Jul 02, 2020     going with a rolled application - (100 hours)       Category: C25 Paint

I took Buly's advice and painted what I could now. Here's why I painted way before it was called for in the plans...
1) the earlier in the process the lighter the fuselage, and a good paint job pretty much requires having the plane upside down for a while.
2) I don't want paint all over the cables and wires
3) Suddenly my family starts to see the airplane

I'll split this into several entries, and this is about process....

Why roll-on finishes. I ran through the list of recommended choices. The local airplane painter (Hawke) declined to quote on a disassembled airplane. I looked for but did not find a moonlighting auto painter who would come to my place. The fuse is too large to fit into the paint booths of the small local shops. A shop with a large booth wanted $8500 for me to be the airplane guinea pig. I went the DIY route and rolled everything. I am satisfied for now, but somewhere down the road I will again disassemble and use the fiberglass cutting compound, then get a professional shop to spray a clear coat.

I painted parts, not the plane. Parts was a _long_ process. The section "Sanding" describes the fill and shaping, ending in multiple coats of pure epoxy. I then worked through all the same parts, bringing each up through a minimum of two coats of primer, then a minimum of 3 coats of top coat. I have now done with the big push in finishing. There are still some parts to do: I need to build fairings, wheel pants, cowling and whatever is required by repairs after installing landing lights, gap seals around windows, et al. I'm not necessarily recommending this, but the slow and steady picking away at the task worked for me. See below and the attached photos.

Process. Big fill, guide coats, Bird epoxy wipe, sand to 180. 2-part Awlgrip primer, 2 coats. Wet sand at 360, clean with isopropyl, then degreaser, then tack cloth, then three insanely thin coats of 2-part Alexseal, wet sanding and cleaning between coats. Finish with a polish intended for fiberglass. Everything was done in the garage, where dust and pollen and bugs all affect the quality of the work. And it's Florida, so we also fight sweat running off the painter and into the paint.

Products.
- I had resisted filling with anything other than micro, but at the end used 2-part Bondo "glazing and spot filler". A phenomenal product that fills, smooths and sands really easily. Two 5 oz tubes were used, most of it sanded off and some still on hand.
- The group discussions arrived at an endorsement of Awlgrip as a reliable primer. Awlgrip is a 2-part primer with slow and fast reducers, and can be rolled or sprayed. Success rolling the Awlgrip made me look into whether I really needed to spray the top coat.
- Internet time + talking to local boat shops persuaded me _not_ to finish coat with JetGlo or an automotive. I went with an updated formulation of a marine paint (Alexseal 501) that has both converter and reducer intended for brushing and rolling. I've already found that it repairs well (I backed the gear leg into a bench and !@#$!). The product is highly resistant to UV and chemicals (up to and including acetone). Interlux Perfection is now available in a similar chemistry and from the same company as AwlGrip. I might look hard at that alternative; both are expensive but the Interlux is widely available at marine retailers.
- The final polish was Meguiar's #67. It smooths the orange peel on the surface but flattens the gloss and leaves swirl marks - I skipped using it on later parts. I came to think of it as a cutting compound intended for fiberglass.
- Miscellaneous products were a degreaser intended for fiberglass (Interlux 202), 6” mini mohair rollers from Redtree, and a fair number of disposable measuring cups and paint pans. The rollers were special order while the pans and filters came from Home Depot.


Learnings.
1) allow for the slow evaporation of cleaning products, which will otherwise give an orange peel.
2) if rolling, use only the Redtree brand mini mohair rollers.
3) A little goes a long way – 300 cc's of product (base + converter + reducer) was more than enough to fully cover the top of the fuse. A single gallon of base is considerably more than you need for the whole project.
4) Each new coat looks even more wonderful and raises the standard. When do you stop? A 3rd party has a useful voice.

Cost. My hands hurt from sanding and I'm using my wife's clear polish to save what's left of my fingernails. I probably gave up some IQ points while huffing paint around the mask seals. The total spend will come out to $800 or so – 3 quarts of Awlgrip + 1 gallon of Alexseal + the related converters and reducers + a lot of paper, mohair rollers and other supplies. Rolling gave me the convenience of working steadily at the project, solving problems and learning the process one part at a time.

Bottom line, if you can find a paint shop that will do the work by all means spend the money and have them do it. If you know how to spray, put on a respirator and go auto paint. But if both of those don't work, consider rolling a high quality marine paint. Now let me get back at it….

  Sep 12, 2020     Interior paint - (12 hours)       Category: C25 Paint

This work was done in July, right after finishing the exterior.... I have a fair amount of posting to do.

Looking at the possible mess of a bad zolatone paint, I went with the easily controlled rattle cans. Rustoleum makes a flecked paint in several shades - I went with "Pebble". It seems to be plastic flakes mixed with a high power solvent and a propellant. It sprays rough, then settles into a smooth paint with the look of a high end spatter treatment. Topped with a matte finish clear, it appears to be easily maintained, and certainly repairable if and as required. Note the miserable coverage of the flecked paint - 10 cans were required for the interior, and I've kept 2 cans in reserve. The top coat required only 2 cans. [followup: it does not wear well. I painted before running power and fuel lines, stages where one steps in and out of the back at least 100 times. Lots of bare spots. I'll clean, spray and again top coat with the clear enamel.]

I made the mistake of painting the cabin side of the firewall - I subsequently sanded the surface in order to get a good attachment for mounting electrical components. Lesson - don't paint where you want to glue things!

  Jul 02, 2020     Prime & top coat - (100 hours)       Category: C25 Paint

Here are pictures of my test panel and then post-paint airplane parts.

I used two test panels and did what I could to screw up the chemistry of the paint. I put the primer and top coat on with and without
- surface de-greasing
- sanding
- conversion time
- brushing vs rolling

Those experiments gave me an understanding of what it might do. There were no paint failures, but I still did my best to follow directions when applying paint to real parts.

Three of the pictures show a board bolted to the wing spar, I used this in rotating the plane; my engine hoist was raised as high as it would go and the nose supported on saw horses. The fuse was rotated on its longitudinal axis and set on wheeled sawhorses. Other builders have much higher shop ceilings or armies of manly friends. I dinked around with various approaches until I found this, which worked for me.

  Nov 09, 2011     Nobody Will See It... Except the Kids - (5.5 hours)       Category: C25 Paint

I took an extra hour while prepping the wing root hardware to paint the major surfaces (the control tubes and mounting brackets) in contrasting colors. That'll make the boys happy. I know nobody else will see it - but I know it's there, and it looks a lot cooler than I expected it to. You can really see how the parts move together to make the aileron function. Shown here are the FMN10 bearings floxed into the wing root, plus related hardware. I didn't finish the installation because the bearings were still curing - next time I'm out I'll trim those up a bit and bolt everything down for good.

  Jul 12, 2018     N number - (2 hours)       Category: C25 Paint

I went onto the FAA's N-number inquiry system, and was able to search for available N numbers. I reserved "N10PK", a lot easier to say than "N7608H"! The reservation is renewed annually at $10/year.

The rules on what size letters and placement... per the EAA, canards can display the letters on the vertical rudder. Put it on the outside surface, both sides. Since I believe the ultimate cruise speed will be less than 180 knots, I can use 3" numbers. SO, I'll seek the airworthiness certificate with 3" letters. If and as I know I'll fly through the DC ADIZ (I was finger printed and approved) I'll upsize to 12". If and as I fly outside the US I'll add temporary 12" letters (e.g., electrical tape). Walmart just happened to have 3" letters at $1.74 per packet... I'm not sure the letters fit the width requirement (for a 3" high, needs to be 2" wide, as below), but I'll give it a shot and see how it ends up. Using my Walmart lettering I get 5 characters of "N10PK" at 6" wide - picture. I should be at 10", so this won't work.

"45.25Location of marks on fixed-wing aircraft.
(a) The operator of a fixed-wing aircraft must display the required marks on either the vertical tail surfaces or the sides of the fuselage, except as provided in �f).
(b) The marks required by paragraph (a) of this section must be displayed as follows:
(1) If displayed on the vertical tail surfaces, horizontally on both surfaces, horizontally on both surfaces of a single vertical tail or on the outer surfaces of a multivertical tail. However, on aircraft on which marks at least 3 inches high may be displayed in accordance with �b)(1), the marks may be displayed vertically on the vertical tail surfaces. (2) If displayed on the fuselage surfaces, horizontally on both sides of the fuselage between the trailing edge of the wing and the leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer. However, if engine pods or other appurtenances are located in this area and are an integral part of the fuselage side surfaces, the operator may place the marks on those pods or appurtenances.

45.29 Size of marks. .... (iii) Marks at least 3 inches high may be displayed on an aircraft for which the FAA has issued an experimental certificate under � (d), � (g), or � (i) of this chapter to operate as an exhibition aircraft, an amateur-built aircraft, or a light-sport aircraft when the maximum cruising speed of the aircraft does not exceed 180 knots CAS; ....

(c) Width. Characters must be two-thirds as wide as they are high, except the number “1”, which must be one-sixth as wide as it is high, and the letters “M” and “W” which may be as wide as they are high. [A 3" letter is to be 2" wide, with the "1" at 0.5" wide.]
(d) Thickness. Characters must be formed by solid lines one-sixth as thick as the character is high. [Line weight of 0.5".]
(e) Spacing. The space between each character may not be less than one-fourth of the character width. [Character spacing of 0.5".]
(f) If either one of the surfaces authorized for displaying required marks under �is large enough for display of marks meeting the size requirements of this section and the other is not, full size marks must be placed on the larger surface. If neither surface is large enough for full-size marks, marks as large as practicable must be displayed on the larger of the two surfaces. If no surface authorized to be marked by �is large enough for full-size marks, marks as large as practicable must be placed on the largest of the authorized surfaces. However, powered parachutes and weight-shift-control aircraft must display marks at least 3 inches high.
(g) Uniformity. The marks required by this part for fixed-wing aircraft must have the same height, width, thickness, and spacing on both sides of the aircraft.
(h) After March 7, 1988, each operator of an aircraft penetrating an ADIZ or DEWIZ must display on that aircraft temporary or permanent nationality and registration marks at least 12 inches high.

  Jul 02, 2020     sample - inside of canopy - (100 hours)       Category: C25 Paint

The first picture shows the canopy top after multiple coats of epoxy wipe. It no longer looks chalky and the surface is smooth with some brushmarks. After this the canopy exterior was painted with 2 primer coats, then 3 finish coats. The last picture shows the canopy installed.

Turning the canopy over, I'll use the inside to illustrate the steps of 2 primer coats, then 3 finish coats.
- clean it! This part has been in at least 3 dusty shops for about a decade. SImple Green, isopropyl alcohol and lots of paper towels.
- light sanding at 240 or 320. This is where I can feel the surface and start to know all the rough spots.
- micro or glazing compound - the micro is for larger areas and deeper surface flaws. Another round of light sanding
- wet sand at 320, working steadily around the perimeter 2x
- clean, alcohol wipe and tape off protected surfaces
- Awlgrip primer mixed and applied as per directions
- wet sand 320
- inspect for flaws and repair as indicated (thus the parts with brown patches of glazing compound)
- clean, degrease (a wipe on, wipe off nasty chemical), tack cloth
- Awlgrip priimer
- sand, clean, degrease as above, then inspect and repair
- Alexseal 501 topcoat, mixed and applied as per directions, adding a 15 minute conversion period _not_ called for in the directions
- sand, clean, degrease as above, , then inspect and repair
- Alexseal 501 topcoat
- sand, clean, degrease as above
- Alexseal 501 topcoat

Yes, I am happy to put that part aside!

  Jan 29, 2021     Looking towards final paint - (2 hours)       Category: C25 Paint

I've done a lot of finishing and paint work - it made sense to do it while I have a clean airplane and fresh surfaces. But I'm not done with painting!

- After I build the cowl I pull out my paint equipment and address hangar rash, fairings, et al. Right now I am marking those areas with a good masking tape.
- After Phase 1 I will head back to the paint booth for a final sanding and clear coat, then accents and N-numbers. The paint manufacturer has advised that I can use the clear they recommend for all their color paints - it will do fine over the white. I like the idea of vinyl accents, and that fits nicely with the gloss over white. And yes, I have to do a control balance test, so controls have to come off.

Accents. As to what kind of accents to apply, right now I'm looking at pictures. Watching a Scheme Designers presentation, they have the diea of doing a full scale mock up on the airplane before going final. Make nice sharp lines with tape, make sure you like the look, then go final. Yes, vinyl is more flexible than paint, but this is still a good idea.

  Dec 31, 2019     Dump & Run , Cory Bird pt 2 - (88 hours) Category: C25 Paint

See prior entry for process description. After the 2nd coat of an epoxy wipe (West Systems) I noticed a lot of super small fish eyes coming through. The reason appears to be denatured alcohol. Per Rachael Geerts | Composite Materials Engineer Gougeon Brothers, Inc:

"Denatured alcohol can cause fish eyes to appear in the epoxy which is why we suggest using isopropyl alcohol instead. Also you can use TSP but you should let the surface sit overnight to make sure it has all evaporated off before applying the epoxy if you want to use it. Instead of TSP you can sand the surface and wipe with acetone or isopropyl alcohol or if the surface underneath is also epoxy you can wash with water and a scotch-brite pad.

Luckily, Amazon's aviation department has isopropyl - 12 pint bottles for $25 (insert joke about the price of other alcohols): https://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Falls-Isopropyl-Antiseptic-Technical/dp/B0793KYR9W

This entry trues up the hours required for the finishing work pre-primer.

Gear Leg cover 10 hours
Canard 15 hours
Right wing & rudder 35 hours
Left Wing & Rudder 30 hours
Fuselage bottom 20 hours
Fuselage top 40 hours
Control surfaces 20 hours
Canopy in & out 10 hours
Total PK time 180 hours
Chad recorded time 8 hours
Less prior entry -100 hours
This entry 88 hours

  Nov 30, 2019     Dump & Run, Corey Bird pt 1 - (100 hours)       Category: C25 Paint

Original builder Entries....
_________________________________________
These steps were completed on various days. I owe a lot to John here. He's not only quite good at working with micro, he's also been doing most of (well, nearly all of) the sanding, which is helping me out a lot. Sanding is the hardest part of this build for me because I've got a form of arthritis in my wrists and hands. Hopefully I can find some way to make it up to him.

2011-09-11 (1.50 hours):
Sanding...
I think I'm going to have a lot of posts with this title. I did a bit of sanding just to round out the day. The top of the wing had micro on it (used up from a previous job - who knows what, it was 2+ years ago) and I spent a bit over an hour fairing it out. I took it down in the recommended angled pattern until glass was just peeking through in areas. More later. [This ends Chad Robinson's write up on sanding and finishing. PK from here forward.]
__________________________________________
Finishing is one of the most time consuming parts of composite construction. Chad got the project's big pieces all done, the work of profiling the airplane surfaces. He had the engine hung, and then he sold the project to Craig. Craig pretty quickly figured out that his back wasn't going to be happy finishing off the sanding work - lots of repetitive motions and dust. I took over in 2018, and it's been 80% of the work of my first two years with this project. The software for the builder's log doesn't allow for time entries over 100 hours, so I'll have some repeat entries to get an accurate number.

The “technique” here is joking referred to as “dump and run”, followed by the “cory bird” pre-paint pinhole chase.
- The dump and run is a way of finding and filling low spots. Spray or dust a guide coat in a strongly contrasting color across a large surface (e.g., top of wing). A layer of micro (pure epoxy + glass balloons until the consistency of peanut butter) is then applied, then long board sanding until one or more spots are down to the guide coat. Don't cut the surface of the glass!
- The Cory Bird technique is about sealing the surface and avoiding pinholes in the final coat. Typically the first layers of primer are plagued with pinholes, caused by dust contamination from the underlying micro and/or fiberglass. Cory Bird is a Scaled Composites engineer whose plane “Symmetry” was celebrated as having an extraordinary finish without using heavy multiple clear coats. The Cory Bird solution is to give the (final sanded) surface 2-3 very thin layers of pure epoxy, applying and then promptly wiping off the product.

Notes on sanding tools. Below is a picture of the collection as it exists today, with notes from left to right.

1. Flooring blocks. I found some flawed 8' boards at Habitat Restore, and cut out shorter lengths. A local cabinet shop used a planer and table saw and I received good flat boards, used in items to the right. The species is Brazilian Cherry; fads in flooring lead to super hard woods coming into the US.
2. Sandpaper on PVC pipe and on closet dowel. I used these for fairings. My thanks to JD Newman for sharing his insights about the radius to be used – I was making them too small.
3. Aluminum extrusion. In Florida, pool cages are both strong (40+ mile winds, no problem) and inexpensive. Part of the reason is low cost aluminum extrusion like these two pieces, in a 2' and 4' length. They are super flat and I use them for 240 grit paper. I was startled at the big difference they made – it's a big step up. Don't live in Florida? Buy an 8' length from Home Depot, delivered free to your local store. Thanks to Buly Aliev for pointing me to these.
4. My Brazilian Cherry sanding boards, in grits of 240-120-80-36, with short and long lengths. My personal preference is for door knob handles, secured with epoxy+micro or epoxy+flox. I get door knobs at 2/$1, again at Habitat's Restore.
5. HFT sanding pad. At 17” long and a rubber pad, this has proven to be more useful than I ever expected. The pad has just enough flex for slight curves, and the super light weight helps. I have this set up at 120 grit, and there is another I will set at 240 grit for all the curves of the fuselage.
6. HFT rasp. The group archive told me about using the rasp on green stage micro, and that worked well. But the micro is abrasive and destroys these things – this is my 3rd one. HFT does not sell replacement rasp screens, so brace yourself for having to throw the whole thing away (or if you feel you did not get your money's worth, HFT _will_ let you exchange it for a new one).
7. HFT roll sandpaper. Yes, it clogs fast, but that's reason for me to take a break and brush out the clogs. Both sandpaper and brushes are super cheap – see https://www.harborfreight.com/2-34-in-x-25-ft-120-grit-sandpaper-roll-63333.html and https://www.harborfreight.com/6-Pc-Detail-Brush-Set-69526.html
8. Loose sandpaper. We all have it – my objective is to burn through the collection from 20+ years of buying too much, or buying an assortment when all I wanted was one grade.
9. Respirator. I had one I didn't like, then this one – 3M's M7502 with their P100 filter. You buy the mask and filter separately, and I paid $27 from Amazon.
10. Not shown are my elbow-savers. Between past sports and work, it's smart for me to wear an elbow brace – they are $5 each on ebay.
11. There is some automation under the table – a quarter sheet sander and an 18” belt sander. The first part of the epoxy wipe method is to put on a thick coating of micro. A light pass with the electric tools saves 30 minutes of hand sanding. That said, the 36 grit is almost every bit as fast – I have done it both ways and ended up preferring 36 grit board. Those tools stay under the table, unused.

What I've done wrong…
• Moving up in grade too soon – it leads to too much time with too high a grade sanding paper. The efficient path is to get close, then move up in grades to remove the course grade sanding scratches.
• When using sandpaper-wrapped tubes, focusing on the center of the filet rather than edges. Trying to create a nice smooth curve, I ended up cutting into the flat I wanted to preserve.
• Trying to do epoxy wipe with a plastic tool. The process worked much better after I bought the rubber squeegee (https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cmpages/comptoolrubbersqueegee.php?clickkey=254482) .
_______________________________________________

Chad's work was half of dump and run with no epoxy wipe layers. Craig left no details of his finishing work. I found that there were significant high and low spots over the airplane, so I repeated the dump and run and followed it with Cory Bird.

The work was done on a disassembled airplane, and I got faster and better as I practiced. Time estimates are as follows:
Gear Leg 10 hours
Canard 15 hours
Right wing & rudder 35 hours
Left Wing & Rudder 30 hours
Fuselage bottom 20 hours
Fuselage top 40 hours
Control surfaces 20 hours
Canopy in & out 10 hours

It is the !@#$! nature of this work that it has lots of small tasks with large blocks of down time in between. If I had the 4 arms of Vishnu I'd be able to work multiple pieces at one time. As it is, there is a slow and steady process of applying product and sanding it off, perfected on early parts then repeated. Don't sand the next part while the epoxy is hardening on the prior one - you end up with sanding dust in the curing epoxy. Don't work the epoxy past it's runny liquid stage. Don't use a fast set pure epoxy on a hot day. Wear the mask! These all sound obvious, but I tried to bend each rule and regretted it.

  Sep 13, 2018     Sanding overview - underview (!) - (20 hours)       Category: C25 Paint

Surface Prep - Lower Fuse
I cleaned the project (paper towels, rubbing alcohol and sore elbows), then turned it upside down and did my first real work - wing root fillets and mutiple passes of filler and epoxy wipe. I like the new look a lot better than the old one! First the old surface - about as smooth as the scratch coat on a rough texture stucco ceiling.

The look now, smooth, pinholes filled with epoxy wipe and with good transitions at the wing-fuselage intersection.

Along the way I experimented with lots of approaches to sanding. So far, the most successful has been long boards made of Brazilian cherry flooring pieces. Brazilian cherry is incredibly hard, but the 10' pieces I got from a resale shop were rejects and twisted in 4 dimensions. The solution was to cut out the best sections with the table saw and then use a friend's planer. The handles are door knobs and curtain pole ends, secured with thin micro. For fillets, I experimented until I came up with 3.5" PVC: a 4' section produced the three circular sanding boards shown. HFT spooled sandpaper comes on a heavy cloth backing in a 2.5" width. The grits I used most are 36, 80 (!) and 120. I also have a 240 board that I can use when I want to be super careful.

There are additional relevant entries under "painting".

  Jul 02, 2020     parts after epoxy wipe - (100 hours)       Category: C25 Paint

Every time I touched a part I found some surface flaw. The earlier I found the flaw, the better the repair - a quick batch of micro, a little dab of glazing putty, sanded flat and voila, no pit or there is a better transition between surfaces. I developed a rule of making the fix to primer and even the first layer of top coat. But once I was in the 2nd layer of top coat that flaw is something I have to live with. So, I don't have a perfect part anywhere on the airplane. But I do have surfaces that are more than airworthy, and if the look isn't quite right I ask that you step back to 4 feet; it looks great from there.

I sequenced the parts so that the last bit of epoxy wipe was the underside of the fuse. I worked all surfaces with gravity as my friend. That meant turning the fuse upside down to do the underside epoxy. I then moved over to applying prime and top coats, and the first surface I painted was the underside of the fuse, a less-viewed surface where I could learn how to work with this paint.

Below are pictures showing parts post epoxy wipe. They get a weird gloss but still need a healthy session of sanding before they get a prime coat.