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What primer to use on Fiberglass front cowl?

K

KazooRV-9A

Well Known Member
Patron
I plan to fly my RV-9A before formal paint. What's the latest thinking on a primer to paint the front cowl (and wing tips etc). before flying?
Do you paint the inside as well?
I have one recommendation of Xalta 13580S.
 
Best move is to ask your paint shop what they prefer. Most will tell you 2k Urethane or Epoxy. And most will also tell you they will sand it all off anyway so dont get nuts about it :)
 
This is the stuff I use on all my composite parts. It seems to spray ok in the hands of a novice (me) and it does a pretty good job filling pinholes and it’s thick enough to do some wet sanding for a nice topcoat. It’s a catalyzed big boy primer, and I haven’t had any problems with paint compatibility so if you prep the surface reasonably well, I wouldn’t see why the final painter would need to remove it.

This is an Amazon link to the product, but I’ve seen it at my local paint shop for less $$.

 
The inside of the cowl should be sealed with epoxy resin before applying the heat shield foil. This process is in the construction manual.
The outside of the cowl should also be sealed with epoxy resin, if it does not have gel coat.
Any parts that are gel coated I would scuff up and then spray with a 2 pack epoxy primer. This will seal the surface and will be compatible with any future paint coatings. See what you can buy locally, e.g. PPG EPOTEC 408 epoxy primer.
 
Paulvs I re-looked up that Epoxy resin seal section of the Van's Construction manual. I will do that process, thanks for the reminder about it.
 
Do yourself a favor...finish the inside of the cowl just like the outside (epoxy seal, scuff, epoxy primer, two-part color topcoat). Paint it white. Makes maintenance easier, and reflective foils will remain adhered.

The Axalta Corlar 13580S looks interesting.
 
For years my cowling primer of choice was AWL QUICK from US Paint. That stuff is really hard to find these days. Now I use K36 from PPG. It doesn’t build as much per coat but it dries a lot faster.
 
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