Paint and PolyFiber Coatings

[JoeRuscito]

I need to place an order for more poly-brush, Poly-Spray, and top coats. Im wondering if anyone has a good estimate of how much you need to complete the job. So far Ive gone through 3 gallons of poly-brush (3 spray coats on horizontal and elevator and two on one wing). Fuselage hasn't been started but the other wing has a brushed on coat.

Also Im planning on painting my plane with Ranthane Bahama blue, black, and orange yellow. Ive been told its a good practice to put down a white base coat, so I plan on using poly-tone insignia white for this since its cheaper. Any estimates on how many gallons of white the base coat will take? And how many gallons to cover the plane after white in Ranthane?

Thanks!

[efwd]

Im not certain I recall correctly but I would verify that you can mix product lines. Ranthane and Poly Tone primer.

[JoeRuscito]

Thanks Eddie, I was told at the poly fiber class that ranthane can go over polyfiber products but I will double check with consolidated just in case. I was told it was easier to shoot than aerothane.

[JoeRuscito]

Confirmed by Waldo at consolidated that ranthane can be painted over polytone and polyfiber primer.

[aviator79]

The Poly Fiber manual overestimates how much stuff you need in the table. Depending on your scheme's distribution of colors, you probably only need 3-4 gallons of Ranthane or Aerothane. Maybe even Two gallons and a quart for trim if you're really good at spraying it. I think I used about 2.5 gal total across two colors, but I bought 4 gallons. I have a lot of paint left in the second cans of each of my two main colors. One quart was plenty for all my blue trim.

[JoeRuscito]

Did you use a white base coat?

[Dave S]

Joe,

Noticed your post on the issue.

FWIW - when our Kitfox was painted, I was lucky enough to have a local poly-fiber guy close by with much experience. His take on the white under coat was this - If the final color is white aerothane, a person does not need to use anything between the gray and the white aerothane; and, if a person is using another top coat color (yellow in our case) the area under the color should be given a coat of polytone white. The white polytone can go under either a both a color coat of polytone or color coat of aerothane just fine. At the time, Ranthane wasn't around so the suitability of white polytone under Ranthane was not discussed at the time with the Polyfiber rep.

Some experimenting before applying the yellow to the plane (used some old car panels) made it real clear that the yellow aerothane over the gray looks quite a bit different (Much darker) than yellow aerothane over white polytone. Quite a bit of light penetrates the color coats other than white. A quart of polytone goes a long way; and, I found that a quart was sufficient to undercoat all areas that were to be painted yellow. Areas to be painted white aerothane were just left gray with a little overlap of the white polytone. Most of the colors other than white are somewhat transparent and reflect off the basecoat. White reflects almost everything and light does not reflect off the basecoat if white is in between.

[JoeRuscito]

Wow! It looks like your whole wing is yellow and you did that with a quart of white. Must go a long way!

Any estimates on polybrush and polyspray. I’ve gotten one estimate at 4 gallons of each. I’m going through it WAY faster than that. Would love some other data points.

Thanks!

[aviator79]

I did white Poly Tone under my orange Aerothane. I didn't use much. I just did a very light dust/tack coat, followed by a light coat for some fill. Just enough to cover the Poly Brush. It makes a big difference in how vibrant bright colors look. I did not do it under my Gray.

[Dave S]

Joe,

Only the bottom and LE is yellow - top is all white aerothane.

What Brian said is precisely true - only takes a thin coat to do it.:)

Been so long I no longer recollect how much polybrush and polyspray I used - sorry :o the product does have a lot lower % solids than other types of paint - a gallon has more solvent in it than anything else. Being accustomed to car paint technology, I was surprised how much it took.

[JoeRuscito]

Did you transition from white to yellow right at the trailing edge? I’ve been considering different too and bottom colors but thought the transition may look strange.

[Dave S]

Joe,

The three attached photos should help with where the transition lines are. My primary reason for the color scheme was an attempt to maintain visibility. Secondarily, The top of the wings, with the exception of the leading edge and wingtips, are white to minimize heating from the sun when the craft is parked outside.

I am not an artist so I did not even try to do any fancy graphics - just wanted people to see me in the air.