear coat systems and certainly butyrate dope to name a few, these are all much chemically hotter than enamel and are sure to ruin your day if placed over the underlying Rustoleum primer.

Bob

Hi!
It's easy!
Just sand the whole thing and use automotive 2-part paint like PPG, Glasurite or Sikkens (there are many other brands too)! This paint is dangeurous to use , so all sprarying should be done outside and with a professional filtermask, preferable a fresh air-vent mask.

I repainted my ESM FW190 with latex house paint with good results after removing the gun hood the scheme was not even close to scale so I did some cleaning up http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1971414 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1971415 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1971416

The bottom line is that your new paint may not be compatible with the old paint. If you don't know what it was originally finished with, you'll probably need to strip it. Some MEK or acetone on a paper towel will remove dopes and most enamels easily enough. If you find that no chemical solvent will attack it, it will need to be sanded. If you can verify that it was originally done in epoxy paint you can go over it with nearly anything you want, although doing so adds the weight of two paint jobs instead of just one.

To the op.If you soak a rag in paint thinner ( mek,methyl ethyl ketone) or acetone which is more agressive,and you can wipe the surface for up to 15 seconds without appreciably feeling it go soft and tacky (starting to grab the rag) it's almost sure to be epoxy or sim blend.In which case you can just give it a light sand and paint over it.I like using a single pack clear adhesion promoter when i do that.Paint stripper on a glass part can be effective if you do small areas quickly and have done it many times before.If you are stuck with a finish that is easily softened by any thinner,you could sand and spray a light coat of 2 pak clear primer sealer and paint straight over that,save you heaps of time.Good luck.