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Building Tips and technical articles. => Paint and finishing => Topic started by: RknRusty on February 04, 2014, 04:13:05 PM

Title: Anybody ever wet sanded Lustrekote clear gloss?
Post by: RknRusty on February 04, 2014, 04:13:05 PM
Hi my name is Rusty and I'm a meticuloholic.  LL~
I would have posted this in one of Aviojet's Streak threads since Charles is a fellow meticuholic, but I've already hijacked it once. Yeah, I'm building a puky profile and I want to put as nice of a finish on it as is possible with rattlecans.

So the basic white Yak-9 just got it's first bits clearcoated. I primed, sanded and painted the flaps Rustoleum flat white. This morning, after a couple of weeks of curing by a furnace vent, I lightly wet sanded until they were surprisingly shiny, and shot them with two light coats of clear Lustrekote. They look really good, no orange peeling, just smooth and shiny. But there is a slight texture. I know from past experience I can go back and shoot them with a thick coat and make them smooth like glass, but that L'kote is heavy stuff. I thought of wet sanding with some 1000 grit, but thought I would ask y'all first, if anyone has done it, how long you let it cure first, and if it made it look better.

I know the usual answer is that it ain't worth the trouble for this type of plane, but I'm trying to get as good as I can before I take a step up in my career with a real sprayer for next Winters full fuselage Oriental build. So there is a method to my madness. Thanks for any input.
Rusty
Title: Re: Anybody ever wet sanded Lustrekote clear gloss?
Post by: Avaiojet on February 05, 2014, 10:52:55 AM
Rattlecan Rusty,

I'll be looking forward to seeing how this "puky profile" comes out.

Title: Re: Anybody ever wet sanded Lustrekote clear gloss?
Post by: dirty dan on February 05, 2014, 12:03:29 PM
I'll raise my hand as one who has (quite successfully) treated rattle-can LustreKote just like "real" paint in first letting it cure hard and then sanding it flat, this followed by use of various rubbing compounds through to the super-duper stuff. And yes, these were (mostly) pukey profiles...

As mentioned, LustreKote does seem to be heavy so one needs to be careful in applying it. Still, it is real good paint--much better than one would expect from a spray can.

Shake the snot out of the can (rattle-can paint can not be mixed too much!), heat can with hot water or heat gun prior to spraying, do not try to use all of the paint in each can, let it cure as long as patience allows.

Dan
 
Title: Re: Anybody ever wet sanded Lustrekote clear gloss?
Post by: RknRusty on February 05, 2014, 02:06:15 PM
Sounds like I got it right. I bungeed the can to the front of my space heater and shook it a few times while it was warming. Shook it for 3 minutes after it was hot, put it back in front of the heater while setting up my parts to be painted, shook it another 3 minutes. Back in the heat while I took a break for my shoulder to recover from shaking. Shook it again for 3 minutes, and hit each side of the parts with one sweep of spray from 12". Repeated this in a few minutes, and it looks pretty good. The more I look, the more I think it's good enough. If I try to polish it, I'll try it first on the hidden side and see what it looks like. The flat white paint looks nice and glossy with the Lustrekote on top of it. There doesn't seem to be any disagreement between the two types of paint.
Rusty
Title: Re: Anybody ever wet sanded Lustrekote clear gloss?
Post by: Bill Little on February 11, 2014, 11:54:31 AM
Hi Rusty,

If you follow what Dan says, you will have success.  I hope to see you at Huntersville this Spring!

BIG Bear
Title: Re: Anybody ever wet sanded Lustrekote clear gloss?
Post by: RknRusty on February 11, 2014, 02:10:53 PM
Hi Bill. You will, with my shiny new Skyray and acting like I Know what I'm doing.
Rusty