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Cobra Cosmetics II: How to Refinish?



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 19th 06, 01:51 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
[email protected]
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Posts: 48
Default Cobra Cosmetics II: How to Refinish?

An amazing (to me) amount of interest in refreshing faded vinyl trim
strips indicates pilots are serious about making their [gliders'] rides
look good. But what about the trailer itself? My 14-year-old glass-top
Cobra has a few cracks, nicks, etc., that will require work this
winter. Matching the existing gel coat looks tough. And I'd rather save
my refinishing money for the glider itself some day. So what's been the
experience repairing/refinishing/painting German glass-top trailers?

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"

  #2  
Old July 19th 06, 02:05 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Ray Lovinggood
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Posts: 137
Default Cobra Cosmetics II: How to Refinish?

Chip,

One of our club members painted his fiberglass topped
Cobra. I'll have to ask him what type of paint he
used, but I do remember him telling me that he used
a roller.

It doesn't look too bad!

No, it's not a 'sprayed on' look, but for the money,
it's not bad.

And if you like a 'Pimp My Ride' trailer, ol' H2O has
a good start. I believe he's got 17' 5-spoke alu
alloy wheels with what looks like 40 series rim protectors
(tires) on his Cobra.

Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA

At 12:54 19 July 2006, wrote:
An amazing (to me) amount of interest in refreshing
faded vinyl trim
strips indicates pilots are serious about making their
[gliders'] rides
look good. But what about the trailer itself? My 14-year-old
glass-top
Cobra has a few cracks, nicks, etc., that will require
work this
winter. Matching the existing gel coat looks tough.
And I'd rather save
my refinishing money for the glider itself some day.
So what's been the
experience repairing/refinishing/painting German glass-top
trailers?

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 'JB'





  #3  
Old July 19th 06, 03:20 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Jeremy Zawodny
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Posts: 85
Default Cobra Cosmetics II: How to Refinish?

Ray Lovinggood wrote:

And if you like a 'Pimp My Ride' trailer, ol' H2O has
a good start. I believe he's got 17' 5-spoke alu
alloy wheels with what looks like 40 series rim protectors
(tires) on his Cobra.


Heh. I saw H2O's rims at Minden. They apparently helped with his sway
problem *and* make him look cool. :-)

Jeremy
  #4  
Old July 19th 06, 04:58 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Greg Arnold
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Posts: 251
Default Cobra Cosmetics II: How to Refinish?

Jeremy Zawodny wrote:
Ray Lovinggood wrote:

And if you like a 'Pimp My Ride' trailer, ol' H2O has
a good start. I believe he's got 17' 5-spoke alu
alloy wheels with what looks like 40 series rim protectors
(tires) on his Cobra.


Heh. I saw H2O's rims at Minden. They apparently helped with his sway
problem *and* make him look cool. :-)

Jeremy


But probably make a rough ride even rougher for the glider inside the
trailer.
  #5  
Old July 19th 06, 05:45 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Simon Waddell
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Posts: 7
Default Cobra Cosmetics II: How to Refinish?

My son and I repainted my old Komet trailer this winter with two-part
polyurethane paint. Two days to rub down the old paint and repair the
blemishes and two days to repaint - two hours actually, the rest of the time
was for masking, degreasing, detailing etc etc.

Cost me about $400 for the paint and a joy ride for the guy who sprayed it;
my son lives with me so the labour was free.

Gel coat would have been cheaper but paint was easier.

My understanding is you *have* to use gel or poly in order to protect the
underlying fiberglass from UV - cheap household paint insn't sufficient.

I also got templates for comp numbers on the fin and the glider type on the
side, painted in blue trim to match the glider - beats 17" alloy rims every
time

The toughest part was finding a heated workshop big enough to do the job
in - *must* be heated to 20-25 deg C for the paint to cure properly.

wrote in message
oups.com...
An amazing (to me) amount of interest in refreshing faded vinyl trim
strips indicates pilots are serious about making their [gliders'] rides
look good. But what about the trailer itself? My 14-year-old glass-top
Cobra has a few cracks, nicks, etc., that will require work this
winter. Matching the existing gel coat looks tough. And I'd rather save
my refinishing money for the glider itself some day. So what's been the
experience repairing/refinishing/painting German glass-top trailers?

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"



  #7  
Old July 19th 06, 10:24 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Eric Greenwell[_1_]
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Posts: 65
Default Cobra Cosmetics II: How to Refinish?

Greg Arnold wrote:
Jeremy Zawodny wrote:
Ray Lovinggood wrote:

And if you like a 'Pimp My Ride' trailer, ol' H2O has
a good start. I believe he's got 17' 5-spoke alu
alloy wheels with what looks like 40 series rim protectors
(tires) on his Cobra.


Heh. I saw H2O's rims at Minden. They apparently helped with his
sway problem *and* make him look cool. :-)

Jeremy


But probably make a rough ride even rougher for the glider inside the
trailer.


I'm curious about the relative resistance to road hazard damage provided
by a 75 series trailer-rated tire (typical on a glider trailer) and a 40
series tire that isn't trailer rated. It's hard for me to avoid every
rock, road debris, pot hole, and curb with my trailer.

--
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA

www.motorglider.org - Download "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane
Operation"
  #8  
Old July 19th 06, 10:42 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Craig
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Posts: 6
Default Cobra Cosmetics II: How to Refinish?


I refinished a glass Pfeiffer trailer for a cirrus about 25 years ago
with Imron. The trailer is still around and sits out in the sun at
Ephrata every summer. The paint has done very well and still looks
great. The Pfeiffer trailers did not have a gel coat finish so cracks
from underlying gel coat were not a problem.

Most polyurethanes use very nasty isocyantes for curing so you should
have professional spray equipment with outside air supply etc. Best
way around this is to do all the prep and then arrange with a local
autobody shop to do the actual spray work. They have all the
facilities and do it on a daily basis.

Prep the gelcoat with 220 grit wet to give the polyurethane some tooth
to grab onto. After sanding wash down with clean water (no soap or
detergents) and completely dry everything taking care to blow water out
of any crevices.

If there are existing cracks or crazing in the gel coat they will
eventually work their way up through the polyurethane. Only way I know
around this is to completely strip the gelcoat which seems like way
more trouble than it is worth for a trailer.

Refinishing with gelcoat in my opinion would just compound the existing
problems. Polyurethanes have much better UV resistance and are not as
brittle. It is also easier to find a body shop to apply them. Done
correctly the polyurethane won't need any post spray work (sanding,
buffing etc.) at all and you'll be set for years to come.

Best of luck

Craig Funston

  #9  
Old July 20th 06, 12:51 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Birdbones
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Posts: 4
Default Cobra Cosmetics II: How to Refinish?

I have an old Eiri Avion fiberglass trailer. Two years ago I asked an
autobody paint specialist friend how to deal with the deteriorating
gel coat. He said " Why don't you just paint it with house paint". I
took his advice and applied it with a roller and paint brush after a
good scrubbing. Two tone with a third color mimicing graphics on my
ship. So far it is holding up well. Cost: less than $40 in materials.
I live high up in Colorado and a house paint that does not deal with UV
would have little value. Should you be in Moriarty, take a look of some
of the old trailers on the tarmac with enjoyable graphic paint jobs. It
gave me the sensation that a trailer can be a fun billboard. Many of
these were done quite awhile ago and seem to be holding their colors.

Randy "Crash" Cone
..
wrote:
An amazing (to me) amount of interest in refreshing faded vinyl trim
strips indicates pilots are serious about making their [gliders'] rides
look good. But what about the trailer itself? My 14-year-old glass-top
Cobra has a few cracks, nicks, etc., that will require work this
winter. Matching the existing gel coat looks tough. And I'd rather save
my refinishing money for the glider itself some day. So what's been the
experience repairing/refinishing/painting German glass-top trailers?

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"


  #10  
Old July 20th 06, 11:25 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Chris Reed
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Posts: 3
Default Cobra Cosmetics II: How to Refinish?

A friend of mine has just repainted his trailer with masonry paint
(designed for the plastered/rendered exterior walls of houses). This
gives a matt finish, but it looks pretty good.

His reasoning is that the paint has to stick to the house for 10 years
or so, so it should stick to a trailer equally well!

Will try to remember to report in 10 years time how it's holding up.

Birdbones wrote:
I have an old Eiri Avion fiberglass trailer. Two years ago I asked an
autobody paint specialist friend how to deal with the deteriorating
gel coat. He said " Why don't you just paint it with house paint". I
took his advice and applied it with a roller and paint brush after a
good scrubbing. Two tone with a third color mimicing graphics on my
ship. So far it is holding up well. Cost: less than $40 in materials.
I live high up in Colorado and a house paint that does not deal with UV
would have little value. Should you be in Moriarty, take a look of some
of the old trailers on the tarmac with enjoyable graphic paint jobs. It
gave me the sensation that a trailer can be a fun billboard. Many of
these were done quite awhile ago and seem to be holding their colors.

Randy "Crash" Cone
.
wrote:

An amazing (to me) amount of interest in refreshing faded vinyl trim
strips indicates pilots are serious about making their [gliders'] rides
look good. But what about the trailer itself? My 14-year-old glass-top
Cobra has a few cracks, nicks, etc., that will require work this
winter. Matching the existing gel coat looks tough. And I'd rather save
my refinishing money for the glider itself some day. So what's been the
experience repairing/refinishing/painting German glass-top trailers?

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"



 




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