Painting details

I have selected the colour scheme for my -12 (thanks Joeri), and lined up a paintshop. I will be doing a lot of the prep myself, including the fibreglass items. I think I have some good advice on the prep process, but I don?t know what is normally not painted. So I need some help with this.

Do you paint the inside of the f/g engine cowl? Obviously you don?t paint the silver foil parts.
If you only paint a strip around the inside edges, how wide is the strip? And do you paint the hinges?
I want to paint the inside of the cooling air duct as far as can be seen. What is the best way to do that, and do you use the same colour as the outside?
The tail fairing ? do you paint that both inside and out?
Around the firewall - do you paint the hinges?

I would appreciate hearing what others have done, and any other tips about what not to paint
Regards, Rod

Painting

Hi Rod,
I had my plane painted by an aviation paint shop and they did all the fiberglass prep so I can't offer any help on that part. They do it all the time, have a specific area in the shop and the people who can do it in no time at all. This was great with me .

The shop painted the inside of the cowls with the base color (white, in my case) so oil would not seep into the fiberglass. The Rotax runs really clean but painting the inside of the cowls is a good idea in my opinion.

The shop also got the inside of the cooling duct with a detail gun, I think.

The only paint on the inside of my tailcone fairing is some overspray.

Paint sprayed in the hinges will make it really hard to get the pins in, my shop was aware of that problem and masked the hinges.

My plane was painted with the rear window in. They did a good job of masking and it looks fine, but you might consider painting with it out.

Also you might consider taking the screws out of the gas filler neck. Otherwise when you remove them later you have to break the paint. Not a big deal but something to think about.

I know next to nothing about painting so can not even talk about paint types. My shop used a PPG aviation paint and that's about all I can say about it.

Tony

Your questions, my answers:

Do you paint the inside of the f/g engine cowl?

I just coated it with resin to seal it.

If you only paint a strip around the inside edges, how wide is the strip? And do you paint the hinges?

DO NOT paint the hinges. Mask them off.

I want to paint the inside of the cooling air duct as far as can be seen. What is the best way to do that, and do you use the same colour as the outside?

I sanded the joints smooth, filled as necessary, and sprayed on a couple coats of flat black paint. Looks good.

The tail fairing ? do you paint that both inside and out?

No reason to paint the inside that I can think of.

Around the firewall - do you paint the hinges?

See above.

Almost there

Thanks Tony and John. Your experience has been a great help. Today I finished the job of dismantling the airframe for painting. I did pull the fuel tank filler pipe because I could see myself removing those screws from time to time. For the same reason I will paint the fuse with the front turtledeck removed ? That will probably come off occasionally too.
That leaves a bunch of screws to be painted on the heads. My guess is to drill a board with holes, clean the screws in thinners , prime and finish them with colour. Is that right?
The only other question that occurred to me taoday, is what to do with the antennas? Mask around them or take them off?
Rod

Ausflyer said:

Thanks Tony and John. Your experience has been a great help. Today I finished the job of dismantling the airframe for painting. I did pull the fuel tank filler pipe because I could see myself removing those screws from time to time. For the same reason I will paint the fuse with the front turtledeck removed ? That will probably come off occasionally too.
That leaves a bunch of screws to be painted on the heads. My guess is to drill a board with holes, clean the screws in thinners , prime and finish them with colour. Is that right?
The only other question that occurred to me taoday, is what to do with the antennas? Mask around them or take them off?
Rod

Click to expand...

The plan is good but I use a piece of cardboard and an ice pick, draw some layout lines (about 1 in. by 1 in.) on the card board then punch a hole at each intersection, you can then insert (with a little force) a screw or bolt into each hole and they will be held in place by the cardboard. I use some of the large sheet cardboard that comes as packing in Van's kits.

Best regards,
Vern

This thread - "Exactly How I am painting my RV-12" may be useful to you.
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=67760
Wings and tail are painted. I am painting the fuselage section next week. The inside of the cowlings have already been painted with high-heat paint (white and silver are available at Home Depot.) Mask the hinges. The tail fairings and wheel pants get primed both sides but painted only on the outside. I will be painting with the rear window out. I will not be painting screw heads - unless after putting them in I decide to do that and if so I will paint them separately via rattle can. I will paint with the front instrument cover on and probably with the screws in place but unscrewed 1/8 inch. Cooling duct painted same color as cowl. I used "Smooth Prime" on the fiberglass parts for pinhole fill. Rolled on 3 coats and sanded it off with a palm random orbital sander. Smooth as glass now. I will post more after the fuselage is painted.

Ausflyer said:

That leaves a bunch of screws to be painted on the heads. My guess is to drill a board with holes, clean the screws in thinners , prime and finish them with colour. Is that right?

Click to expand...

There is no right or wrong here - only personal preference. I chose to leave all the stainless screws unpainted. I happen to like the look of the SS screw heads. If they are painted, the paint will chip off with repeated use anyway. Especially the first time the screwdriver slips, which is more likely to happen when there is paint in the grooves. And, when the inevitable screw chew-up occurs in the future, you don't have to worry about painting a replacement.

JMHO! John

Vern, thanks for the cardboard idea - it woud be easier and better than the wood. Thanks too to the others for their advice. I will think some more about removing the rear window. I will remove the antennas.

I see the point of sealing the inside of the f/g fairings even if you dont paint them with colour.

And Bill, your thread has some good stuff too. But I do have one question - How did you paint the hinges for the trim tabs without clogging the bore? I cant work it out from the pics.

Perhaps I will have another look at that Dupont Imron truck paint. Some Aussie builders strongly recommend it, although none of the local paintshops use it. PPG is the go around here.
Rod

The barrels of the trim tab piano hinges (on both the tabs and the horizontal stabilizer) were masked with a long piece of thin tape - so they are unpainted. But the paint does go right up to their bases so it looks good.

Here's another alternative....

If you like the idea of having the hinges painted, try to find a flexible plastic substance of the correct diameter and thread it through the holes in the hinges. I used weed wacker string.

Paint details

A mechanic across from my hanger who has built a -4 and is building a -8 informed me that the cowl interior should be primed to prevent oil from coming through the raw fiberglas and affecting the paint surface over time. Coincidentally, the paint shop I chose paints the cowl interior as part of their process. Also, a good shop is aware of the need to prep the fiberglas to prevent the "pinhole effect". The surface feels smooth, but put some primer on it and you'll notice the pinholes.

Pinholes are fixable with "Smooth Prime." Got it from AC Spruce. Roll it on right out of the can, three coats, 6 inch foam roller. Sand it off with a 220 palm random orbit sander. Results: like glass. No need to reapply. One quart was enough for all fiberglass parts including wheel pants, with some left over. The resulting parts look "mottled" but then get primed as part of the regular paint process. I painted the inside of my cowling with high heat paint from Home Depot. (not over the heat shield pieces - masked them off.)