Painting the corners of the windscreen and / or canopy

Discuss painting, polishing, or painting vs polishing.

Painting the corners of the windscreen and / or canopy

Postby tmobbs » Mon Mar 28, 2016 6:38 am

The publicity shots for the B series Sonex and Waiex show the windscreens have curved corners which I like the look of. I wondered about painting the corners of my windscreen (and possibly the corners of the canopy too) to achieve that effect.

I am concious that both Lexan and the plexi-glass type material from which the canopy is made are susceptible to attack by solvents, so I asked Sonex what paint to use.

But Kerry tells me that the B Series has a "skirt" around the windscreen and it is that which is painted, not the Lexan from which the windscreen is made. He could not advise me about any type of paint that could be used on the transparencies.

So has any Sonex or Waiex builder painted part of their transparencies (either by design or by accident) and if so, what paint did you use and how has it stood up to the ravages of time?

Tim Mobbs
Sonex #1555 tw, Aerovee #0672
Bungay, Suffolk, England
tmobbs
 
Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Oct 20, 2013 5:48 pm
Location: Bungay Suffolk England

Re: Painting the corners of the windscreen and / or canopy

Postby GordonTurner » Mon Mar 28, 2016 8:16 am

Maybe investigate that vinyl wrap?

Gordon
Waiex 158 New York. N88YX registered.
3.0 Liter Corvair built, run, and installed.
Garmin panel, Shorai LiFePo batteries.
GordonTurner
 
Posts: 644
Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2012 1:14 am
Location: NY, NY

Re: Painting the corners of the windscreen and / or canopy

Postby fastj22 » Mon Mar 28, 2016 8:26 am

The vinyl wrap sticks well to the plastic. That's how we did mike and my canopy edges.

John Gillis
SEL Private, Comm Glider, Tow pilot (Pawnee Driver)
Waiex N116YX, Jabiru 3300, Tail dragger,
First flight, 3/16/2013. 403 hours and climbing.
Home: CO15. KOSH x 5
Flying a B-Model Conversion (Super Bee Baby!)
User avatar
fastj22
 
Posts: 1594
Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 5:56 pm
Location: Mile High

Re: Painting the corners of the windscreen and / or canopy

Postby Darick » Mon Mar 28, 2016 8:36 am

Ive seen this before and will be using it as part of my paint scheme. I'm planning on using the vinyl covering used in the radio control hobby for airplanes. "Ultracote" is one brand name. However, we need to find out if our canopy material is compatible with the adhesive on the vinyl.

Any chemists out there?
Darick Gundy
Sonex #1646
N417DG
Taildragger, Aerovee, center stick, Prince P-Tip Prop
MGL E1, F2, V6 radio, Sandia Xponder, Reserve lift indicator (AOA), iFly 520
First flight! 10/21/2017
User avatar
Darick
 
Posts: 496
Joined: Mon Aug 05, 2013 9:39 pm
Location: PA

Re: Painting the corners of the windscreen and / or canopy

Postby DCASonex » Mon Mar 28, 2016 8:42 am

Sika, the folks who make bonding used for the canopy material have primer paints for that, but not sure if that is applicable to the Lexan windshield. Would check their web site for info.

David A. Sonex TD, with bonded canopy.
DCASonex
 
Posts: 900
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 8:04 pm
Location: Western NY USA

Re: Painting the corners of the windscreen and / or canopy

Postby fastj22 » Mon Mar 28, 2016 9:32 am

Here's a shot of how the vinyl looks.
Attachments
IMG_0509.jpg

John Gillis
SEL Private, Comm Glider, Tow pilot (Pawnee Driver)
Waiex N116YX, Jabiru 3300, Tail dragger,
First flight, 3/16/2013. 403 hours and climbing.
Home: CO15. KOSH x 5
Flying a B-Model Conversion (Super Bee Baby!)
User avatar
fastj22
 
Posts: 1594
Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 5:56 pm
Location: Mile High

Re: Painting the corners of the windscreen and / or canopy

Postby Onex107 » Mon Mar 28, 2016 9:52 am

As you may know, the Onex fuel cap is through a hole in the windshield and a drop of gas on the windshield will cause a crack. I have used a black adhesive paper, like shelf paper, to add a spill/drip proof area around the fuel hole. It's been on two years without a problem.
OneX 107
N2107X
Onex107
 
Posts: 492
Joined: Mon Mar 24, 2014 6:44 pm
Location: Peoria, IL

Re: Painting the corners of the windscreen and / or canopy

Postby kevinh » Mon Mar 28, 2016 10:27 am

fastj22 wrote:Here's a shot of how the vinyl looks.


John, that looks great. How did you get the nice curves on the vinyl. Did you do it by hand or have the sticker cut to that shape?
Taildragger Waiex in progress, tail done, wings done, about to mate wings to fuse,
then cowl, canopy, paint (photos): flush rivets, turbo aerovee, acro ailerons
(I built my RV7A and happily flew it for about 500 hrs)
User avatar
kevinh
 
Posts: 369
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2015 10:46 pm
Location: San Mateo, CA

Re: Painting the corners of the windscreen and / or canopy

Postby fastj22 » Mon Mar 28, 2016 10:42 am

We use stuff called cut tape. Its basically a thread imbedded in a tape. You lay out the shape on the windshield like you would with pinstripe tape, then lay the wrap over it. With a little practice, you then pull the thread up through both the tape and vinyl cutting it in place. Then weed out the tape left over under the wrap. No knife touches the substrate.

John Gillis
SEL Private, Comm Glider, Tow pilot (Pawnee Driver)
Waiex N116YX, Jabiru 3300, Tail dragger,
First flight, 3/16/2013. 403 hours and climbing.
Home: CO15. KOSH x 5
Flying a B-Model Conversion (Super Bee Baby!)
User avatar
fastj22
 
Posts: 1594
Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 5:56 pm
Location: Mile High

Re: Painting the corners of the windscreen and / or canopy

Postby fastj22 » Mon Mar 28, 2016 10:50 am

Onex107 wrote:As you may know, the Onex fuel cap is through a hole in the windshield and a drop of gas on the windshield will cause a crack. I have used a black adhesive paper, like shelf paper, to add a spill/drip proof area around the fuel hole. It's been on two years without a problem.

Vinyl wrap holds up real well to av gas. If someone gives me a template, I can cut out a bunch with my plotter and send them out. No Onex in my area yet.

John Gillis
SEL Private, Comm Glider, Tow pilot (Pawnee Driver)
Waiex N116YX, Jabiru 3300, Tail dragger,
First flight, 3/16/2013. 403 hours and climbing.
Home: CO15. KOSH x 5
Flying a B-Model Conversion (Super Bee Baby!)
User avatar
fastj22
 
Posts: 1594
Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 5:56 pm
Location: Mile High

Next

Return to Finish methods

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest