Jim, My KR had a nice paint job but had suffered some damage so I repainted it. To qualify my points instead of giving you an opinion, I have won many national awards for my KR at Airfest, I have won many awards from my vintage Airstream Argosy motorhome and it has been featured in many publications, I have also received many awards for cars, and motorcycles and the paint in each case was part of the award scores.
Ok, I am not trying to brag but deeply qualify my upcoming statements. I have written many articles on the subject of painting a vehicle and the process and preparation. I have also developed my thoughts on the best paints based my experiences, quality, finish and durability. Ok, this could be a book and I need to shorten this. I should start by a deep discussion on what might be called body work, pre paint preparation and methods to get a smooth surface and how to properly treat and prep a surface for paint. I say this because this is the most important part of getting an incredible paint finish. But, I think your question is more of whats a good paint ? Thats a " It depends" kind of answer. ok here goes. First let me say this. In paint, you really get what you pay for. Be that house paint or automotive paint. Let me get to my point. I restored a rare exotic sports car for my son. The base color paint was $ 1500.00 a gallon. The clear was $ 700.00 a gallon. The prep work was 2 years and the results where and still are 5 years later absolutely astounding. The paint was s special red Ferrari Testarosa Red made by PPG. It was PPG Deltron epoxy. Sprayed by me with a Iwata HVLP gun with a 1.3 mm tip. Pressure at the gun was 45 psi and regulated to 10 PSI by the gun. The compressor has a 12 CFPM . This is all important in getting the best results. I do not use this gun for primer. the 1.3 mm tip is for base and clear coat. I use a Devilbiss HVLP gun with a 1.7 mm tip for primer. Never use a finish gun to spray primer. Now, PPG Deltron DC / DBC is very expensive. I believe base white with no toners is about $ 600- $ 700 a gallon. You get what you pay for. If you have seen any of my paint jobs, you will see. NOw let me say this, I dont do this for a living, I have a regular job. But, I have Oshkosh winners from Texas to Boston asking me to paint their current projects. I am trying to simply make a point on the quality of the paint. Honestly, with the right prep, the actual painting of your plane is the easy part. Add a great quality paint to your pre paint prep effort and you will get a show quality result. Now, spending that much money is not for everyone. So, my next choice is Sherman Williams automotive. Its about 1/2 the price of PPG Deltron but a good quality paint. An expensive quality paint atomizes very fine ( spray gun also has a major effect on this as does compressors CFPM rate ((needs at least 9 CFPM)) What you also get in a high quality paint is a paint that is pure of impurities. Many of those small dirt or specs in a paint job actually come from the paint itself. Now, if PPG or Sherman Williams automotive is more then you want to spend, then look as Dupont Nasson. You can get a good finish for a fraction of the cost as compared to PPG. But, it will probably have some impurities. It is not good for matching exact to existing paint so it is not good for panel refinishing. All the paints I am writing about are all true two part epoxy paints. This means the are nasty to paint and proper protection of skin and your eyes as well as a good breathing respirator is required to use these safely. I suggest true epoxy because you will be painting a composite surface. Paint bonding is very important and in the case of composites, bonding can be very difficult because composite curing of the resins will cause a leaching or expiring of the chemicals that will evaporate out of the material for some time. Impurities and the curing process are the two main reasons why paints will de-laminate causing separation. I use epoxy because it prevents this from happening through the paint and forces the evaporation though the underside unpainted surface of the composite. I have never had a de-lamination. If you are painting yourself, and you do use a less expensive paint such as Dupont Nasson, you will most likely be faced with a lot more labor time color sanding and buffing to achieve that show quality finish. Now, if you are not going for show quality, then dont spray a two part ( base clear) and simply spray a single stage paint. I still suggest an epoxy because of its self etching and bonding qualities. Also, use a good automotive wax and paint de-greaser just prior to each paint coat to get your hand grease and other impurities clean from the surface and dont touch it again. Impurities such as hand grease is the number one cause of paint de-lamination and fish eye. I suggest wet sanding to at least 400-600 grit sand paper prior to paint coat. If spraying a two part be, be sure to use a reducer thats for the temperature range you will be painting at. Also if you are painting a two part, I suggest color sanding the clear with a 800 wet, then a 1000 wet, then 1500 wet, then 2000 wet and finish with a 3000 wet. Then I use the Mcguires line of buffing and finishing compounds. If you have to cut the clear a bit hard use a # 9 cut buffing and then go to a number 2. If you can let the paint cure a few weeks before buffing, you will get a much higher gloss finish. Basically, the longer you let it cure and the harder it gets before cutting and buffing, the better the results. Ok, I wrote a lot and there is a lot more to it. I am always happy to talk spray painting or many other things like glassing, finishing and so on. If I can help reach out to me and we can have a far more detailed conversation based on the type of paint finish you are wanting to achieve. I do do projects for others from time to time to keep my skills sharp. But, I am not sure if you are very close to me. I hope I helped. Jeff York KR2 Georgetown Scott County Airport Lexington, KY. On Mon, Oct 7, 2019 at 3:52 PM Jim Litchfield via KRnet < [email protected]> wrote: > OK -- > The net seems pretty sleepy now so I'll post a question. > I am ready to prime the bottom of my project and have been out of the loop > regarding primers/paints for about 20 years. > Can anyone recommend a primer/topcoat combo. > I have friends who swear by Poly Fiber for the pinhole solution but that > stuff is quite pricey and as I understand it is also pretty heavy. > I will probably need a good lightweight high build primer to help smooth my > lumpy glass and of course a topcoat that produces a foot deep shine and > goes on easy (har-d-har ) > Open to all input and thanks for the help. > Jim Litchfield > VBVA > _______________________________________________ > Search the KRnet Archives at > https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/. > Please see LIST RULES and KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html. > see http://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet_list.krnet.org to change > options. > To UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to [email protected] > _______________________________________________ Search the KRnet Archives at https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/. Please see LIST RULES and KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html. see http://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet_list.krnet.org to change options. To UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to [email protected]
