Exterior Priming Question

Hi all,

I'm starting the construction of a RV-7A and am at the point where I need to start priming the interior of the empennage in preparation for riveting. I have decided to prime all of the interior with the Tempo (Valspar) Zinc Phosphate Primer for its ease of use and corrosion resistance.

However, my question is what to do with the exterior skins. Should I just leave them bare until I can do the exterior painting months down the road or should I put the same primer on them. Would the primer interfere with the primer I might decide on for the finish coat, or would it be compatible. I'm building a paint booth and hope to do the finish painting myself.

Thanks for any advice you might be able to give me!

My .02 is that you don't need to prime exterior until you are ready to paint it because it is always accessible unlike the inside parts. Also, depending on who paints the exterior, they might prefer one primer system vs another and in the unlikely event you get some corrosion on the outside prior to painting you can always just remove it then prime and paint.

I would not prime the exterior now.
As mentioned, unless you know exactly what your paint will be it might not be the best match to the primer but more importantly, for best results there is usually a narrow window from a few hours to a fews day between applying the primer and then applying the top coat over it.

I spent too much time thinking about the same thing, My conclusion was to prime later.

Thanks for advice

Thanks to everyone for the great advice. That's what's so great about this forum!

Remember to prime the overlap on the exterior. In other words, prime interior pieces and the portion of exterior that will be covered by an overlapping skin.

My method

What i am doing is leaving the plastic on the exterior but removing the strips were the rivets go and removing the inside plastic. I leave the outside plastic on during construction to avoid abrasion to the skins while working on the part. Once the part is done and it is destine to become wall art, i remove the rest of the blue plastic and hang it up.

So i only prime the interior and no exterior primer. If the exterior is wash primed for more than a few weeks before paint, it will need to be stripped to bare metal during the paint process.