Poly tone paint over fiberglass and metal

All,

Has anyone done poly tone paint over fiberglass and metal? The manual lists two methods, is one preferable over the other?

The fabric is already poly tone and I am coming up on painting the metal/fiberglass parts.

Thanks

Scott

Scott,

If the fabric is polytone - good deal to use it on the fiberglass and metal too - it'll match best.

Any method in the manual will work well. Using the epoxy primer works great on both the fiberglass and metal.

My kit had the door lower panels and glareshield without a gelcoat - that took a little filling due to small bubbles in the resin before the primer went on.

I have Oratex skin. I used Poly Tone on the fiberglass and on top of the Oratex (invasion stripes). I used the method, Prime, 24hr dry time then a single prime coat and allow to become tacky. Spray your color coat on top of that. I would have no complaints if I didn't feel that it is just a bit too easy to mar, if not scratch. Good that it can be blended easily with a new coat to fix the scratches.

Back when I painted my Series 5, my polyfiber suppliers recommended the tacky primer method , however after testing it out I found it cumbersome as you need to have 2 types of paint ready to shoot in short order (mixing, gun cleaning, painting) and didn't like the process , so went a different route all together. Took my polytone paint to a local auto paint store and had them match the colors with dupont centari (acrylic enamel ) and shot that on all hard surfaces instead of the polytone . To match the gloss of the polytone , I added a touch of flattener to the enamel. Has held up very well for close to 20 years now. Man I'm getting old! Bruce N199CL

Quote:

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Originally Posted by efwd

I have Oratex skin. I used Poly Tone on the fiberglass and on top of the Oratex (invasion stripes). I used the method, Prime, 24hr dry time then a single prime coat and allow to become tacky. Spray your color coat on top of that. I would have no complaints if I didn't feel that it is just a bit too easy to mar, if not scratch. Good that it can be blended easily with a new coat to fix the scratches.

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In regard to the metal and fiberglass parts of my Kitfox this is what I did. It is easy to scratch but, I'm basically happy with it.

I had a Taylorcraft covered in Polytone. I finished the metal parts with polytone as well, i.e. cowl, boot cowl, doors, trim etc. It matched and stuck well, but as mentioned it is not a hard finish and was prone to scratches and wear. It was also stained easily by fuel. Since those areas are most prone to handling damage I will be doing something different on my Kitfox. If using polytone, the matched autopaint with the flattener to knock the gloss down sounds like a good choice.

I'm about to paint endura on everything that isn't fabric, based on the experience of someone who loves fabric work and the poly-fiber system .. a US gallon of poly tone is up to $200 plus taxes plus shipping in canada, that isn't sustainable for this hobby ! endura pricing isn't much better but at least I don't have to wait 3 weeks plus $25 per gallon for shipping ...

I just went thru this three days ago. I bought a new spinner and had it painted with Poly lemon yellow which is what I thought my plane was painted with but it wasn't even close. I took my painted engine cowling to a local auto paint shop so they could match the not quite right lemon yellow with a DuPont enamel paint. I had them make up a spray can and about a half pint in a can. I should have taken a before and after photo but here is just the after.......

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