Painting Dope in 44 degree weather

[Gary Anderson]

Hi Bill, I decided to paint my plane, using dope, 44 degree weather. The dope was blushing, didn't like the cold, so I used my monokote heat gun. The dope came out with a nice shine, no blushing at all. Was always afraid of fire, I guess that is why I did it out side, in the wind. I guess if you got the dope to hot it would catch on fire or bubble. I guess most people use some sort of heat, just never use my heat gun before. I was just wondering if you ever try this method? A million years ago we used to paint our cars and send them into the heat chamber. Just having fun, Gary

[Randy Powell]

Hey Gary,

I've been painting my plane. No blushing to speak of though it seems it takes a very long time for the paint to dry completely. Makes pulling tape a pain (the mushy tape edges tend to want to stick down ... permanently). But in my case I don't think it's the temp so much as the humidity. Trying to spray dope a 50 degrees and 90% humidity is just so much fun.
 

[Gary Anderson]

Hey Gary,

I've been painting my plane. No blushing to speak of though it seems it takes a very long time for the paint to dry completely. Makes pulling tape a pain (the mushy tape edges tend to want to stick down ... permanently). But in my case I don't think it's the temp so much as the humidity. Trying to spray dope a 50 degrees and 90% humidity is just so much fun.
 

Hi Randy, do you think maybe if you gave the old heat gun a try (on something you won't ruin) to see how this would work. Might get rid of the moisture long enough to rid you of the blush? I was surprised with the shine I got. I'm sure if you used to much heat it would ruin the project. I think big area would be a lot harder to do. I wonder if a guy could make up a small paint booth, using heat lamps. I usually paint the different parts before I put them together. Then I do my fillets and blend the items together. Thanks for the reply, Gary

[Mark Scarborough]

The only problem I would be cautious of using the heat gun, or any heating method for that matter is that you can increase the tendancy of trapping solvents. that being with laquer and air dry products, if you dry the surface to fast, it will skin over so to speak, and then downt the road as the remaining solvents escape, it will shrink down  and die back, loosing its gloss. This can take some time to occur. It would be exagerated by faster thinners.