Any opinions on paint?

[rlinford]

I'm within a month or two of painting my EX and I would welome opinions on paint. Specifically:

1) I like the idea of keeping it light so leaving the underbelly, tailfeathers, and rear parts of the wing just Polyspray makes sense but I'm concerned about life expectency, especially on a sea plane. Anyone having problems with the exposed Poly-spray after a few years? I guess at worst it should be easy to touch up unlike some coatings.

2) The CC manual calls for PPG DUHS polyeurethane paint, the Polyfiber manual says no, use PolyTone or Ranthane or Aerothane but not automotive paints. PolyTone looks easy to spray and easy to repair, but its not good on metal. It's also not glossy but I'm not sure I care. Would appreciate hearing what others have done and what their experience is.

I owned a new Maule and the paint was really pretty good - I think they use Randolf products. Owned a 2003 T206H and the paint was HORRIBLE. Came off the leading edge in big flakes within a couple years. Hence my concern for doing it right the first time..... I dont want to be building another paint booth in 5 years.

Thanks!

[EVRoosevelt]

I used Ranthane over Poly Tone on the whole plane it weighed 892lbs and it holds up better than Poly Tone but you are right its harder to fix.
EV

[Dan L]

I used Poly Tone on all fabric surfaces and flattened Aerothane on aluminum and carbon fiber parts to match the Poly Tone. Poly Tone is claimed to be lighter than the polyurathanes.

I wouldn't leave a surface as bare poly spray. It isn't meant to be a top coat.

[Gary H]

Jim,
Dave is right, just stick with what we know works best. If you use the poly system,,,,stick with it. If you want a shinny finish use aero-thane. It’s easy to use, flows great and,,,,,,,,it’s aircraft paint for fabric. I’ve painted 4 fabric airplanes,, one with poly tone and three with aero-thane. I like aero-thane better.
Good Luck.
gary
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[Pete D]

I'm within a month or two of painting my EX and I would welcome opinions on paint. Specifically:

1) I like the idea of keeping it light so leaving the underbelly, tail feathers, and rear parts of the wing just Polyspray makes sense but I'm concerned about life expectancy, especially on a sea plane. Anyone having problems with the exposed Poly-spray after a few years? I guess at worst it should be easy to touch up unlike some coatings.

The silver that you see on the CC performance paint scheme is NOT Polyspray. It is silver Poly Tone.

[rlinford]

The silver that you see on the CC performance paint scheme is NOT Polyspray. It is silver Poly Tone.

Ok, thanks. That makes more sense. I though I recalled someone telling me that but I must have misheard.

[jhonmichal333]

.....

[Gary H]

The prep work is what takes the time. Squirting color on is easy. Take your time, get it right. Remember: Paint covers nothing, it only enhances the surface in which you’ve prepared. Take that to heart.

[Rick Bosshardt]

Nice looking plane, Gary!

[DRL]

For those contemplating painting their EX, our experience may be helpful in making the decision to paint your airplane. We elected to paint EX #16 with Polyfiber’s Ranthane. There is nothing wrong with Ranthane, we saw a show quality paint job at Oshkosh that was done with this paint, but it is very different from some of the other choices. If we had stopped painting after a coat of polytone all would have been fine. Unfortunately, we wanted a glossy paint job and that is when the difficulty started.

Our biggest mistake was making a paint booth. It was too small, not well ventilated, bad lighting and overall, a miserable place. It needs to be large enough to get around your work and absolutely essential to have enough fans to pull the overspray out.

We tried numerous combinations of compressors and guns before we were able to get satisfactory results from a Croix turbine. It was no better than some of the compressor guns, but no worse with the exception of the big hose. Ranthane requires external breathing equipment, a full suit and a hood which adds to the difficulty of seeing how the material is being applied and in general, makes for a really unpleasant work environment.

Our learning curve was steep, we could not get this paint to flow well using the recommended reduction. Initially we had orange peel, but after trial and error, and a few calls to the manufacture, we found that nearly doubling the reducer would solve the flow problem, however, we had to be very careful not to get runs with the thin mixture. Multiple, thin, wet coats seem to work best. Too much paint results in runs, orange peel, solvent pop and overspray problems. Too little paint and it looks like sandpaper. Knowing the right technique to spray this material is really an art, and not the same as auto painting. For these reasons, it is difficult to find someone that truly knows how to work with Ranthane. It is a very sticky paint, cleaning overspray is not an option, but once it is cured, it is very hard but remains flexible.

While Ranthane is one of the few choices for fabric, there are easier materials to spray. We can’t complain about the results, although it was a bumpy road getting here. In retrospect, had we seen Mitch’s excellent paint video earlier, it is likely we would have used PPG.

Phil & Dave
N439 EX #16
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