Painting Your Airplane in the Hangar?

I just saw a beautiful Lancair 320 painted in the hangar. It looks
great until you get up close. The polyurethane paint is very glossy,
but there is dust particles and trash all over it. Even a few insects
in the middle of our NC winter.

Not to worry, says the painter, who runs an autobody repair shop. He
says he'll use 600 grit and water sand it all out and you'll never see
a bit of trash in the paint. Well, I hope. What do you think?

We had another builder here rent a booth in a fancy car painting shop,
and the paint job on his Zenair Zodiac looked flawless.

In Greenville, SC they used to transport plastic airplanes with the
wings off to a nice filtered booth at an auto paint shop down White
Horse Rd. and paint them there. The pressure air used for the spray
system was freeze-dried to take out water and other impurities. The
painter was a real pro who instructed in the auto body section at
Greenville Tech. The ships always came back to the hangar looking
great.

How's about it? Do you paint in the hangar or in a paint shop booth?
We have two more to do and want clean glossy finishes without flaws.
TIA.

jls wrote:
I just saw a beautiful Lancair 320 painted in the hangar. It looks
great until you get up close. The polyurethane paint is very glossy,
but there is dust particles and trash all over it. Even a few insects
in the middle of our NC winter.

Not to worry, says the painter, who runs an autobody repair shop. He
says he'll use 600 grit and water sand it all out and you'll never see
a bit of trash in the paint. Well, I hope. What do you think?

We had another builder here rent a booth in a fancy car painting shop,
and the paint job on his Zenair Zodiac looked flawless.

In Greenville, SC they used to transport plastic airplanes with the
wings off to a nice filtered booth at an auto paint shop down White
Horse Rd. and paint them there. The pressure air used for the spray
system was freeze-dried to take out water and other impurities. The
painter was a real pro who instructed in the auto body section at
Greenville Tech. The ships always came back to the hangar looking
great.

How's about it? Do you paint in the hangar or in a paint shop booth?
We have two more to do and want clean glossy finishes without flaws.
TIA.

It is true that polyurethane paints can be wet
sanded and buffed once they have cured. I have
seen it done within the last month.

The best way is to make sure that there is no dust
in the air, and no insects can get in the paint
during the two hours that the paint is drying to
tack free.

Obviously, a paint booth is great if the airplane
is small enough. If not, then the hangar should
be very clean, and sealed against insects. It
also helps to have banks of halogen or florescent
lighting so that the painter can really see what
they are doing.

If I saw "dust" in the paint I would wonder if the
piece was really clean before the paint was applied.

Don W.

In article ,
Don W wrote:

jls wrote:
I just saw a beautiful Lancair 320 painted in the hangar. It looks
great until you get up close. The polyurethane paint is very glossy,
but there is dust particles and trash all over it. Even a few insects
in the middle of our NC winter.

Not to worry, says the painter, who runs an autobody repair shop. He
says he'll use 600 grit and water sand it all out and you'll never see
a bit of trash in the paint. Well, I hope. What do you think?

We had another builder here rent a booth in a fancy car painting shop,
and the paint job on his Zenair Zodiac looked flawless.

In Greenville, SC they used to transport plastic airplanes with the
wings off to a nice filtered booth at an auto paint shop down White
Horse Rd. and paint them there. The pressure air used for the spray
system was freeze-dried to take out water and other impurities. The
painter was a real pro who instructed in the auto body section at
Greenville Tech. The ships always came back to the hangar looking
great.

How's about it? Do you paint in the hangar or in a paint shop booth?
We have two more to do and want clean glossy finishes without flaws.
TIA.

It is true that polyurethane paints can be wet
sanded and buffed once they have cured. I have
seen it done within the last month.

The best way is to make sure that there is no dust
in the air, and no insects can get in the paint
during the two hours that the paint is drying to
tack free.

Obviously, a paint booth is great if the airplane
is small enough. If not, then the hangar should
be very clean, and sealed against insects. It
also helps to have banks of halogen or florescent
lighting so that the painter can really see what
they are doing.

If I saw "dust" in the paint I would wonder if the
piece was really clean before the paint was applied.

Don W.

Getting a glossy, perfect finish requires more than wet sanding with
#600. After the #500, more wet sanding with #1200, then #2000, then a
power buffer with 3M "Finesse It," then "Perfect It." The finish will
resemble hand-rubbed lacquer, with the deep gloss.

Yes -- a paint booth is far preferable, but, strictly speaking, not a
requirement.

" jls" wrote in message
...
I just saw a beautiful Lancair 320 painted in the hangar. It looks
great until you get up close. The polyurethane paint is very glossy,
but there is dust particles and trash all over it. Even a few insects
in the middle of our NC winter.

Not to worry, says the painter, who runs an autobody repair shop. He
says he'll use 600 grit and water sand it all out and you'll never see
a bit of trash in the paint. Well, I hope. What do you think?

We had another builder here rent a booth in a fancy car painting shop,
and the paint job on his Zenair Zodiac looked flawless.

In Greenville, SC they used to transport plastic airplanes with the
wings off to a nice filtered booth at an auto paint shop down White
Horse Rd. and paint them there. The pressure air used for the spray
system was freeze-dried to take out water and other impurities. The
painter was a real pro who instructed in the auto body section at
Greenville Tech. The ships always came back to the hangar looking
great.

How's about it? Do you paint in the hangar or in a paint shop booth?
We have two more to do and want clean glossy finishes without flaws.
TIA.



Two things you might consider if you do the hanger again.

Always keep the floor soaked. You would be amaized how much dust you kick up
walking or dragging an air hose.

Try to close up the hanger as much as possible, and force feed makeup air
through some sort of filter. Get creative, a cluser of hardware store HVAC
filters are cheap, maybe a couple dollars a piece, and I have even seen wet
bedsheets used.

Neither will make up for the benefit of a good commerical booth, but they
can make a lof of difference on a dusty day.

You might even want to stick a air fitting in the end of a 10' piece of
cheap tubing, and flatten the opposite end. Hook it to a air hose and blow
your lights and ceiling beams down the day before each job.

I haven't painted many airplanes, but I have a bunch of cars.

" jls" wrote in message
...
I just saw a beautiful Lancair 320 painted in the hangar. It looks
great until you get up close. The polyurethane paint is very glossy,
but there is dust particles and trash all over it. Even a few insects
in the middle of our NC winter.

Not to worry, says the painter, who runs an autobody repair shop. He
says he'll use 600 grit and water sand it all out and you'll never see
a bit of trash in the paint. Well, I hope. What do you think?

I suspect that it will look better than it does now...

...
How's about it? Do you paint in the hangar or in a paint shop booth?
We have two more to do and want clean glossy finishes without flaws.
TIA.

I ain't never painted no airplane, but I did a 26'sailboat in polyurethane
(Awlgrip) not too long ago- does that count?

Not having a booth, I did it in a plastic "tent" outdoors (30'x14'about 15
feet at the peak). It turned out pretty darn good, if I may say so myself...

Issues:

Temperature - Linear polyurethane wants to stay warm overnight to cure.

Dirt - A plastic "tent" with a big plastic tarp for a floor worked fine for
me. But a real booth would be a lot nicer to work in and probably have
better light (that helps a LOT).

Overspray - LPU overspray stays sticky for a long time. You need to be able
to control it - if you are in typical T hanger you will probably really ****
off the guy next door.

Air - you REALLY want a source of outside air to breathe. The MSDS claims
that the paint has "poor warning qualities" - that's a euphemism for "by the
time you smell it in your mask, you are f***ed".

Da Gun - what kind of gun are you using? Plain white isn't as demanding as
metalics, but I've learned that a cheap spray gun is more trouble than it is
worth. I have an old top of the line (for it's day) Binks out in the
garage - it was worth every penny. Nowadays HVLP stuff seems to be the way
to go - on a large project you may save enough on the reduction
in waste (from overspray) to pay for the gun. I don't have any
recommendation on the modern guns though.

Prep is 99 percent of finished result. If you can feel ANYTHING when you
slide your hand across the surface you WILL see it when you spray a gloss
coat on.


--
Geoff
The Sea Hawk at Wow Way d0t Com
remove spaces and make the obvious substitutions to reply by mail
When immigration is outlawed, only outlaws will immigrate.

Maxwell wrote:


Try to close up the hanger as much as possible, and force feed makeup air
through some sort of filter. Get creative, a cluser of hardware store HVAC
filters are cheap, maybe a couple dollars a piece, and I have even seen wet
bedsheets used.

Precisely. I've not painted an airplane (well not seriously) but I've
help paint a fire engine with Imron. We were supposed to get access
to a paint booth at a nearby heavy equipment manufacturer but that fell
through so we entirely wrapped the equipment bay with heavy plastic and
blew in filtered air. The result (5 coats of color, 5 coats of clear)
were astounding.

" jls" wrote in message
...
I just saw a beautiful Lancair 320 painted in the hangar. It looks
great until you get up close. The polyurethane paint is very glossy,
but there is dust particles and trash all over it. Even a few insects
in the middle of our NC winter.

Not to worry, says the painter, who runs an autobody repair shop. He
says he'll use 600 grit and water sand it all out and you'll never see
a bit of trash in the paint. Well, I hope. What do you think?

We had another builder here rent a booth in a fancy car painting shop,
and the paint job on his Zenair Zodiac looked flawless.

In Greenville, SC they used to transport plastic airplanes with the
wings off to a nice filtered booth at an auto paint shop down White
Horse Rd. and paint them there. The pressure air used for the spray
system was freeze-dried to take out water and other impurities. The
painter was a real pro who instructed in the auto body section at
Greenville Tech. The ships always came back to the hangar looking
great.

How's about it? Do you paint in the hangar or in a paint shop booth?
We have two more to do and want clean glossy finishes without flaws.
TIA.

It is all about prep work. You can get a good paint job painting almost
anywhere if you take proper measures against dust and other trash. The first
step is to give the hangar a thorough cleaning. Get a pressure sprayer and
clean the walls, ceiling, and floor. Vacuum, sweep, etc. thoroughly to get
rid of the dust.

Before painting, use a hose to spray down the walls and floor again. You
want everything wet so any dust sticks to the floor, walls, etc. You
probably need to set up some box fans to exhaust the overspray and fog from
the hangar. Make sure the fans exhaust air. Blowing high speed air into the
area will stir up dust, which you don't want.

Of course, you should really make sure you have explosion proof lights and
fans so you don't get a nasty surprise.

You also need appropriate safety equipment - a reliable fresh air breathing
source, and a tyvek suit, gloves, and mask to keep the paint from getting on
your skin.

The final issue (which would prevent me from spraying in a T-hangar) is
keeping overspray from drifting into adjoining hangars. Get overspray on
your neighbor's Bonanza and you'll end up with a real problem that costs
real money to fix.

KB

On Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:46:07 -0500, " jls" wrote:

How's about it? Do you paint in the hangar or in a paint shop booth?
We have two more to do and want clean glossy finishes without flaws.
TIA.

Guy down at the airport painted his newly-restored classic in his hangar. Ended
up paying few thousand bucks to de-paint the planes in the hangars next to
him....turns out there were little gaps in the partitions, and the yellow paint
drifted through them. The guy also was evicted, since the leasor bans painting
in the hangars.

Ron Wanttaja

To help prevent static buildup, ground the airplane before painting.

I was wondering when someone would mention this. Nothing like ruining
the windows in the King Air next hangar over $$$$$. Be very careful of
this. As to the paint, I stripped and painted my wings, using only a
space outside with a tall building for shade late on a spring evening.
I just got everything ready and waited a couple of days for calm winds,
and used an HVLP and Imron. The actual spraying doesn't take that long.
I was told and found out, that Imron can be wet sanded with 1500 grit
and then buffed as long as you do it the first couple of days after you
spray. I did the leading edges and they seemed to do fine. It came out
very smooth. This approach can buff out almost any paint, as long as
you put in the time to do it. THERE IS A LOT OF AREA TO BUFF ON AN
AIRPLANE. You know this I hope. It could be more work than you're
willing to do, and it won't look right unless you do.

Bud


Ron Wanttaja wrote:
On Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:46:07 -0500, " jls" wrote:

How's about it? Do you paint in the hangar or in a paint shop booth?
We have two more to do and want clean glossy finishes without flaws.
TIA.

Guy down at the airport painted his newly-restored classic in his hangar. Ended
up paying few thousand bucks to de-paint the planes in the hangars next to
him....turns out there were little gaps in the partitions, and the yellow paint
drifted through them. The guy also was evicted, since the leasor bans painting
in the hangars.

Ron Wanttaja