It depends how much time money and quality you are expecting; its a real how
long
is a piece of string question. Painting is an ordered process of preparation,
cleanliness and layering; anyone can do it following the right technique. Its
all about preparation.
PPG offer a great range of aviation tailored paint system; however you will need
to ensure what ever base primer filler you use is suitable for the resin used
to manufacture the europa's composite components; there are different types
which are affected by different types of paint thinners.
That being said any paint system suitable for polyester resin would not affect
the base structure.
PPG and GLASURIT are the two main producers of all major paint brand systems;
then
you have House of Color and a few other custom produces in the hotrod industry.
The guy behind the counter will tell you which is which and the same for
50% less $$$$.
There are different automotive polyester fillers available with different mass
qualities and softness; some are used for large areas others for feather
finishing;
watch some youtube so you understand which ones to use and when. Practice
on the job. If you stuff up you can rub it off and start again.
What ever quality your base coat and filler is is what you will see at the end;
this is where 90% of your time should be focused. Get some flexible "blocking"
pads. Not the little palm size sponge pads; buy a kit of Dura-Block; they will
last you a lifetime and get you a mirror glass surface finish everyone always
expects from the little palm sponge. Again watch some youtube videos on how
to use them affectively.
Personally I would stick with chemical solvent based epoxy primer and top coat
all the way; have used water based systems and they are crap; that being said
you can use water based primer and top coat right through and lay solvent based
clear over the top at the end. You won't need etching primer as there is no
metal for it to bond to but an epoxy "high-fill" primer may have an etching
component
already in it.
Buy a good spray gun for top coats; buy a cheap one for primer and spray
filler...
you will need at least 30cfm water filtered air supply, and a clean dust free
room, to get a good top coat finish, if breathing a filtered air supply is
an issue then stick to an acrylic water based paint system; epoxy solvent based
systems are cyanide based and will make you feel quite ill for maybe many years
or collapse on the floor dead in about 20-30 minutes if wearing no breathing
filter at all.
You do not need a baking oven; baking ovens merely speed up curing time and
allow
the paint to flow out over the surface a bit better. The paint will still
"flash"
off at the same time oven or no oven. Know your flash times when planning
your top and finishing coat spraying; this will affect your surface finish
quality. Read the manufacturer's mixing notes on ambient humidity and
temperature
and stick to them like gospel; this will affect everything as well
Other options are forget the top coats and get the aircraft professionally vinyl
wrapped for $$$$.
If all that sounds too much then you can go really really old school by heating
up some oil based shellac paint and flow it on by hand with really expensive
sable brushes and hoping dust and flies don't land on it for 24/36 hours!!!
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