Paint for fiberglass details.

Share your ideas on finishing, painting, markings and making your plane look its best!

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Bender
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Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 9:40 am
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Paint for fiberglass details.

Post by Bender »

Paint for fiberglass details.
Ideally fiberglass details required special paint and special treatment before.
This is question for pilots with experience: please share you knowledge.
How do you do pain work on your fiberglass model?
Problem suggestion recommended materials from usual suppliers so on.
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boiler
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Location: Ohio
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Post by boiler »

I found a plastic primer that is clear in the auto supply store. It's supposed to improve adhesion of anypaint to a flexsible surface such as plastic car bumpers etc. I tried it on coroplast and packing tape and it seemed to work pretty well. I'm guessing that it would work well on fiberglass as well. Im now using an acrylic paint for scale since most of the spray paints that I've tried don't like fuel. I bought an air brush type sprayer to apply it. It must be thinned about 50% with water to go through the sprayer but seems to work well. After removing a ruined paint job from my #1 2548 p-40 by removing the tape, I painted the new tape and lost about 2 ounces of weight.
NAES
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Post by NAES »

The first thing you need to do is wipe it down with acetone to remove the wax and PVA mold release, then hit it with some 400 grit sandpaper to give the paint something to grab hold of. If it's been painted in the mold do a test section to see if it'll take the paint off. Those 2 things will do wonders for your finish alone.

As far as paint goes, nothing will beat PPG or equivalent automotive paints but they are a bit complicated for the average modeler to deal with. The next best thing I have used are the fuelproof spraycans. The colors are not all that great for scale looks so I often use model master spray paint or airbrush it on. Afterwards I hit it with a couple coats of clear fuelproof sealer which has held up well.

If you have compatibility issues such as shooting laquer over enamel (or is it the other way around?) you can fog a layer on that will pretty much just settle on the surface. Kinda like 3Ming a blue foam wing. Let the solvents evap. for about 5 minutes and fog another coat on. Once you have a good layer you can go heavier on the paint without worrying about wrinkling or fisheying.

I'll be shooting my TA this afternoon and will give some updates if anything becomes relevant.

NAES
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