Oz build SS7

[Paul Z]

Ouch twice. Every time I think of Dorsal mishap, I cringe. I had surgery on my nose that hurts like hell, he'll the shots to numb the pain hurt like hell. Then reminding Dorsal of the mishap that hurts, and I'm cringing about the pain all over again.

[rosslr]

Nearly up to painting metal and fibreglass bits- specifically the flap persons and associated parts, the wing tips, inspection panels etc. I am using Polly Tone for the top coat elsewhere and have read the manual saying mixed success with Poly tone on fibreglass and metal. I have already primed them with the expoxy white primer EP 420. Just wondering what others experience of using the poly tone over this has been?

Cheers

[Esser]

Hi Ross,

This is going back in my memory but i believe Gary Hillman told me to hit it will polybrush first for good results. But I think there was something about doing it while it is still tacky....

http://www.hillmanair.com

[Flybyjim]

I have been spraying poly tone system for a few years. If you want the polytone to stick to any metal parts, shot the primer as recommended. Once cured sand lightly with 600 auto pad. I like to clean with alcohol as it will not effect the epoxy, cleans very well and evaporates quickly. The poly 2210 cleaner can linger a long time depending on temp and humidity and cause fish eye. Okay after cleaning I use a tac rag (get them at an automotive paint supply house, they are different from the big box stores, there not overly tacky like the ones from Home Depot and such. Do not apply pressure with the tac rag just enough to pick up any lint. This may seem a bit over the top but if you want a nice finish it is all about the prep. Here is the challenging part. You need two spray guns. You will now spray a light to med. spray of the epoxy primer, once this is just tacky spray your poly tone into the still tacky epoxy. Let this set up to also become tacky to the touch, than spray a wet cross coat as per the instructions in their manual. You will find this procedure also in the manual. I have had good and poor success with this over the years. I have switched to using Aerothane and adding their flattener
to match the low luster of poly tone. Remember poly tone will stain, bugs must be removed after each flight and don't spill any fuel on it. Just my experiences

[rosslr]

Thanks guys - I think the technique your remember Josh might be the one described by Jim? That is the one that is described in the Polyfibre manual. any thoughts on why you get the variable results using the technique Jim? I guess that is what made me curious. They say the same about variable results in the manual and I was wondering if it was technique or temp or humidity ... or just magic.....??

thanks again for the clear description of the technique JIm.

cheers

[airlina]

Hi Ross , On my Series 5, I used polytone on the fabric, but didn't want to mess with the two gun procedure as described above so I went a different route on all metal and fiberglass parts. I simply primed with the epoxy primer then used an automotive enamel (I used dupont centari) that was color matched to my polytone colors at a local automotive paint supplier. This worked great and after 11 years all still looks good . good luck, Bruce N199CL

[rosslr]

Thanks for your thoughts Bruce. I am thinking tongi with your enamel solution given that the poly tone/epoxy process appears to involve ambit of blak magic as far as I can understand.

Thanks again

[rosslr]

We got to do the stripes on the wing yesterday. It went pretty well but got some bleed through of the black to the thin white stripe - but only on one side! Thinking about it I have put it down to a bit too much pressure and spraying on a slight angle so as to direct the spray at one side of the masking. All fixable and a good learning curve! Must away now to do a few days work over the west.

cheers

[jiott]

I found that it is quite easy to remove most small masking tape bleed-thru by just careful light scraping with a pocket knife.

[rosslr]

Great to be back after a week over west working - even if I suffered a flight delay and had to spend and extra night in Sydney. This weekend we had a rather unorganised, but fun, fly in of all sorts of plane to our little airport. Its the annual Gathering of the Moths - a take on the Bogong Moths that are prolific this time of the year in this area. Anyway, we had a great time with trikes, flying chutes, gyrocopters, and a nice collection of GA planes. We had a great group of builder friends fly in and we had a super cub, gyrocopter, Stitson, RV6, and a helicopter. Our friend Col took both Gayle and me flying the mountains in his Super Cub and he is really looking forward to us finishing the Kitfox so we can join him on his 'adventures' - he has all the good spots and I think he is the only guy I know to land on top of Mt Bogong - our highest mountain.

Anyway, tomorrow I will post some more of the paint progress but I thought it would be nice to share the fun of the little fly-in - not quiet Oskosh, but everyone had fun!

cheers