Kirker paints

I know there's been several people that planned to shoot Kirker automotive paint. Any pireps? I've heard good things but haven't seen any pictures. It's about that time to get my primer.....

I used the Enduro Primer. I thought it worked very well. I have only done the empennege and have not put a final coat on it, but compared to other single stage primers I have used, the Kirker is better. It shows up any flaws you have so you can fix before the next coat. Glazing putty sticks well and the primer covers well areas that needed to be fixed.

I think they have a heavy build primer that is supposed to be great for fiberglass. I will give that a try when I do the cowl. The enduro worked fine for the glass on the empennege parts.

The primer didn't go as far as I thought it would. I used 2/3 of a pint with 2/3 catalyst to do the exterior of the empennage parts. Maybe that is about right, there is waste when spraying. I plan to use it for the rest of my plane.

I will pick a color that matches a car color so I can get a cheap touch up jar or spray can at Autozone or some other auto parts house. For $4.00, I was able to touch up several spots on my truck last week with good results.

I used Kirker on the bottom and will continue to use it for the rest of the airplane. I've never painted before so I practiced on a lot on scrap first. I have nothing to compare it to but if a rookie can make it look decent, it must be OK.

I got it from auto body toolmart and was happy with the price and service.

Good info guys thanks! Larry, how coats did you put on the bottom? Kirker tells you to shoot 4 but thats for cars. Dont want to ad a bunch of weight. Are you doing the clear coat?

A friend of mine painted another friend's RV3 with Kirker. It was flawless. Unfortunately that same friend had wrecked the 3 and succumbed to his injuries a few weeks later. I have photos after the crash and will not post them here. But it was amazing how well the Kirker paint held onto a crumpled airplane.

I use Kirker and never have had any problems with it.

cropdusterdave said:

Good info guys thanks! Larry, how coats did you put on the bottom? Kirker tells you to shoot 4 but thats for cars. Dont want to ad a bunch of weight. Are you doing the clear coat?

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No clear coat. Trying to keep the weight down especially on the control surfaces. I did one coat of primer and two wet coats of finish. If anyone criticizes the paint, they're not getting a ride!

One coat primer, glazing putty on spots that needed it, then one more coat. Very good coverage and look. When I finish, probably will use clearcoat.

I have decided to paint my airplane with kirker after talking with Rocketbob and others. I think I have made a good choice. Also decided to use basecoat/clearcoat, mostly because I am familiar with it and it can be color sanded and buffed readily. I have only gotten the wheel pants done so far, being the entire paint scheme and all the colors are on them. I wanted to do them first in case I had problems. The results went like this, i took the pants from ready for primer all the way through the clear coat in one day, following instructions from kirker. 4 days later I color sanded them and buffed them. They came out great. In my case, however, on the next parts I plan on thinning the clear coat a little to help in flowout and make the sanding and buffing a little easier. On the glass parts I am using the high build 2k primer and on the aluminum I am planning on using kirkers dtm enduro. So far I am pleased. Pics can be seen on my kitlog site under paint. The finished pics of the pants are before color sanding and buffing, they actually look great like that so buffing really looks sharp. hope this helps.

bird

Your wheel pants sure do look nice! So far I've not heard the complaining about orange peel with the Kirker paints like i've heard with alot of the aircraft systems....

yeah well the orange peel i had was caused by me for sure, I should be able to give more info after tommorrow, i'll be spraying all that design on my wingtips and I am going to try to thin my clear a little more, that should help me, according to my wife's cousin/ professional painter. Or it may all drip on the floor, hahaha.

bird