Paint Opinions Wanted!

I'm an experienced aircraft painter as well as a retired Auto Body-Man.
If I wasn't sure of what I was doing, but wanted the experience of
Painting my own Aircraft, I'd Go to my Dupont jobber ( Phone Book under
Paint, Automotive) and buy Imron polyurethane, rent a 'supplied Air
respirator', and talk the ears off (asking questions) of the guy behind
the counter that has the experience ( there's always at least one guy)
and KNOW that if it screws up, IE: gets a run, Gets Dirt in it, Gets a
bug in it, goes on too dry, Or you get your pants leg into the wet
paint ( Happens wayyy to often) that in the first 20 hours of Imrons
life, you can color-sand and Buff just about any Goof-up out to
(almost) perfection, Hell, you can even color sand and buff your entire
Airplane to a mirror finish if you Practice on something like a
refrigerator first, start sanding within the first 10 hours, and don't
mind spending 20 to 40 straight hours at hard labor, and your in good
enough shape, and had your Wheaties for Breakfast!
I'd also use Base Coat - Clear coat. While some might argue that the 2
part system (Base coat- Clear coat) is heavier than just simple solid
colors, because... Hey! your putting paint on twice Right? ... Well
my 35 years experience says thats just not true. The Base-coats tends
to cover much quicker and be a very 'thin' coat that you can
'manipulate' to get as close to perfection as possible. Because a good
quality (it should require a 'catalized reducer') Base Coat will dry
almost instantly, minor imperfections can be scuffed out and the area
can be spot re-coated instantly. This is true with Solid colors AND
metallics. Then when the Base coat is satisfactory, the Nature of the
Clear-Coat is that it takes very little to achieve a beautiful gloss.
It's just soo deep and pretty. With Imron I usually do two coats
reduced a little thinner ( Get a viscosity cup from your jobber and
test the paint right before you spray) than normal Automotive work to
try to keep the material build ( Weight) to a minimum. Clear Coats are
not necessary, But if you are thinking of using a metallic color, (and
there are some Very beautiful Metallic colors out there) and you lack
experience, then I recommend Base coat /clear coat system. Makes life
much easier to get the Metallic even in a base coat than trying to
spray single stage paint WET and then coming back over it to even out
the metallic.

Hope this helps.
Jay Markland
Dayton Ohio