poly-tone or stits enamel

[crf538]

I have to do a small repair on my wingtip that I think was originally painted with poly-tone. I have some correct color poly-tone and also some stits enamel. I've primed it with epoxy primer. Should I use the enamel or the poly tone? I read about spraying the poly-tone onto still tacky epoxy primer and can use that method if it is best. Mainly i'm just worried about the difference in the enamel sticking out like a sore thumb one one wingtip. As always thanks for any advice!

[Benbell4140]

Maybe consider spraying a test piece with the two different paints to see which one will work better for your wingtip. That way you can see how it looks after the paint is cured.


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[Dave S]

Allen,

If you have both kinds of paint, test shots of each will tell you for sure.

The difference between polytone (which behaves like lacquer), and an enamel, is the enamel will flow out and produce a much shinier surface everything else being equal. Even with polytone, the temp, dilution solvent and distance of the gun from the surface will make a difference. Since daily environmental differences can change results, I still like to do a test patch when I am ready to shoot - often the sweet spot will be the right distance of the gun from the surface on a particular day. Maybe a fine point but mileage can vary.

My original polyfiber guru, now gone west, generally advised people to use what was there originally for the best match.

[109JB]

Had a very bad experience on my Sonerai with the Stits Enamel. Granted this was on the all metal wings of the sonerai, but required a strip and repaint due to spider web cracking of the enamel. They are now painted with urethane and no problem.

For another option, I had some cosmetic repair to do on my former Kitfox. I took a panel painted the same color to my local home improvement store and had them mix up some exterior gloss latex which I put on using roll and tip method. Worked great. As a bonus, the store had little sample sizer jars that cost about $3 for the mixed sample which was big enough for the small cosmetic repair I had to do. Also, as I said, my Sonerai wings are painted in urethane, but due to life stuff I never got the tips painted in urethane and didn't want to buy another quart just to do those, so I painted them with color matched latex rolled on with a foam roller. They have a little orange peel, but otherwise look good. You can see them in the picture below. By the way, the fuselage, except for the cowl is also painted with latex paint over the stained polytone that is underneath.

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