REFLECTOR: Auto Marine or Airplane paints

Joe Ewen Jewen at Comporium.net
Wed Jan 25 21:25:33 CST 2006


Hi Terry,
I do not know if you are just researching at this point or are you ready to
shoot?  If you are a year
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Terry Miles" <terrence_miles at hotmail.com>
To: "'Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list'" <reflector at tvbf.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 8:32 AM
Subject: REFLECTOR: Auto Marine or Airplane paints


>
> Geez,
>
> When I started on this project in earnest about a year ago now, I wasted
> a lot of time reading tool catalogs.  If I was smart, I would have
> signed up for a speed reading course instead.  What follows is a
> rambling rant with this question to the Reflector...why did you guys
> chose for or against auto paint over marine paint over airplane paint?
> Sherman Williams, PPG, Akzo-Nobel they all have car, boat, and airplane
> products.
>
> For tonight at least my inclination is a nothing exotic, mid priced,
> run-the-mill automotive paint unless someone out there would caution
> against it.  Reasons include cost and worries about the product
> experience of the painter and the tools at his disposal. (I am using the
> body shop next door to where I am building which will shoot anything I
> want in a regular spray booth big enough to fit the fuselage section.).
> I can use high VOC polyurethanes here in SC, and these products are said
> to be more results friendly, so I could go with marine or airplane lines
> if I saw the value to it.
>
> For the conversation, here's some terms I have learned recently.  "Top
> coatings" are referred to in the auto world as base coat & clear coat
> systems.  Sometimes these "top coatings" require a given type of
> undercoating, sometimes 320 grit sandpaper is enuf to make any
> undercoating compatible with a topcoat product. Obviously aftermarket
> autobody repair products can't be fussy.  (Read the pdf's).
> http://www.lesonalna.com/  Under the Akzo-Nobel auto line of products, I
> used Utech for undercoating and anticipate using Lesonal products for
> topcoatings.  I called the Lesonal product line and was told among other
> things that (in general terms)  the higher up the price range in their
> products (Sikens product line) the fancier the end result, but less
> user-unfriendly regards application.  (OR) It could also mean that you
> are looking at newer more environmentally friendly chemicals, which are
> required in Europe as much as in the USA.  As a aside, clear coats do
> have the UV properties at least in the Lesonal line.  The colored base
> coating of their topcoat systems do not have the UV protection.
> Airplane topcoats, JetGlo as example, can be applied without clear coats
> so UV issues are different.
>
> Akzo-Nobel is a very big multi-national org, based in Holland somewhere.
> Ronnie Brown used their marine Awlgrip on his bird.  I am looking at
> Lesonal which is one of their auto paint lines.  Alumigrip is in their
> airplane line, and it used extensively in GA certified stuff.
> http://www.akzonobelaerospace.com/products/category_selection.aspx?id=Po
> lyurethane%20Topcoats
> Further I have learned that nobody's auto/boat/airplane paint sales
> departments are not crossed trained, so we all are left to our collected
> wisdom.
>
> Anybody have any thoughts on auto vs marine vs airplane?
>
> Terry
>
>
> HISTORY
> If I helps future generations, below is more detail on what we have done
> to date.
>
> At Hangar 18 we started w/ a "primer-surfacer" and did the sand out and
> patch fill routine, until one day we said "enuf is enuf."  (Actually I
> got to that point way before M. Collier did.)  Then we sprayed on a
> final "primer-sealer" coat.  All this was done just in the shop w/ good
> ventilation, but no spray booth.  These are two different products and
> both are referred to by Akzo-Nobel as "under coatings."
> http://www.akzonobelcarrefinishes.net/default.asp?sid=65395&pid=420
> This was good stuff.  Not too costly.  Hangar 18 has painted about 5
> airplanes with it and had good success.  Here are the details.
>
> The first sanding of the exterior surfaces is w/ 40 to 80 grit.  Then we
> rolled (not sprayed) on 2 coats of UTECH U2K1 Primer with stock
> activator being A2K4.  Watch out, product labeling seemed to change.
> Primer bought later just was labeled as 2K, but with a "product code" of
> P2K1.  The web site had it as 2K100.   Rolling as opposed to spraying
> this first coat forces the paint into all the little pin holes.  Then it
> is guide coated, which is just a very light misting of diluted black
> acrylic water/based artist paint.  This allows us to see undulations as
> we sand.  We used long sanding boards now about 12 to 14 inches long.
> The grit of the sandpaper gradually goes up to 180 at the end.  After
> the roller coats are sanded out, we do it again.  This 2nd time just one
> spray coat of the same stuff is sprayed on.  Guide coated again and
> worked with 180 grit paper.  It helped that this first primer surfacer
> had a slight coloring in it.so that the last "primer-sealer" coat (UTECH
> E366 and the hardener is E375)which was white-white could be seen as a
> dif color as it was sprayed on.  This helps the sprayer see what is
> happening-at least for the first sealer coat.  Two coats of sealer were
> applied.
> End.
>
>
>
>
>
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