What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Exactly How I am Painting my RV-12

Bill_H

Well Known Member
I've had several emails about a related post, and now I have some results to discuss.

I decided to paint in pieces for several reasons and have it done at a local highly-recommended auto body shop with a paint booth. They had never done aluminum but had done several custom cars.

You can see my red-white-blue paint scheme at this open link and some pictures of the painting process:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=26907&id=100000297210697&l=a2b29e894a

This shop specializes in Dupont Imron. On my initial visit I took pictures and the paint design. We arranged for a followup visit where the regional Dupont technical expert would attend. I brought the vertical stabilizer.

At that time, we discussed all of the options. (I had a long list of questions and had done my homework.) We decided to use the automotive line of paints (basecoat ? clearcoat) rather than the aviation paints. There were several reasons I went this way - the shop scheduling of the paint booth and the time in the booth and the flexibility around recoats and masking is FAR, FAR easier with the automotive paint than the aviation "single stage" (no clear coat) paints. There are MANY different options for approaching this - I did lots of reading and picked a method that suits my needs, my location, easy access to this shop and its good reputation, poor access to aviation paint shops, budget, etc. Your needs - and your answer - may be totally different!

The process we arrived at is as follows. We decided to start with the horizontal stabilizer, trim tabs, vertical stabilizer, and rudder as a good test.

1. Clean with a prep solution similar to mineral spirits ? Dupont 3900S. It does not take much of this; a damp rag will is used and a dry rag to rub it off. You rub it off before it drys by itself.

2. Scuff the aluminum surface with red scotchbrite pads (320 grit equivalent)

3. Hang in the paint booth. Then clean a final time with Dupont 3939S (same kind of wiping process).

4. Spray (HVLP) the primer coat using Dupont 2580CR with 2505S activator. This primer is a zinc chromate acid wash epoxy primer and eliminates the alodine wash step that you hear so much about. The primer is a dull green.

5. Let that flash off for 20-30 minutes.

6. Apply the first coat of white. The entire plane will be painted white with the colors laid on top of that ? makes for much better uniformity. We used Imron Chromacolor 817 White Alternate 1, GM Code 14. Before spraying, the Dupont 12305S activator was added (1 ounce per ready-to-spray quart.) Reducers (12385S and 12375S) were mixed for an 80 degree temperature. This shop knows what it is doing.

7. About ten-20 minutes were used in between coats of white. We determined (using test cards as we applied these coats) that 3 coats were necessary for good coverage. (I can hear you now ? OH - THE WEIGHT! These are NOT the kind of coats that I, an inexperienced painter like me would do and get sags, runs, and drips. These are light coats evenly applied by a pro.)

8. This was let dry for the prescribed time, then we masked for the red and blue portions. This was made easy because I had scanned the highly detailed Van?s drawing (the one that shows every rivet) and used a paint program to do the layout. (Email me if you want this scanned drawing.) We knew exactly where the lines would cross the rivets.

The red took 4 coats, the blue took 3. The red is IMRON CODE FORD RF, RED FIRE EFFECT (metallic) Alternate 0. The Blue is IMRON CHRYSLER PBE Alternate A, VIPER BLUE EFFECT (metallic). The same additives were used as the white.

9. The clear coat was then applied. Two coats of Dupont 72200S clear. A larger amount of the 12305S additive is used with the clear coat. (3 parts 77200S to 1 part 12305S)

The result? See the pictures. Beautiful and deep, smooth lines, no sags, drips, runs, or orange peel. I would have never been able to accomplish this. We will do the wings in about 3 weeks ? they are built.

Having never done a plane before, the shop did not know how to estimate it very well. But they were enthusiastic about doing it (I think people get tired of repairing and replacing quarter panels.) We agreed on a ?time and materials? job with a nice discount off of the list price of the materials and a good shop rate for labor. I thought this was very fair and is working out well. Even so, the materials for the job will exceed $3000. I think that with the right pre-work, lots of discussion, and a shop with a good attitude, that this is a good method.

OH THE WEIGHT? I am just not worried about that. I?m getting the full interior as well (a beautiful custom job by Abby at Flightline that has some subtle accents to match the exterior ? I tell you, she is just wonderful to work with?) and all the options (lights, autopilot, and I am holding off on the avionics order to get dual Skyviews.). With my wife and I and full fuel and interior and this paint job we still expect to be under gross weight.

The fuselage will be last to be painted - I am building it now, working on the fuel system.

For more details, email me at billhollifield at iname dot com.

Bill H, N412BR reserved. Started kit #412 in late August. Would be further along but have had lots of business trips.
 
Great post...

Bill,
Your paint scheme is going to look pretty awsome! Already does.

Tony
 
We have just completed painting the wings and flaperons by the same process as mentioned above. For pics, see here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=26907&id=100000297210697&l=a2b29e894a
This went really well. Note the wings stands that I made that enabled the wings to be rotated without touching them, so that both sides could be painted in the horizontal position. They were made from 2x4s and some scrap 10" PVC and some plywood scraps. First, the spar extensions were fitted with plywood pieces that made them extend in straight lines. You can see how the winds fit into the tubes and could then be rotated via a piece of small pvc pipe into the hole at the end of the spar extension. (I removed the bearings first.) I was rushed on making these stands due to business trips so they are NOT very elegant! But they worked.
I delivered both wings to the shop on Day 1 at 0900. We assembled everything, cleaned, scuffed, and cleaned them. Then they were sprayed (primed) then white and allowed to dry overnight. On Day 2 we masked for the red and blue. Then they sprayed the red, blue, and clear coats. After drying, on Day 3 the wings were moved out of the booth to a covered area. I picked them up at 0900 on Day 4. The results are really, really good. Now I need to get to work finishing the fuselage! I am currently running the fuel lines.
Bill H
N412BR (kit #412, begun August 2010.) Engine on order. Waiting for Skyview to order avionics.
 
Last edited:
Very nice, looks like the way you designed the stripes, you won't have any problems lining up the paint scheme on final assembly.

I use a custom RV12 trailer like the one in your pictures. A flat bed with a scientifically designed hay-bale support system works well, too!
 
Painting your plane

I painted my RV6A when I built it 15-years or so ago using a HVLP sprayer and got fair, not great, results.

For the RV-12 I am going to experiment on rather large pieces of scrap aluminum using what at first glance seems rather like a 'snake-oil' product I found on the internet. It is from an outfit called "Top Secret" and they sell a lot of painting items; the one I want to try is a "One Part Epoxy" - one that does not need a catalyst, but catalyzes with oxygen from the air. The part to intriques me is the claim that it can be put on with a natural 'hair' bush and that "You can see the brush marks disappear before your eyes" - humm - if true, it might be a great way of doing a paint job.

I am awaiting warmer weather to try the product...have it on hand now...and will post results with photos...good or bad.
 
looks good, but i can only see the small pics. when i try to look at the larger pics i get this:

The photo is currently unavailable
The photo you requested cannot be displayed right now. It may be temporarily unavailable, the link you clicked on may have expired, or you may not have the permission to view this photo.

i have my fb account open, it might be prohibiting me from seeing your photos because of your security settings?
 
I did many of the same things on my 9A, Pro auto shop, Imron, same prep. Differences: Single stage (no clear coat, but I think it was a truck paint) anad only one color with vinyl for the 2nd and 3rd colors. Brought the whole job down to what your material cost was. VERY happy after four years.

Bob
 
Bill, if it makes you feel any better those 4 thin coats are going to dry up to less than 2 mills in thickness. So go to the kitchen and pull out the saran wrap and look at 4 plys. I felt the pain with the translucent paint. Corvette red is bad but yellow is just maddening. If you have a pencil mark and paint six coats of yellow over it, you will have just made an expensive magnifying glass to remind you of what you left under your yellow. The weight you are putting on your plane is about as much of a weight penalty as flying with your car keys and your wallet. It's a non issue. What is an issue is having enough build to wet sand and buff when things go wrong.
 
In deciding how many coats it took to cover using the white, the paint shop used "test cards" with lettering on them. The lettering had to be totally obscured. That resulted in the 3 coats of white. Then in covering the white with red and blue, they used other cards made with the white to determine the number of coats for the right paint color. That process resulted in 3 coats red and 4 coats blue. (Their guess was the reverse of that, but the red covered better than the blue did.) The facebook link I posted is a "public" link that should let anyone see that particular picture album whether they are on facebook or not or linked to me or not. That's the theory, doesn't always work... If it is not working for you, just send me a friend request on FB.
 
Also, regarding "single stage" vs base-coat/clear coat. For non-painters (like me!) single stage refers to a paint that requires no clear coat over it for UV protection etc. All cars are base-coat then clear coat. Repair and touch up of BC/CC is much easier. Now, here is the main thing. After the white coat was initially applied over the large surface area of the wings (before the color added) it looks very "flat." AND as you looked at it under the bright booth lights and at an angle, you could see apparently serious differences in the coverage. Some white looked whiter than other white. But I was absolutely assured that "the clear coat will even all of that up to the same brilliant white." And they were absolutely correct - it did. But they said "If we were using single stage paint, you have to do enough careful coats to make that look absolutely even - and that is very difficult on such a large surface area."
 
For the RV-12 I am going to experiment on rather large pieces of scrap aluminum using what at first glance seems rather like a 'snake-oil' product I found on the internet. It is from an outfit called "Top Secret" and they sell a lot of painting items; the one I want to try is a "One Part Epoxy" - one that does not need a catalyst, but catalyzes with oxygen from the air. The part to intriques me is the claim that it can be put on with a natural 'hair' bush and that "You can see the brush marks disappear before your eyes" - humm - if true, it might be a great way of doing a paint job.

]

May 25th followup; I tried the above product. Perhaps someone with more skill than I have can make it work. I could not. the brush marks were quite prominent.
 
I am almost complete with the painting process as covered in this thread. This message covers the fuselage painting. Several pictures of the overall painting process are here (a public link):
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.151245628228677.26907.100000297210697&l=a2b29e894a&type=1


I did a lot of masking before going to the shop to save time. The cowling hinges are masked. I took a hole punch and some peel-and-stick labels to make circular self-stick dots. These I applied over the static ports and over many of the screw holes backed by nutplates - where some other piece would later cover that unpainted area (example: tail cone fairing.)

I took the fuselage to the paint shop in the afternoon and we masked off the engine and cockpit area. The rear window is not in. We cleaned the aluminum with a prep solution, then scuffed it, then cleaned it again with a different solution (see prior posts). The canopy and fairings are not attached and are being painted separately. The front instrument panel cover was painted with all of the screws but 4 taken out, and those put in loosely and painted around. If I need to, I will run a tap into the nutplate to clean out the paint.

The next day, they did another cleaning pass, then sprayed the primer coat. Then everything was sprayed with multiple coats of white. That took until lunchtime. After lunch break, I assisted with the layout of the stripes. They sprayed the red stripe first, then all of the blue on the plane. Rather than stay late into the night for the clear coat, that was left until the next day. This was done and the the fuselage left to dry, then the masking tape removed.

So after two days in the paint booth, I brought the fuselage back this morning and took these pics. They are painting the fiberglass pieces tomorrow. (Some car pieces - their bread and butter - needed to get in the paint booth.) Front cowlings and wheel pants are solid blue. Tail cone is solid red. The legs are solid blus - and note that I have not yet attached the brake lines running down to the wheels. I wanted those to be left as aluminum and also not interfere with the leg painting.

The fuselage design is slightly different than my original plan. You can see both in the facebook album. Basically, I moved the start of the stripes aft of the canopy rather than up at teh front of the plane. This SIGNIFICANTLY lowered the labor, because my original scheme would have involved attaching and removing the canopy and both front cowlings during the paint process for stripe-match masking. The new scheme avoids all of that and still works with the original scheme for the wings and tail (which are already painted).

I prepped all of the fiberglass this way. I could tell taht there were many pinholes in them. I bought one quart of Smooth Prime. I used a 6 inch roller and rolled on three coats. This really made the pinhols show up. The 2nd and 3rd roller application paid special attention to these. Then I used a random-orbit palm sander and 220 grit. To remove most of the smooth prime, leaving a very mottled appearance but filled pinholes and a very smooth surface.

I could NOT be happier with this paint job and this process! So now I will attach the tail surfaces and tension the cables and do the brake lines. The fuel tank is done. So I will continue "waiting for Skyview" and in fact leave the canopy off and the rear window out until after I finish the instruments (including the instrument work in the tail cone). So it will be awhile before I see the entire thing put together! Darn!

I've participated in every step except the actual spraying. I think I got some good "education and recreation" from that - and also understand my own limitations!

The canopy layup after painting turned out very well - but it is obvious that if I did it again it would be better! (My work, not the painting.) While the line of the fiberglass touching the plexi is clean and straight, it looks better with a 1/4 inch strip of gloss black pinstripe tape spanning that.

Oh - I have a white 3-inch N-Number obtained from AC Spruce. I had originally planned to apply it in the middle of the fuselage red stripe. But that would put it over several rivets. So now I am considering putting it on the VS. I need to check the regs. Comments welcome!

I will follow this post with a picture, but you can see all the pics at the earlier facebook link, which is a public album.

Bill H. N412BR reserved, almost everything done but Skyview.
 
This time for sure...

IMG_6924.JPG


Finally.
 
Bill, if it makes you feel any better those 4 thin coats are going to dry up to less than 2 mills in thickness. So go to the kitchen and pull out the saran wrap and look at 4 plys. I felt the pain with the translucent paint. Corvette red is bad but yellow is just maddening. If you have a pencil mark and paint six coats of yellow over it, you will have just made an expensive magnifying glass to remind you of what you left under your yellow. The weight you are putting on your plane is about as much of a weight penalty as flying with your car keys and your wallet. It's a non issue. What is an issue is having enough build to wet sand and buff when things go wrong.

I always thought that, but I just got done reading an accident report in another thread. In that case they actually took paint chips off different areas of the aircraft and measured the thickness and weight of multiple chips. Using that data they calculated the thinnest area they measured, if it was uniform over the entire RV7, would have weighed 31 lbs, and the thickest area, if uniform over the whole aircraft would have weighed 170 lbs. So unless you carry a lot of keys around, the weight penalty is a bit more than a set of keys.
 
Great Job

Now we are really anxious to see it all together. Yours will probably be one of the first customer planes completed with paint and the Skyview panel.

Looking forward to your 1st flight!

Tony
 
AutoCAD 3view

Hi Bill; does your offer to mail the highly detailed Van?s drawing still stand. Jack

There is also an AutoCAD drawing showing 3 views of every Van's A/C on this page of the Van's website. If you have access to AutoCAD software you can do detailed dimensions and etc. There are also links to free viewers for those that don't have AutoCAD and you can view and print using a viewer.

Tony
 
Final cost of this paint job was $8142. A bit more than I hoped for but not bad considering the nature of the scheme and the really high-quality job they did.

I have not yet fully assembled the plane (dying to!) because of the domino chain of events associated with waiting for Skyview. (Access to the tail tube to mount the air data computer and revise the wiring and pitot-static lines, then install fuel tank, then rear window, then do all of the engine commissioning things, etc. etc. etc.) Links to the public album are earlier in this thread. That includes pics of some red-white-blue accents in the interior.
 
The Finished Product...

It occurred to me that for completeness I should link a pic of the final result! Very happy with it now after 2 years. I have solid blue wheel pants not shown in the pic.

IMG_7546.JPG
 
Back
Top