Jetpainter
640cc Uber Pimp
It's vinyl. It comes in several sizes, but here is one.
Glassing and Painting techniques
- Thread starter Terryscustom
- Start date
Jetpainter
640cc Uber Pimp
I'm to the point on my scratch built Golden Age racer project that I needed to do a little glassing so I thought I would post it here. I needed to glass the hatch so I can finish the cockpit.
I started by filling any imperfections in the wood with Lightweight joint compound. I really like this stuff. It fills well drys reasonably fast, and is very easy to smear. I just use my fingers, nothing fancy. After it dried I sanded it smooth with 120 then went over everything with 220.
After vacuuming the surface clean and going over it with soft paint brush I laid my .5oz glass cloth out over it and roughly trimmed it to shape. I then used my soft brush to smooth out the cloth. I mixed up some Z-Poxy Finishing Resin (Straight 1 to 1 mix no thinning) in a paper cup and poured out a bead across the top of the hatch. Using a very thin, very flexible piece of ply that I have sanded very smooth I started pulling the resin down the sides. I squeegeed it out so there were no dry spots, but also no thick puddled spots. I trimmed the cloth at the bottom as I went to make sure the overhang was not hitting the table and pulling the cloth of the hatch. I continued this until I had a nice light even coat over the whole hatch.
One tip, I like to mix small amounts of the resin as I work. If you mix a lot it starts to thicken as you working and it makes it harder to get an even coat and it pulls at the cloth a bit. It really doesn't take all that much resin.
I had intended to weight the hatch before I started and forgot. Out of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most. Tonight I will lightly sand it and put on a second coat. I'll try and remember to weigh it before hand to see how much weight the second coat adds. In all my testing the second coat added very little weight.
I started by filling any imperfections in the wood with Lightweight joint compound. I really like this stuff. It fills well drys reasonably fast, and is very easy to smear. I just use my fingers, nothing fancy. After it dried I sanded it smooth with 120 then went over everything with 220.
After vacuuming the surface clean and going over it with soft paint brush I laid my .5oz glass cloth out over it and roughly trimmed it to shape. I then used my soft brush to smooth out the cloth. I mixed up some Z-Poxy Finishing Resin (Straight 1 to 1 mix no thinning) in a paper cup and poured out a bead across the top of the hatch. Using a very thin, very flexible piece of ply that I have sanded very smooth I started pulling the resin down the sides. I squeegeed it out so there were no dry spots, but also no thick puddled spots. I trimmed the cloth at the bottom as I went to make sure the overhang was not hitting the table and pulling the cloth of the hatch. I continued this until I had a nice light even coat over the whole hatch.
One tip, I like to mix small amounts of the resin as I work. If you mix a lot it starts to thicken as you working and it makes it harder to get an even coat and it pulls at the cloth a bit. It really doesn't take all that much resin.
I had intended to weight the hatch before I started and forgot. Out of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most. Tonight I will lightly sand it and put on a second coat. I'll try and remember to weigh it before hand to see how much weight the second coat adds. In all my testing the second coat added very little weight.
Snoopy1
640cc Uber Pimp
You took your time planking that it looks good. I do exactly the same as you do the only thing I have difficulty with 1/2 oz cloth always use 3/4 oz cloth but the rest do the same. Also use west system both do the same and will use either. Now I belive you are in the paint business very interested you you are going to,paint it. The type of primer to link the epoxy ti the paint and the type of paint.
Jlc
70cc twin V2
Thanks for taking the time to take pictures of the process.
Jetpainter
640cc Uber Pimp
Planking is a time consuming process but if you going to do a really curvy surface with wood it works awesome.
It will be awhile, but I will be showing all my painting steps in this thread. The primer will be Nason 421-19. The paint will be DuPont Chromabase with Nason 496 clear. The wings, elevators and rudder, will get Solartex covering with the same paint system.
Terryscustom
640cc Uber Pimp
I would LOVE to do an all sheeted, glassed and painted airframe at some point. I'm excited to see Jetpainter's results.
Jetpainter
640cc Uber Pimp
At the glacial speed I work at it may be awhile.
I have been awfully tempted to drag the Air Wild composite Edge up to the shop and get rid of the hideous paint scheme that's on it. Every time I walk past it I want to blow chunks. It won't get anything wild, just something simple that won't go out of style before I get it finished.
ericrs
70cc twin V2
I would like to know the difference in weight between an ultracote covered plane and a glassed and painted one. If it wouldn't be that much different I would go with glass and paint. Specifically a plane like Terry's viper kit, that is already mostly all sheeted. No more covering to mess with.
Jetpainter
640cc Uber Pimp
Tonight I started by trimming the overhanging fiberglass with an X-acto. I then sanded the first coat of resin with some 120 grit, being careful not to sand into the glass to much and knocking off most of the sheen. I did remember to weigh it this time and it weighed in at 11.63 ounces. Next I mixed up about a 1/4 ounce of resin and squeegeed it on with my 1/64 piece of plywood. Being very careful to remove all the excess. When I finished, I weighed the still wet hatch. 11.88 ounces. That is why I'm a big fan of the second coat of resin. It fills in the weave and the grain and weighs nearly nothing. Tomorrow night I'll sand it and weigh it again.
