Chris,
PPG Omni is very popular here with the RV crowd in Central Florida. It doesn't
hold up well to abuse in my opinion. It is not really hard paint but goes on
easy and dries even. It is also easy to touchup.
The local airplane resellers simply use the cheapest car paint they can find.
My long-time repair facility owner and friend calls them scratch and sniff jobs.
The leading edges on the wings are gone in 5-6 years. But they got the sale.
In stead of PPG on a repair once I used a paint called Autobahn. It's German,
not expensive and I was impressed with its durability and how smooth it went
on for a guy I hired to reshoot the plane. He liked shooting paint, but not
repairs. I let him go, and now I wished I still had his number. I would have
been flying months ago. No matte what paint I use somebody always has a better
paint I should try. Opinions are like butt holes, everybody's got one.
The plane is yours and the finish coat will never meet your standards but stand
back 5-10 feet and look. If you only have a little overspray and occasional
orange peel, cut and buff the top of the wings/stabs to look nice and 90% of the
pilots will not notice any flaws. I did the sides and top of the fuselage/cowl
so the vinyl would look and stick nice. I then did the bottom of the wings
before putting on the speed kit. When Imron dries completely, boy is it hard
to cut and buff. I prefer to cut and buff Imron when it is only about 2-3
days old or the work load increases and then I get impatient and sand and push
a bit too hard and can bubble the paint. Be patient. Three coats of a high
solids paint is plenty of paint to cut and buff.
Keep it up. She will fly even better with nice smooth (ish) paint. Bugs and
dirt
will wipe right off.
Bud Yerly
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com
<owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com>
On Behalf Of n7188u
Sent: Friday, July 14, 2023 10:09 AM
Subject: Europa-List: Re: Making an Europa pretty
Hi Bud, good and down to earth writeup. What you describe is what I have
experienced
and have settled for. Orange peel will be there in my airplane but as I
mentioned it doesn't look that bad. Just being picky. I think that the problem
with this task is that you build unrealistic expectations by reading postings
---From pros, then suffer if you can get perfect results. I learned my lesson
and
things are moving a tad quicker now.
BTW, I hate this nasty paint but I bought a new forced air respirator system and
use a full suit with a full hood. Works surprisingly well. I placed the turbine
in a box with an AC blowing at it and it keeps my head and suit cold inside.
It's nice.
I have settled for spraying a thinner coat and will probably not cut and buff
because
I don't want to run the risk of burning through the paint and having to
do it again (NO F WAY). The best finish so far is by applying thinner coats and
hoping it flows. But the difference between too dry and too wet is milliseconds
in speed. This morning I used my slower Iwata and I think it is a little
better. Regarding Florida heat, I am waking up at 5:30 to spray. Temp around 75F
but yes, the booth will heat up when it is curing during the day. I am using
a little retarder which helps. I could place the AC unit in the booth and turn
it on when finished spraying.
BTW, I sprayed the access covers on the plane with 24 year old PPG Durathane
with
a crappy gun and it went on like a mirror. So old paints were sure much easier
to spray than todays.
So I leave you with a couple of pictures of my spray this morning. Not bad. But
I have noticed that it looks better after spray and then gets a little more
orange
peely with the day heat. I'll work on getting my window AC unit installed
in the booth later today to try.
One day I will have my pretty Europa flying again, for good.
Chris
Read this topic online here:
http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=511098#511098
|