Urethane Paint

On Sunday, November 15, 2015 at 5:24:23 PM UTC-5, wrote:
PU does seal that surface up better, mostly because it seals up the porosity in the gelcoat as well as being a much better UV barrier.
UH

UH...Curious as to the factory steps taken to apply a PU finish. Is everything the same (same gelcoat, same thickness, same sanding, same prep, et cetera sans waxing) then the wing is taken to a paint booth and sprayed like a car?

After spray painting, are the wings sanded or "rubbed" in any way?

What is the current "favorite" maintenance wax or polish for factory finished PU?

Thanks for your response.

I have not seen a factory production painted glider produced. Andrzej could better comment on this. I do know that the quality of prep before paint needs to be much better than when finishing in gel coat because the paint is much thinner.
I'm sure there is color sanding and polishing.
We protect our painted gliders with Nu Finish glaze which seems to hold up pretty well.
UH

About 10 years ago when I asked a UK agent/ repairer for one of the major German companies about this I was told that they used thin gelcoat with less white pigment added before spraying with PU on their new gliders. The less pigment the better the polymerisation during curing I was told and colour density wasn't important as it was covered with PU. The gelcoat still looked completely white to me where I could see it under chips and scratches but that's what I was told.