Monica, my Rebel is painted with 2 part epoxy urethane. PPG to be specific,
that a lot of the premium body shops use. I used this paint as I have an old
car that was painted with it in 1989. The paint shines as if it was just
painted yesterday, with 3 years or more of dust on the car! My Rebel has
been flying for 6 years now and the paint is still as shinny as the old
car's.
I took over the Auto Body shop, that was 3 doors down the street from my
plastics plant, for about 2 weeks. We removed any splashed EP420 from around
rivet heads, as the body shop owner told me that it would probably cause the
paint to lift as those areas weren't prepped. That 1 week (x 2 people)
exercise taught me to clean the airframe continuously while building, with
acetone as if you are going to stay polished aluminum, so I don't ever have
to spend a week with a razor blade in my hand again! We then scotchbrited
the entire a/c with light abrasive pads and wiped down the entire aircraft
with wax remover/degreaser. It took a lot of convincing, from the body shop
owner, that I didn't need any of those etching / conversion coatings like
all the books spell out, and then we sprayed the PPG epoxy primer without
any etching / conversion coatings etc. (Keep in mind that paint technology
is away ahead of the old aircraft painting steps, as there are lots of
aluminum & rubber car parts around that this paint must stay adhered to!)
With the PPG system you MUST get all the colours on top of the primer (and
on top of each colour) within 72 hours, because if you don't you will have
to sand for adhesion before you put down the next coat. The paint hasn't
fallen off it yet (other than around some screws on the gear fairings that
have been in and out a few times and an area were I know a fairing was
picked up without a gloved hand prior to primer) so I guess we didn't need
the etch / conversion coating step!
That's all I know about painting, other than I pay someone now if I need it!
Once was enough and we were using a 3500 square foot shop, and their spray
both, so we could hang the wings and all the fairings to shoot the primer on
everything in one day. Then we assembled and disassembled and assembled and
disassembled, etc, for a 4 colour dart shaped paint scheme that required the
flaperons / wing tips, elevators, all fairings etc, to go on and off at
least 3 times to get the masking in the right places!
Good luck,
Wayne G. O'Shea
www.irishfield.on.ca
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter & Monica" <
capete@sympatico.ca>
To: <
murphy-rebel@dcsol.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2001 6:09 PM
Subject: painting
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Just spoke to a rep at Poly-Fiber and this is the gist of what he told
me regarding painting the SuperRebel.
Wipe down airplane with degreaser then rinse with soap and water. Put
on a conversion coating - leave on for 5 minutes, then rinse off. Apply
a 2 part Epoxy primer system - let cure for 7 days and paint within 10
days, no sanding required.
For painting he said it was OK to use the Aero-Thane paint sold by
Aircraft Spruce and for 3 coats applied we would need approx. 9 gallons
of paint for the SR. He also said the paint would weigh .23 ounces per
square foot.
Any comments or thoughts would be appreciated.
Monica Piquette
SR003
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