I am almost ready to paint my kf5. I have used steward system ecofill primer. I have done a few test panels using the roll and tip method of painting. This is common for painting boats. Has anyone painted their plane using this method? I had good luck using a foam brush and tipping with a brush. Don't use a lint free roller, they will not work. I am going to try foam roller next.
I tried rolling on a test-panel, but chose not to: I was using PolyFibre and the foam was beeing 'eaten'.
Furthermore it was impossible (for me, that is) to put the layers as thin as would be possible spraying: I defenitely wanted to keep the cotton structure afterwards.
So I learned how to spray, and Man, that is FUN!
Rolled the polyester parts, though, but that is a different paint.
I've been using roll and tip method with polyfiber products and feel the results are quite satisfactory. I believe the roll and tip is particularly good for the epoxy based materials, although I have not yet used it with epoxy paint or primer.
I went to it mostly due to the cold temperatures here in NY during the winter months. I felt that my heating costs were bad enough without blowing millions of BTU's out the door for ventilating the spray fumes. Another huge advantage is the reduced time and expense for masking tape and the other materials to prevent overspray. Now that the temperatures have got up to workable I'm planning to spray the final coat or 2 on my wings and then the paint process is pretty much done.
I've been buying cheap foam rollers from Lowe's and using cheap foam brushes with out problems. Ofcourse the rollers and brushes are one time throw away items. The big thing from my experience is correct thinning which my vary somewhat from spraying ratio. Also keep the work area small, by that I mean the area that has been rolled and ready for tip. You will find the process to be simple and repetitious which I've found to be somewhat relaxing. (or perhaps that's the paint fumes at work) If possible rotate the work area so it's always horizontal or near horizontal. Good luck.
Last edited by tommg13780; 05-02-2013 at 07:51 AM.
What "tiny gritty feel" ? My experience with Petit Easypoxy is that it is similar
to a spray based paint system in finish ... You can wet sand and buff out minor
blemishes, just like a spray based paint ... I would never spray a plane again
personally as I think you can get as good or better results working in a hangar
or garage with a roll-on system. IF I had access to a good spray booth, then
I would likely spray, BUT I work in less than great places. So spray is too much
of a frustration for me.
Awesome report. I always figured you could roll & tip those products, people
get a mindset that spraying is the only way to a good finish. I don't believe
it to be the case, and I think for a lot of builders spray is the best way to a
big mess. Either in their shop, or on their plane.
Roll and tip painting easypoxy paint
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