What method do you have to hold and spray paint small parts? 

Items such as engine cowls, wheel pants, rudders, horizontal elevators and flaps are painted prior to assembly on the aircraft.  These parts are difficult to hold and spray paint. 

Items such as the engine cowl needs spray painting on both inside and outside.  Do you paint both inside and outside at the same time or paint inside and wait until it's dry to paint the outside? 

Photos are likely the best answer.  They are easier for all to understand.


t michael jennings   

I once painted a "smiley face"  on my small part!  Wife was amused! 

I can't   do it  I can't stop laffin You are one warped animal.. I love it.

   "The G-Man"   

                                                O  K


      "G-Man"

Did I ever tell you about the time I used lacquer thinner to remove a smiley face from my small part?  Pretty impressive until the swelling went down!  Again, wife was amused.


PS - Kind of looked like my avitar.

QUIT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

(and I mean it if I ever stop laughing!) 

Boy, I hope Sparky don't see this!

Don't worry Bill... I'll never do that again 

Don't worry Bill... I'll never do that again 

                                            

   "G-Man"   

Poor MIchael...asks a serious question and this is what he gets.

What method do you have to hold and spray paint small parts? 

Items such as engine cowls, wheel pants, rudders, horizontal elevators and flaps are painted prior to assembly on the aircraft.  These parts are difficult to hold and spray paint. 


t michael jennings   

Michael,

There are a lot of good brains to pick on this forum, and one of the best is Randy Powell's.   Randy showed his manner of holding small parts for painted, I tried it, and it works great.

Mine are slightly different from his, but you can modify things to suit your own needs.   The base for mine is some 1/2" X 1" stock, with a cross piece glued on so that the holder will stand on its own, and a hook-eye in the end for hanging on the drying rack.

For the control surfaces, cut pieces of 1/32" ply the same width as your hinges, and a couple of inches long, and put two of them in your control surface, and THEN with a large staple gun, staple the plywood to the base.   Each holder has to be custom made to fit each different control surface, because no two are ever the same.   But you can keep one piece of plywood in place, and move the second one as needed for future projects.

As far as the cowl is concerned, each job is a little different.   You should be able to use the mounting brackets, and make a simple custom jig to hold the cowl.

Save all the holders that you make, because they can be modified to work with future builds, and a lot of time time will be saved.

These holders do make life a lot easier when painting.  You can prepare each part, mount it on a holder, do the final clean, and then hang them up in preparation for painting.   As you paint, you can take each one down, one at a time, do your spraying, and hang them up again to dry.  

Great idea.....thanks, Randy !!   (See...we are paying attention)   :-)

Cheers,

Warren

Randy;

  By the looks of that picture you people are using a thick hinge? What type or manufacturer is it, and where are they availlable. I like the way the hang rigid.

 "Billy G"   

Warren;

     Sorry about the confusion------You have answered my question exactly. There are still a couple of HS's in my area that have been around for a while. I will check them out for these hinges.  Thank-you.


  "Billy G"   

Ive found that painting large parts is easier than "rigid" hanging small parts because the large parts dont have to be "rigid" to hang because of the fact that the large parts are bigger than the small ones even when they are not "rigid" but when the large parts are "rigid" you dont have to hang them like you do with the small parts because you can paint the non "rigid" side first and the "rigid" last because at that time of the procedure the wife is able to help out much easier because she does not have to waste time fooling around with the non "rigid large parts and I fall asleep.Any questions?..BOB