Vixen fiberglass wingtip primer

[tim.green]

Building a Vixen. Installing factory nav/strobe light standoffs (cuz it's a project I can do in my basement!). It's going well but need to prime the area I'm working on to assess my body work. I haven't settled on a covering system yet but will likely use Poly-Fiber. Don't have a compressor / gun setup so would like to use a rattle can for this job. Thanks!

[Dave S]

Tim,

Congrats on your progress on the Vixen.

The poly fiber system is well established as a very durable thing. Used that on our early S7 - still going strong.

The fiberglass work does well with the Poly Fiber epoxy for a prime coat. That is going to require a paint spray outfit to apply correctly.

The point to consider is the prime coat must be compatible with whatever goes on top. The solvents in the top coats can be a very effective paint stripper if not compatible with the under coats. Good idea to make a final decision on what covering and paint system you are going to use, then use what you need to for the priming project.

I found a small touch up gun to be just fine for small paint/prime projects on the plane.

[PapuaPilot]

Ditto. Pick a system and use their products.

[tim.green]

Thanks Phil and Dave! Did either of you cover with Poly-Fiber? I took the EAA class and I have have the fabric so it's likely the system I'm going to use. Is the epoxy primer relatively sandable?

[Dave S]

Tim,

We used the polyfiber system from start to finish; and, used their product identified as Aerothane for the final topcoat.

If you are going with Polyfiber, they have a a book approximately 1/2" thick about using their products in covering an aircraft - loved the book - plain straightforward language and includes just about anything you would want to know. Well worth the $20 bucks or so.

If you took the EAA class - you have a good start on the process.

Yes, the epoxy prime coat is sandable; and, where beneficial, I watersanded metal and fiberglass parts. In particular, the lower door panels without a gel coat needed a little filler as well as a couple coats of epoxy primer with watersanding in between operations.

[PapuaPilot]

Yes, I used the Polyfiber system completely. Some was finished in Polytone and some with Aerothane (urethane). You can download the PolyFiber manual for free, but I don't remember the website. It is an easy system to use. The downside is that it uses highly toxic stuff in every product, the Aerothane or any urethane is bad stuff. It is doable, but you need to use the proper PPE.

The only thing I wasn't super happy with was the lack of pigment in the Aerothane. It takes a bunch of coats. With my red color going on top of white I ended up with a lot of mismatched panels.

[tim.green]

Thanks guys. My brother and I bought this project from another builder in 2009. We took the poly-fiber class at the EAA in Oshkosh in early 2010 - which was awesome - but it stopped at the poly-brush step. The project I bought came with the covering kit but all of the chemicals have decomposed and I had to dispose of the them. I have the fabric, tapes and tools.

I have some areas on various weldments with surface rust - can the poly fiber primer be brushed on once I've properly cleaned and prepped those areas?

Really appreciate your help!

[PapuaPilot]

I haven't tried that, but I don't see why you couldn't use a brush. A small airbrush would be another good option.

[Dave S]

Tim,

PapuaPilot's suggestion to use an airbrush is the way to go.

One of the issues with the epoxy primer, which nobody tells anyone about, is a physical chemistry deal - it does not apply well with a brush. The reason is the cohesive forces (tendency to stick to itself) are stronger than it's adhesive forces (tendency to stick to other things) which results in what a painter would call "crawl" - tends to clump up. When it is sprayed, it goes on in a smooth uniform layer and the solvents evaporate quickly which prevents the "crawl". The primer does stick well to other surfaces; but, it really likes to stick to itself in a way other paints do not - the brush leaves ridges and the thicker parts initiate the crawl; as well, the "fast" solvents in the stuff don't evaporate as fast with the brush method so the epoxy does not flash off as fast.

The epoxy primer is best sprayed on for a smooth surface.

[109JB]

I've used the little Preval sprayers for touching up stuff where I couldn't use my full blown paint gun. They work fairly well. I did notice needing to do a little over-reduction depending on the paint I'm spraying.

https://preval.com/

Edit: I have also used the spray cans of 2-part paint. They have 2 chambers and a tool that is used to cause the chambers to mix. So this is a one time use. Use it all up at once or else it is no good.

[PapuaPilot]

I've used the little Preval sprayers for touching up stuff where I couldn't use my full blown paint gun. They work fairly well. I did notice needing to do a little over-reduction depending on the paint I'm spraying.

Thanks for the post John. I have been looking to get something exactly like this. Are the parts cleanable or one time use?

[109JB]

Thanks for the post John. I have been looking to get something exactly like this. Are the parts cleanable or one time use?

You can clean them by spraying whatever thinner your paint calls for through the unit. I've done it and it has been successful for the next time around.