My apologies. I was a little rushed yesterday, today went in to correct some silly spelling mistakes. And then thought of more stuff to add, a common happening with my blah-blah-blah approach to covering all the details with one big shotgun blast instead of taking multiple rifle shots. Feel free to insert Dick Cheney jokes here:

The following, while not completely new compared to yesterday's version, has been, uh, augmented considerable. dan


I am just now finishing two new models, both Pukey Profiles, one for Classic, the other for P.40. And, ahem, some PA competition, assuming transport via the Hated Honda which will swallow an Impact, but little else.

Just for review, I much prefer to use MonoKote in finishing my models, this including wrapping the fuselage in plastic film. It's not that hard to do the fuselage, and as all else is film anyway...

The Pukey Profiles are different, at least in my book. Yes, of course I can cover the fuselage in MonoKote. No-brainer. Ditto with getting the film nailed down in the engine/tank area. But engines or engine pads wearing into the film is a common problem and looks unsightly. Same thing with the tank: While I do not use double-sided tape to mount tanks, or at least I learned my lesson in so doing, there is still plenty of opportunity here for scuffing and general ugliness.

Still in review mode, the obvious choice is to paint the front end. From there it as an easy step to just painting the whole damn fuselage.

Which is what I did with my first Skyray 35/20FP combination.

(The plane was renamed Skyray 20, just to @#$% off--excuse me, to get the attention of--you-know-who and to reflect the assumed displacement of the power plant. Since then Mike Hazel pointed out the "20" is actually a "21," and as that is 3.5cc, several of us have gone back to the Skyray 35 designation, slipping in a period, thus: Skyray 3.5. Cute, huh...?)

As the Skyray 35 is a small model, white was chosen as the base color, just to give it a little more presence in the air. White models look bigger, although I honestly do not understand why. So it also has white MonoKote on all the flying surfaces, 'natch.

Ever since 9/11 all of my models are red, white and blue, so stripes, panels and so on were done in these colors, from MonoKote film (not "Trim" MonoKote.)

The fuselage is white. As I had assumed LustreKote is merely convenient in its rattle-can packaging and in matching MonoKote pretty well--these features offset by its being just another version of cheap-o, discy-sourced paint--I did not take it very seriously.

Established a base with runny epoxy, sanded, sprayed LustreKote primer, sanded, shot on three coats of white. No runs, no real shine, no real satisfaction, easy to clean, let's go fly.

Then my long-distance friend, Derek Moran, took things to a new level, an act at which he is quite accomplished. Yes, to the point of some frustration here at Dirt HQ. I mean, I am supposed to be his mentor, not the other way 'round...!

Still, I have a picture from the 2005 Clovis contest. None other than Brett Buck and Jim Aron judging for appearance points. Right there in the third row was Derek's Skyray 20. A solid 16 points to its credit. Not only that, in the picture one can quite clearly see Howard Rush's gorgeous Impact. Just one row ahead of a PP!

Derek's finish? Transparent MonoKote on the flying surfaces. LustreKote on the fuselage.

Damn!

Which is approximately what Bob Whitely muttered when seeing Derek's model.

With my Classic model ready for paint I was not quite ready to go for the Show-Biz finish, stuck with white LustreKote on the fuselage. Other than a major screw-up in (evidently) grabbing some cheap wax during early fiddling with 2000-grit paper, Meguiar's "Fine Cut," Meguiar's "Swirl Remover 2.0," said junk wax, all was well. Almost.

I had two spots just above the wing which did not cover well, eventually I sanded most of the paint off, spraying it again and ending up with fish-eyes in the finish, a result of contaminating the surface with wax now thrown in the garbage.

Hey, it's white! And sitting on the ground the flat fuselage sides...well, it's an acceptable finish which I will only sand off if the model really flies super. And I am guaranteed removal of the silicone which caused the problems.

The second model is another Skyray 3.5. Daring the Gods of Stunt I painted the fuselage in missile red LustreKote.

Aha! This paint comes from a discy operation, it does come in the ubiquitous rattle-can packaging, I may have sneered at in the past.

But it is also the Real Deal. Or can be.

The results are not perfect. But I am far, far more enthused about this paint than in the past.

Presented in laborious detail, here are the steps I used:

1. Fuselage finished to the primered stage prior to installation of wing and horizontal stabilizer.

To be more specific, the fuselage was slotted on my table saw in the appropriate spots, vertical stabilizer and canopy were fabricated with "tabs" of 1/8" balsa protruding from the basic structure, these tabs engaging the slots in fuselage. Stronger, perfect alignment. And the fuselage being finished was a one-piece unit, including fin and canopy.

2. One heavy coat of runny epoxy, in my case System Three epoxy. Allowed to soak in for a few minutes, the epoxy was wiped off with a rag.

3. Block sanded with 220-grit garnet. It is very easy to rush this process; if the epoxy is not coming off in a fine dust, give it more time.

4. Another coat of the same epoxy, this time applied with a foam brush, taking care to brush off all the excess. This is a bit difficult to describe, but one wants a nice, thin film uniformly applied. About what a fairly dry brush leaves on the surface seems about right.

5. Block sanded, again with 220. Same caution as in 3.

6. LustreKote primer. Follow the directions.

7. I then block-sanded the fuselage with 320-grit wet-or-dry paper used wet. I had some slight graining in the fuselage sides, these being 1/64" ply laminated to 1/2" balsa, but the emphasis was on getting all the major boogers handled prior to making a simple stick into a more cumbersome piece when the wing and stabilizer were installed.

8. If one must, there is little penalty in sanding virtually all of the primer off and taking another shot at it.

9. Stab was covered with MonoKote.

10. Model was assembled. Cripes, I have always been real careful at this stage, but this time through the process I was greatly assisted in use of a stab alignment jig designed, fabricated and gifted to me by Derek, a Moran-designed, Dirt-named, "KIM" which I made myself--it's a SEKRIT, although you will soon be able to make your own!--and various other bits of temporary jigging and blocking. It looked like a 747 sitting in a wing/fuselage joining fixture. Some mentor I have turned out to be...

11. The wing was covered in MonoKote. Yeah, yeah, one can do this prior to assembly. I just prefer not to, plus some of my covering techniques involve brute force and I much prefer to have things nailed down when beginning to pull MonoKote over a tip.

12. As the film ran up to within 1/8" of the fuselage the area to be covered with fillets was both poked full of holes and scuffed with fine steel wool.

13. Fillets and assorted foof were added. When it comes to fillets I merely mix micro-balloons with System Three epoxy and honestly have very little worthwhile to contribute. Well, I did benefit from use of another tool Derek designed, but this theme is getting a little worn.

http://www.clstunt.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=read_count&om=9414&forum=DCForumID1

14. Lots of careful sanding. Progressively finer W/D paper used wet.

15. With it all "perfect," I shot on more primer.

16. It was hardly perfect.

17. I worked at it, but still had it in mind that rattle-can paint can't be that good. And I was fretting over minutia worth no more than one or two appearance points. Let's get real here: It's a Pukey Profile for God's sake...

18. Finally sprayed on the red LustreKote. As I finish in the same room in which I build, there were, uh, challenges.

19. Sanded nearly all of the red down to primer.

20. Got more serious about a nice, even coat of primer, especially over the areas which were dark in color and so not conducive to a consistent shade of red.

21. More sanding, a lighter touch this time.

22. Bought more Missile Red. You do not want to run any rattle-can paint right down to the last drop. Not worth it. Okay, the exception might be primer.

23. Light coat of red fogged on, kicked the cat, got more coffee.

24. Second coat heavier than the first, nearing complete coverage. Mere moments spent looking for the cat, sipped some coffee while looking for holidays. (This stuff dries fast to a hit-it-again condition.)

25. Third and last coat applied with the help of strong lighting in that all surfaces must appear to be wet and glossy. Try to plan your spray patterns so there is minimum over-spray. Yes, this is impossible, but light effort will at least reduce the problem.

In my mind, the process is similar to that used with K&B SuperPoxy: Fog coat, let it get real tacky; second and heavier coat, again let it get tacky; final coat flowed on; what you've got is what you will always have. Walk away, just walk away, to rob a line from Alton Brown, my favorite televised cooking instructor.

26. Removed all masking tape and while this can be fraught with challenges I prefer to do it right away. If you really did apply enough paint this last coat will still be wet and so odd tails of masking tape can ruin your evening.

27. I let it dry. No, I mean I really let the paint dry. While it will feel just fine the next morning, it is not dry. At least not to the point of working with it further. I left the model alone just about as long as I could stand it, which was five or six days.

Probably spent an extra $20.00; kerosene for my heater

Okay, I lied. About the second or third day I picked a spot directly under the stabilizer and so not normally visible. Wet-sanded with 2000-grit, did the Meguiar's routine of fine-cut, swirl remover, glaze. Ooops. Couldn't get all the swirls out.

The paint was "dry," but not hard enough to work.

28. Several days later it was and the same spot was used as a double-check. Killer! But I knew it could be better.

29. Down to Local Hobby for LustreKote clear. I never thought this could possibly be justified.

30. Sanded all painted surfaces flat with 2000-grit, again used wet. Even sanded through in one area, albeit in my test spot.

31. Cleaned masked model with 70% isopropyl, per Top Flite's tips.

http://www.monokote.com/lustrekote/lustrekote.html

32. Again, first coat fogged on, second with near-coverage, third to the wet-'n-wild condition. Almost bam-bam from one coat to the next.

33. The paint is now drying to full-hard. Yep, at day two I worked that spot under the stab and if I was in a big hurry would have done the entire model. But I'll get better results in just a few more days, even if I do have to buy more kero this afternoon.

34. The paint looks great! Way better than we have any right to expect from rattle cans. I'm serious...

I mean, I am now seeing spots where if I had just known how Shiny & Kewl the LustreKote would be I would have taken another evening or three to poke and prod a few quite minor details. Yeah, fillets. Basically they are fine, would have been totally acceptable with MonoKote laid over them, but with the high gloss I am seeing this time around...well, I'm just going to have to learn how to feather them better.

And there is some hope that with enough clear on everything they will still come out in S&K condition.

35. Meanwhile I keep marveling at that one little two-inch-square spot under the stab. Rush is in no danger of seeing my lil' PP Skyray 3.5 eclipse his Impact, of that you can be assured, but I am very pleased with the results.

The next time around: I am not completely happy with the use of epoxy in forming a substrate. Derek, whom you will notice has hardly been mentioned at all, suggests nitrate dope and silkspan or carbon veil as being better; easier to work in the first place, easier to touch up when the inevitable takes place. Nitrate and paper or veil might even be lighter, although I am hardly convinced of this. And don't much care, at least when it comes to the basic Skyray 35 design, especially as I am only painting the fuselage.

However, I intend to get some Randolph's nitrate dope in bulk and will give it a try. Especially as it gives me an option when finishing pieces like flaps and elevators. I don't know there has been a problem, but finishing parts one would like to have as stiff and straight as possible in plastic film--even if nailed down nicely, as I am prone to doing--just seems so wrong on at least three different levels.

The only real issue in the past has been the likelihood of a set of flaps matching the MonoKote-covered wing just fine when it comes to color, but not having a surface finish equal to that of what is right next door. Such is no longer a concern, even if there is indeed a perceptible difference between even the best film and a painted/sanded/cleared/rubbed/waxed finish. I'll just try to leave the flaps and elevators deflected enough to demonstrate a supposedly superior control system, this also giving a different slant to the light and reflections...

The usual tips: Buy two cans when you think one will do the job; running these things to the last is generally a big mistake. Due to the shape of the bottom of the can there can easily be 1 1/2 tablespoons (by actual test, see below) of paint in there when the pick-up sucks air. Just one big loogie on your masterpiece will cause one to understand what is meant by a flawed approach to saving money.

Heat the cans prior to use; mine just take a semi-permanent position on top of my kerosene heater, but I have the shrouded model, not the kind with a wire grate on top.

Buy paint with which to experiment. The other day I heard some LustreKote colors are on sale for less than $2.00 per can. Those left-over cans which you are rightfully afraid to run completely dry are also good for testing various techniques, especially if you plan ahead, finishing a scrap chunk of wood or two along with the new model. (This is such an obvious tip, but does anybody actually take this common-sense precaution?)

I have not had any issues with masking which were not my own fault. Read: I didn't get a couple small spots pressed into place. I don't think I will be getting overly creative with graphics and LustreKote any time soon, but for me that applies to all manner of paint.

There have been questions about painting LustreKote over MonoKote and I do not see any problems here. In my scrap box is a Skyray 35 stab which was completely covered in MonoKote prior to being rejected and hitting the box. I have used this piece to test colors, simply spraying LustreKote on the film with the only prep being to wipe it down with a clean, dry rag.

The paint can be scraped off with a finger nail, but it takes enough pressure to seriously dent the balsa. Even sharp instruments can't do much to the paint without also damaging both the underlying film and wood.

So while I do not suggest spraying LustreKote over MonoKote without some surface preparation, it seems that merely scuffing the film with a 3M Scotchbrite pad, steel wool or fine sandpaper is more than adequate.

I am even tempted to emulate some of the fabulous paint-over-film finishes as done by a master of this art, Arlie Preszler. I won't actually do it unless coming up with some brilliant trim scheme which cannot be accomplished with MonoKote-over-MonoKote techniques, but should you have an interest I can see where it is a viable technique which may yield spectacular results.

Shake the cans until your arm drops off. Derek sneaks his into a big-box hardware store and has them shaken on a machine. My boys won't do it; concern about agitating a pressurized container. Wimps.

A suggestion from Derek (this is getting so old) is to get a length of PVC pipe which will accept a paint can. Fabricate a simple cam from a piece of plywood, fit it to an adjustable-speed drill motor. Position drill motor such that the cam hits the bottom of the can, driving it up in the pipe. To ensure good rebound, stuff top of pipe with resilient foam or even a low-rate spring. Turn on the drill motor. Be prepared for "What's that racket?" sorts of questions.

For what it's worth, one simply cannot shake these cans too much. Banding them to the wheels on your commuter car and driving around like this for a week might be a bit much, although if someone steals the car and hears what sounds like, well, a rattle can spinning around they might be moved to steal a car in better condition...

Personal note to Ted: If you strap cans of LustreKote to the wheels of Shareen's Lincoln, not only will the result be well-mixed paint, you'll be able to hear her coming home...and you can get the Nobler up off the garage floor before she smashes the thing into oblivion. Always glad to help, you are most welcome.

The best-case scenario: You've got a fresh can of paint, but are depending upon a .375-diameter steel ball to thoroughly mix paint which it cannot even touch directly. Look at the bottom of the can! See the dome? Do you really think all of the solids will settle on top of it, just waiting to be excited by that one stupid ball? Especially when these same solids will actually nestle around the outside edge of the dome where, again, the ball cannot possibly touch the material directly.

(Yes, I have just recently sprayed a can of LustreKote dry, frozen it, punctured the top with an awl, run the can through my band saw.)

The worst-case scenario: Your paint is from a batch which got overlooked for a few months in some packaging operation. When finally shipped to Top Flite it somehow just sat around, possibly from being a slow-moving color or the stock not being rotated. Another three or four months pass.

Finally you order the paint and it sits on your shelf for months. Or is has sat for months on the shelf of your local hobby shop. I mean, look at the design of these racks! Do they appear conducive to loading fresh stock to the front or the back? Yes, if you get the last can of a particular color it could easily have been sitting there unmolested since the last time there was an earthquake down the street and around the corner.

While in our world of just-in-time delivery of finished goods it seems odd, it is also quite clear that the can of paint with which you are having so many "mysterious" problems merely needs to be shaken beyond any levels previously thought to be justified.

I have already purchased the correct PVC piping and a low-rate spring which looks about right.

I'll put it all together as soon as I can use both arms once again.

Wait, both arms in use will mean I can do the fine-cut/swirl remover/glaze bit...

Finally, if you want the best stuff, be advised that Meguiar's has two grades of many products, one which is a "consumer" branded product and can be found in a great many outlets, probably including some grocery stores.

The other is a line of "professional" products. These are the best. In addition, "Fine-cut Cleaner" is available in at least two formulations, heavy- and light-duty (I am using the latter). Same thing with "Swirl Remover." I use the light-duty stuff, which is noted as being "2.0," but there are a couple grades which are more aggressive.

The Meguiar's "professional" glaze I am using states right on the front: "Paintable." This is code for: "Won't ruin the final, final, I'm-not-kidding-this-time coat of white on your new Classic Stunt model because we don't put silicone in this product, which is exactly how and why you, like, totally, screwed the finish on your toy aeroplane."

Dan