109JB's Kitfox IV rebuild

[109JB]

Here's pictures of my paint job as requested. These were taken this last fall. I still have the protective plastic film on the windscreen and doors. The paint scheme is a knock off of a classic design that you might recognize. The same pattern is on the wheel pants as well but I didn't use latex on the wheel pants.

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Very nice. You said you rolled it and it came out better than polytone. Did you buff it at all like Malcolm at wienerdogaero does, or is it "as rolled"

[Birdseyeview]

At this point it is all "as rolled". As a result, all but the yellow are high gloss but not the mirror smooth surface that is possible with a last coat sprayed on the surface and buffed after that, but its fine as is for me and my sensibilities. Light sanding in between coats was key to the way it ultimately turned out since tiny specks of dust tend to accumulate in each coat. I did all the painting last winter in my heated basement shop and my wife's very sensitive nose never complained once about any smell.

[109JB]

Getting the color on her. The gloss of the latex is definitely better than polytone. The white is really hard to tell but the blue has a little orange peel which was not unexpected. It is about what I was expecting and is in the perfectly acceptable realm for my tastes. If I ever decide to I could color sand and buff it but I doubt I ever will. Overall I would call it a success but in doing the fuselage I have learned a few things and will be modifying the process a little. The results that Malcolm at wienerdogaero.com gets can't be argued with, but at least for me a few changes to his process make it much easier for me. For my rudder and landing gear legs I made the following modifications which work very well for me.

I am starting to thin the first coat of primer a bit more than he recommends in order to make it easier to get more complete wetting of the fabric.

On the primer coats on the fuselage I used the wienerdoaero method and brushed each coat on sanding between each coat with 320 grit dry sandpaper. I still brush that first coat on, and on the landing gear I also brushed several coats, putting the primer on in one direction and tipping it at 90 degrees. Ultimately I went to spraying the primer on. The primer is still thinned and sprays nicely, leaving a slightly orange peeled surface. The orange peel is much easier to sand smooth than the brush marks from brushing/tipping. On my rudder I am spraying all but the first primer coat and it is going very well. You can get a smooth finish brushing and sanding, but it is a lot more work in my opinion. Spraying i was also able to reduce the sanding interval to 1/2 by applying 2 coats (one cross coat) at a time, waiting until the first coat tacks up and applying the crossing coat. I have also gone to wet-sanding with 400 grit which again is much easier for me.

Anyway, here is crappy picture of the airplane after the first cross coat of blue was applied and had dried about an hour.

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[109JB]

Got the final coat of blue on early this morning and just now got it unmasked. Came out really well. It has a little orange peel, but that was expected. Gloss is good and overall I am very pleased with the results. I didn't construct a booth so someone that did could probably get better results as there is a bit of dust specking because it seems my shop heater is set to turn on and blow stuff around exactly when I start pulling the trigger on the paint gun. Anyway, so far latex is a win for me.

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[Eric Page]

That looks great, John. Nice work!

[109JB]

Been a very long time since I posted in this thread. I have still been working on this one but not fast enough. Since I started this one I found a Glasair 1 kit with engine for a steal, and I also got hold of another Kitfox and repaired it, got it flying, and have sold it already. Need to get this one finished up so I can get going on the Glasair. Like I said, I have been working on this one and here is about its current state. I've done a couple more things that you probably wouldn't notice. Anyway, here it is right now. Stilll some work to do but getting closer.

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[klamath101]

Slightly off topic, I have bent up a few ripper shanks farming and never had any luck re bending them back to original, they always bend again in the same spot usually worse than the first time. Is there a special procedure for bending aircraft tubing during a repair to avoid that.

[jrevens]

Slightly off topic, I have bent up a few ripper shanks farming and never had any luck re bending them back to original, they always bend again in the same spot usually worse than the first time. Is there a special procedure for bending aircraft tubing during a repair to avoid that.

I don’t think so. 4130 N (normalized) is usually cold bent, and the bending process causes it to get a little harder and stiffer in the bend area (“work hardening”). Go slow to help minimize that. Respect minimum bend radius and use a good bender if needed to maintain concentricity when forming a new piece. When trying to straighten a bent piece during a repair, sometimes heat is required. If heated too much and cooled slowly it can become annealed and will have less strength.