Painting

[XenosN42]

Hi,

I'm planning to paint the OneX I'm building. One paint system I'm researching is from Stewart. Stewart's primer and top coats are water based. I found 3 great videos which demonstrate how to apply their paints. https://www.youtube.com/user/stewartsystems

Does anyone have any experience with the Stewart paint system?

-- Michael
XENOS N42XE (flying)
OneX (in planning stage)

[kmacht]

I looked into them when I was planning on painting. The only down side I found is that the paint is supposed to be very temperamental in regards to humidity in the air and you have to have a very good air dryer installed between the compressor and the gun. Any water vapor in the air line gives unpredictable results more so than a normal urethane based paint. Plan on spending at least a few hundred dollars on a good desiccant filter. Ultimately I paid someone to paint my plane while I bought and supplied the materials. I used ppg dbu paint and was very happy with the final results.

Keith
#554

[Critson]

I used Stewart's,

The primer is easy to work with. Make sure you follow the instructions exactly. If it says spray for 7 minutes then wait 5 before applying a second coat. Do exactly as instructed or you will be sanding out runs. I enjoyed not having to worry about toxic fumes in my garage. Cleanup was a breeze.

After four years my Sonex paint still looks great. The paint is tough as nails. It's not cheap but you get what you pay for.

Oshkosh 2011

N424DR.JPG (162.05 KiB) Viewed 2217 times

[andrewp]

Oh boy, sure do have plenty to say about that, but not enough time this morning.

I used Stewarts back before they sorted out their initial issues with EkoPoly. It was a (insert expletive) nightmare. I got there in the end, but it was nearly a year of my life. It was super fussy and prone to all sorts of weird problems.

Fast forward to now and both their EkoPoly Premium and the EkoCrylic are much, much easier to work with. I just painted my replacement wheel pants and it was fine. Paint is good once it is on.

Make sure you have a decent compressor, take your time, practice on things that aren't your airplane and try to control your environment for dust and trash in the air.

For all my grumpiness with them historically, if I need to paint something, I use their paint. These days, it works well and you can use it in the garage and not kill your self. the later versions seem to be a lot less prone to issues with humidity etc, at least compared to the original recipe (shudder). Once it is on the airplane, it doesn't want to come off, which is a good thing.

AP
#618

[billmaxmcw]

I used Stewart systems 2 years ago. I was a complete novice, but tried to follow their instructions to the letter. Got some runs and roughness. Did it in the Oregon winter, not good for cold and wet conditions. But it looks OK from a distance. I would skip the metallic finish; separates too quickly in the spray funnel.
Bill

[billmaxmcw]

I used Stewart systems 2 years ago. I was a complete novice, but tried to follow their instructions to the letter. Got some runs and roughness. Did it in the Oregon winter, not good for cold and wet conditions. But it looks OK from a distance. I would skip the metallic finish; separates too quickly in the spray funnel.
Bill