advise on re-painting an all-wooden airplane.

[Ted]

I own an all-wood homebuilt that needs a re-paint job. It's mostly
covered in plywood, but some small areas are fabric only. Fabric
covers all the wood also. The only way I can think of to prepare it
for re-painting is to sand the entire airplane down by hand, and spray
on a new coat of paint. I've talked to a few people that know that
type of construction, one was a mechanic at an approved Belanca repair
station. He said pulling the old fabric off the plywood is out of the
question, as it would probably splinter the plywood under it, taking
some of it with the fabric. I just wonder how deep to sand, as would
it be advisable to sand through all the old paint and primer, tyring
to get down to the fabric, or to just rough up the existing paint and
spray over it? Either way, I'm in for a lot of work. The plane has
1,700 hours on it, and the existing paint is too far gone to
rejuvinate, so a new coat is needed. Plus, the paint scheme needs
changing. If anyone out there has done this type of job, I'd like to
hear how it went.

[Orval Fairbairn]

In article >,
Ted > wrote:

> I own an all-wood homebuilt that needs a re-paint job. It's mostly
> covered in plywood, but some small areas are fabric only. Fabric
> covers all the wood also. The only way I can think of to prepare it
> for re-painting is to sand the entire airplane down by hand, and spray
> on a new coat of paint. I've talked to a few people that know that
> type of construction, one was a mechanic at an approved Belanca repair
> station. He said pulling the old fabric off the plywood is out of the
> question, as it would probably splinter the plywood under it, taking
> some of it with the fabric. I just wonder how deep to sand, as would
> it be advisable to sand through all the old paint and primer, tyring
> to get down to the fabric, or to just rough up the existing paint and
> spray over it? Either way, I'm in for a lot of work. The plane has
> 1,700 hours on it, and the existing paint is too far gone to
> rejuvinate, so a new coat is needed. Plus, the paint scheme needs
> changing. If anyone out there has done this type of job, I'd like to
> hear how it went.

What is the original finish? Dope? Enamel? Polyurethane?

Also, what is the fabric? Cotton? Linen? Glass? Dacron?

Is there a silver (or equivalent) UV undercoating?

I doubt that removal of the fabric from the wood would splinter it, as
most fabric is attached to wood by dope. The fabric will just peel off.

--
Remve "_" from email to reply to me personally.

[Ted]

On Fri, 02 Dec 2005 18:27:58 GMT, Orval Fairbairn
> wrote:

>In article >,
> Ted > wrote:

>
>What is the original finish? Dope? Enamel? Polyurethane?
>
>Also, what is the fabric? Cotton? Linen? Glass? Dacron?
>
>Is there a silver (or equivalent) UV undercoating?
>
>I doubt that removal of the fabric from the wood would splinter it, as
>most fabric is attached to wood by dope. The fabric will just peel off.

The original finish is Emron, Piper Daytona white. And the fabric is
Polyfiber. I'm not sure about the undercoating, as I haven't sanded it
down into it yet. But I'm sure the builder used the Stits process,
(now Polyfiber) I would prefer to pull the fabric off, but then again,
that sure seems like an enormous job to repaint. Something to consider
when building a wood airplane. When that day comes when the paint is
worn out, a re-paint is definitely more work than stripping and
re-painting a metal plane. But I've done that job too (to a Swift) and
it's no fun either.

[Orval Fairbairn]

In article >,
Ted > wrote:

> On Fri, 02 Dec 2005 18:27:58 GMT, Orval Fairbairn
> > wrote:
>
> >In article >,
> > Ted > wrote:
>
> >
> >What is the original finish? Dope? Enamel? Polyurethane?
> >
> >Also, what is the fabric? Cotton? Linen? Glass? Dacron?
> >
> >Is there a silver (or equivalent) UV undercoating?
> >
> >I doubt that removal of the fabric from the wood would splinter it, as
> >most fabric is attached to wood by dope. The fabric will just peel off.
>
> The original finish is Emron, Piper Daytona white. And the fabric is
> Polyfiber. I'm not sure about the undercoating, as I haven't sanded it
> down into it yet. But I'm sure the builder used the Stits process,
> (now Polyfiber) I would prefer to pull the fabric off, but then again,
> that sure seems like an enormous job to repaint. Something to consider
> when building a wood airplane. When that day comes when the paint is
> worn out, a re-paint is definitely more work than stripping and
> re-painting a metal plane. But I've done that job too (to a Swift) and
> it's no fun either.

OK -- You can wet sand the Imron (not Emron) down to roughen the surface
and take out any poor spots. White is a great base coat, as some colors
(especially reds) tend to show through.

Now -- a second thought: Have you tried to polish the old paint? All of
the polyurethanes (Imron is one) are extremely durable, but will oxidize
somewhat over time. If you use a power buffer (I use a Makita) and visit
your local automotive paint store, you will find some high-quality
finishing compounds (3M Perfect-It is a good one). These work very well
at restoring old paint, but are messy, as you need a fair amount of
water in the process. The buffer will sling the goop around, so masking
is a good idea.

--
Remve "_" from email to reply to me personally.

[[email protected]]

If you sand through the finish, you can probably soften the
underlying stuff with MEK and it will strip off the wood OK. I would
suppose that it's Poly-Brush and Poly-Spray, and MEK should attack
them.

Dan

[Ted]

>OK -- You can wet sand the Imron (not Emron) down to roughen the surface
>and take out any poor spots. White is a great base coat, as some colors
>(especially reds) tend to show through.
>
>Now -- a second thought: Have you tried to polish the old paint? All of
>the polyurethanes (Imron is one) are extremely durable, but will oxidize
>somewhat over time. If you use a power buffer (I use a Makita) and visit
>your local automotive paint store, you will find some high-quality
>finishing compounds (3M Perfect-It is a good one). These work very well
>at restoring old paint, but are messy, as you need a fair amount of
>water in the process. The buffer will sling the goop around, so masking
>is a good idea.


The idea of buffing it out had crossed my mind, but the paint scheme
is un-attractive and needs to be totally changed. Not uncommon on
homebuilts. I think a lot of homebuilts end up with ugly paint schemes
due to the fact the painting is done at the end of the project, and
some builders just want to get it painted and go fly. So shortcuts and
lack of imagination are used.