dkshema
rrMaster
Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
My Posts This: Topic Forum | What kind of paint are you going to end up with? You might want to use a decent compressor/spray gun. I use a small Campbell-Hausfeld compressor hooked up to an automotive touch-up gun. It's ideal for small work, and you have good control over the fan pattern, the amount of material being applied, and the gun's easy to clean, and simple to use.
Is the final finish on the bird glossy, matte, or somewhere in-between?
You're final finish probably wants to be a good clear coat, and I think you can get clear coats that dry glossy, satin, or matte, depending upon the reducer you choose, and the hardener.
Most anything you're going to find in a rattle can isn't going to be fuel proof and you'll need a good fuel-proof coat to keep the final finish from blistering and getting a bad case of the measles from where blobs of fuel end up while flying. It's also kind of hard to get a good, even coverage using rattle cans of paint.
PPG Omni AU automotive urethane clear coat, with a fast-curing hardener comes out very glossy (it's the stuff Derek and I use for the clear coat on our canopies) and the stuff is impervious to fuel. Even after two or three years, it still comes up looking good.
Fill all the divots well, sand well, and apply light primer coat. Whatever you do, keep the paint job light.
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As an alternative, there's a pattern flyer in our club at Collins who is experimenting with water-based acrylics (or urethanes, I forget which right now) for finishing his monster pattern ships. The water-based thing sounds interesting, and clean up (and goof removal) is easy. He says properly applied the stuff is fuel-proof for up to 50% nitro-based fuel.
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* Making the World a Better Place -- One Helicopter at a time! *
Dave |
