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Jim,
I'm with you on the water based paint issue. I have tried a few systems and
found them very difficult to work with. My advice to anyone building a
composite airplane is to prime with Feather Fill. This stuff is magic - you
put it on heavy, it cures (completely) in a day and it sands nicely.
Generally one heavy coat is all it takes.
Allen Rockwell
R&D Technical Services
Your one stop for Models, Prototypes and KitPlane Builder Assistance.
www.rdtechservices.com
Glasair Super II Builder
http://allen.glasairnews.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "J. N. Cameron" <toucan@The-I.net>
To: "Lancair List" <lancair.list@olsusa.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 23, 2000 8:56 AM
Subject: Water-based paint system
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> << Lancair Builders' Mail List >>
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> The prospect of having no toxic solvents and water cleanup seemed too
> attractive to pass up, so I've been painting my ES as I go along the the
UV
> Smooth Prime and Top Gloss system. For those who are wondering, here are
my
> impressions so far:
>
> UV Smooth Prime: Yes, it's easy to apply, and easy to sand. You can
> recoat after a couple of hours. And yes, cleanup is easy. That's about
the
> extent of what I have good to say about it. I've been rolling three
coats,
> then sanding with a guide coat to make sure I get all the pits and orange
> peel sanded down, then spraying three more coats and repeating the
sanding,
> again with a guide coat. In a lot of areas that has not been enough, so
> I've got 8 or even 9 coats of primer on some areas. The stuff is not very
> tough, so it's easy to sand right through. On my first ES, I used DuPont
> Corlar, a two-part epoxy primer. By doing the spraying quickly, wearing a
> respirator with two fresh charcoal canisters, then opening the windows and
> leaving the hangar till the solvents cleared, I was pretty satisfied that
my
> liver was safe. The Corlar was a bit more work to sand, but it was tough
> and came out with a beautiful finish, smooth, no pits, no weave, and ready
> to paint after just a few days' cure.
> The unsettling thing about the UV Smooth Prime is that it seems to
keep
> curing and keep shrinking for weeks and weeks. You can put guide coat on
an
> area, sand it mirror smooth, then come back in three or four weeks, spray
a
> little more guide coat and sand lightly, and presto!, you see the weave
> again.
>
> Top Gloss (water-based): This just is just a b___ to spray. The
manual
> supplied with it says an HVLP sprayer is OK, but my results with mine were
> horrible. I either got dry spray or sags. When I called the factory and
> spoke with their rather grumpy tech, he told me I had to use a
conventional
> spray rig. OK, so I tried that, too, and the results are only a little
> better. The margin between not enough paint and too much is so thin that
> I've found it almost impossible to get a decent top coat, and that's been
> with horizontal surfaces. I can't wait till I try the vertical surfaces
on
> the fuselage! In the end I opted for trying to get a slightly dry coat,
> figuring I'd take it down with the wet sanding and buffing later.
> Well, I've now finished my HStab. It was primed, then sat for a
couple
> of months, then was top coated and cured for another month or month and a
> half before I touched it with sandpaper. Again, as recommended in their
> manual, I started with 600 grit, wet-sanding, but found out it makes
> scratches that are too deep to get out without a lot of work with the 1000
> and up. So, on the rest of it I started with 1000, then worked through
> 1500, 2000, a buffing compound, and then a swirl remover/ finishing glaze.
> The gloss is nice, but I'm apalled to see the cloth weave coming back
> through in some areas. The film build also seems very thin, and I went
> through a couple areas down to the primer, so it'll need more touch-up,
and,
> probably, weeks more of curing. The Top Gloss, like the Smooth Prime, has
> not seemed to stop curing (and shrinking), even after sitting for weeks
and
> weeks in 70+ temperatures.
> By the way, I tried to repair a small area after only about a week
cure,
> and found that the edges would not sand, but kept peeling off as a film.
> After sitting for another few weeks, I did manage to sand it and feather
in
> some more top coat, but the experience didn't inspire confidence.
>
> I'm now seriously contemplating sanding it all off and switching to
> PPG's DCC or CLV. I've probably spent $1600 or so on the primer and paint
> (the primer doesn't seem to go very far), which I may just write off as a
> bad learning experience. I think I can top coat over the UV Smooth Prime,
> but if, after several more weeks, I find the weave has re-appeared in the
> surface, I'm inclined to think it will keep shrinking into the weave for
> some indefinite period, so maybe I'll have to sand it all right off!
> Arrrggghhhh. There goes a couple of hundred hours.
>
> My advice re the water-based paint: Forget it.
>
> Jim Cameron, ES #2 in progress (at times)
>
>
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>
> Please send your photos and drawings to marvkaye@olsusa.com.
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