SonexBuilders.net

So who has painted their plane? What system did you use, and how much paint did it take?

I think I am going to go with Stewart Systems EkoPoly but am open to suggestions. I need to make a decision soon and get moving on it before the summer humidity moves in the next few months. The budget doesn't allow me to just drop it off somewhere and write a check.

Keith
#554

Keith,

This may not interest you at all but here is a link to how I did this. It can be applied with a gun but I chose to "roll it on" ...

http://websites.expercraft.com/daleande ... g_id=71019

http://websites.expercraft.com/daleande ... g_id=71020

http://websites.expercraft.com/daleande ... g_id=71024

http://websites.expercraft.com/daleande ... g_id=70994

As a member of Sonex Talk you can also see a nearly final photo:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sonextalk ... =1&dir=asc

Dale Williams
N319WF

I saw your pictures before and agree that they look great. I'm looking ot stay a little more coneventional at this point though. I already have the right compressor and spray gun to apply the Stewart Systems stuff. I'm just not sure how to figure out how much paint I will need. If I knew that to cover the wings in a solid color it took x quarts and to cover the fusealage it too x gallons or something to that effect I could figure out how much of each color I would need based on the design I end up with. I see lots of painted sonex out there on the completions page but not many people talk about the process in their build logs for some reason.

Keith
#554

I have a specific question for anyone who sprays..

What did you do about the piano hinges on the control surfaces? Did you worry about paint getting into the inner diameter adding friction to the control surface later? I have been debating about what to do about this for a while, producing three possible ideas

1-tape the side of every section of piano hinge when i paint
2-install a "sacrificial" control hinge pin to protect the inside
3-dont worry about it because it will be fine

what did you guys do?

142YX wrote:I have a specific question for anyone who sprays..

What did you do about the piano hinges on the control surfaces? Did you worry about paint getting into the inner diameter adding friction to the control surface later? I have been debating about what to do about this for a while, producing three possible ideas

1-tape the side of every section of piano hinge when i paint
2-install a "sacrificial" control hinge pin to protect the inside
3-dont worry about it because it will be fine

what did you guys do?

I did #3. Then found some paint needed to be cleaned out of the holes. So i bent a cleanout reamer from extra pin to work out each hinge loop. The bigger disappointment was during and after install of the control surfaces, chipping the paint on some of the ears. I have lots of touchup areas on the hinges now where the paint got pinched off. I wonder if its better to paint after fully assembled and not in pieces.

My plan is to mask the hinge hooks completely when painting. The hinge area that can be seen when the flaps / ailerons / cowling are installed is very tiny and probably won't be noticeable with the paint scheme I have in mind. Every airplane that I have seen that painted the hinges (both sonex and non sonex) all had chipping at the joints as mentioned above.

If you do want to mask just the hinge holes one tip someone gave me was to go to a stationary store. Yo can buy small self sticking dots on sheets that can be placed on either side of each hinge ear.

For those who might come across this later I did recieve one response back on the ammount of paint needed. It was about 1 gallon of primer and a gallon and a half of color to cover the plane. I'm still looking for other data points if anyone wants to tell e what theirs took.

Keith
#554

I've been a bit hesitant to respond to this thread because I did not paint my Waiex.

Some details though...

-PPG automotive paint, very little color (1 or two quarts) and lot's of clear coat
-I did not perform a before and after weigh-in so I don't know the weight
-the hinges were all painted over and look great to this day with color
-there were lot's of cans (hardeners, flex agents, reducers, ect. and my paint man was happy to be done:)

N111YX wrote:I've been a bit hesitant to respond to this thread because I did not paint my Waiex.

Some details though...

-PPG automotive paint, very little color (1 or two quarts) and lot's of clear coat
-I did not perform a before and after weigh-in so I don't know the weight
-the hinges were all painted over and look great to this day with color
-there were lot's of cans (hardeners, flex agents, reducers, ect. and my paint man was happy to be done:)

I have seen Kip's plane. Its beautiful. The paint job is great. If you follow his path, you will not go wrong.