Painting Tips

I recently was pointed to this info that there is a match for the powder coated paint on Van's engine mounts and landing gear.  Call: 
Cardinal Paint (425) 483-5665   It's listed as GR230 “Gloss Light Gray” in a 16 oz. aerosol can.  

** I recently repainted a small section of engine mount.  I used K36 primer, with DMC900 strong white paint, per the formula for K36 as a primer/sealer Click HERE for the spec sheet.  This matched the color of the engine mount almost perfectly.


My paint advice is to buy a good paint, that is available from a supplier locally.  You'll get good advice from a local supplier, and have quick access to supplies as needed, without hazmat shipping charges.

Paint and Primer
A common Paint and Primer being used by some of us RV-10 builders is PPG Concept Paint.   You use PPG DX1791 Self-etching primer on aluminum and PPG K36 on fiberglass.   I myself used Akzo primer, from Aircraft Spruce, for it's durability and price.  It was about $100-110 for 2 gallons total.  I used 2 kits on my plane (4 gallons) for the entire interior.

Randy used Binks M1G Gun, mine is SATAjet RP 1.4 Digital II.   A good gun goes a ways in making your paint job come out nice, but skill is the real determining factor.

More painting tips are posted on Tim's Painting Pages:  Try HERE, and HERE.    There is more to come soon!

Regarding Paint color choices for the RV-10, it may be wise to go with a scheme that is not dark on the fiberglass canopy.  Read John's
Surface Temperature related to Paint Color test.
Alodining Info:  See this link
Akzo Nobel Info:  From John C.

Here's the contact info for an Akzo Nobel rep:
Trish Lewis at 847-625-3228 or trish.lewis@akzoNobelAerospace.com

The basic painting premise has always been to use the approved primer/sealer of the manufacturer for your selected topcoat.  That has always been hard as AZKO makes the finest primer I have seen.  PPG makes the final topcoat most popular with quality RVs.  Valspar being the Van’s endorsed “Low Cost” product.  Well AZKO is trying to core deeper into the Air Carrier market so I suggested the 500 RV-10s in production as a great potential market to expand North America.

Attached you will find a low quality (HP scanned into Adobe) of the many spectacular competitive topcoats.  Most interesting was their two day Global training available in North America at their Waukegan facility.   Attachment is HERE.

http://www.akzonobelaerospace.com/troubleshooting/environment/  this URL gives great basic information for the hobbyist to avoid many of the common pitfalls in painting their own aircraft.

The attached Color Talk (HERE) is a good start on considerations for the importance of color corrected light, documenting temperature and humidity during the final lay down of topcoat.  With metallic’s it becomes even more important because of the way the mica or aluminum sets up in the clear substrate.

Interior areas to paint if using Abby's interior from Flightline Interiors

Thanks to Abby for writing this and Rick S. for passing it to me.