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Building Tips and technical articles. => Paint and finishing => Topic started by: Mike Griffin on November 05, 2013, 09:33:23 PM

Title: Painting Electrics.
Post by: Mike Griffin on November 05, 2013, 09:33:23 PM
What are you guys that build electrics using for paint?

Thanks

Mike
Title: Re: Painting Electrics.
Post by: Curare on November 05, 2013, 09:38:54 PM
Automotive acrylic over dope for pretty models,  or household acrylic on S#!tters
Title: Re: Painting Electrics.
Post by: Dan Bregar on November 06, 2013, 04:14:51 AM
Good question and topic Mike.  I'm lookin for something better than dope also. Acrylic may be a solution.  :)
Title: Re: Painting Electrics.
Post by: Mike Griffin on November 06, 2013, 06:48:41 AM
Hi Dan

The reason I ask the question is that I personally do not like using dopes and thinners to finish a model for various reasons.  Furthermore, when fuelproofing is not a concern I do not see the necessity of using finishing materials to make it so.  I have never tried to make the finish on a model a piece of art anyway but do want it to look nice.  Any methods used in lieu of dope I would be interested in.

Thanks for the input

Mike
Title: Re: Painting Electrics.
Post by: Mike Griffin on November 06, 2013, 08:40:12 AM
Ty have you ever used these and if so, how does it finish out?

Thanks

Mike
Title: Re: Painting Electrics.
Post by: john e. holliday on November 06, 2013, 09:16:23 AM
Rustoleum paints. ???
Title: Re: Painting Electrics.
Post by: Jeff Traxler on November 06, 2013, 11:14:47 AM
Duplicolor has a zillion different colors and if you are good with a buzzbomb you can get a decent finish without too much trouble.A little elbow grease and some "Death paint" makes it that much nicer.Trax
Title: Re: Painting Electrics.
Post by: Avaiojet on November 06, 2013, 11:23:19 AM
Acrylics/water colors. D>K  From a tube. H^^

Mike,

I used them for years and still do as a gallery artist. I've even thinned them out for airbrush use, they cover nicely.

Downside is the cost and unless sprayed they won't brush out all that well.

With no fuel in the loop, I would imagine you could use normal but good quality aerosol can paint. Use clear when you're done with the colors.

Charles
Title: Re: Painting Electrics.
Post by: jjorgensen on November 06, 2013, 03:03:31 PM
Pittsbergh paints latex in sample sizes from Menard's. Mix 50/50 with water and either spray on or use a foam brush. It leaves a very light finish and you can get any color you want mixed.
Title: Re: Painting Electrics.
Post by: Randy Powell on November 06, 2013, 03:51:29 PM
Just because it doesn't have to be fuel resistant doesn't mean it doesn't have to resist other things. You want a finish that will withstand regular handling, possible water (rain) and general light abuse that our planes receive. You can use water based paints with a urethane topcoat or some such that will be durable. Painting it with watercolors may present a problem.
Title: Re: Painting Electrics.
Post by: Tim Wescott on November 06, 2013, 04:01:08 PM
If you're going to fly in contests you're going to be in the pits right next to a lot of slime powered planes, shaking hands with slime pilots, etc.

If your paint can't stand being squirted with raw fuel by someone who's about to say "oops" and look real apologetic, then you may want to re-think your paint choice.
Title: Re: Painting Electrics.
Post by: jfv on November 06, 2013, 09:35:20 PM
I've been using Duplicolor Paint Shop clear for the base and color.  They come in quart cans.  Top clear coat is Duplicolor rattle can acrylic lacquer because it is more fuel resistant than the Paint Shop clear.   This helps protect the finish when helpers that fly nitro handle the plane.  You can rub out the top coat for a very nice finish. 
Title: Re: Painting Electrics.
Post by: Mike Griffin on November 07, 2013, 08:06:23 AM
Thanks for all the suggestions guys.  I think I have decided on what I am going to use.  I do not fly in contests anymore and when I do fly, it is with freinds who belong to our club. 

Mike
Title: Re: Painting Electrics.
Post by: Randy Powell on November 09, 2013, 04:32:19 PM
I'm considering using water based resin for a finish. Some tests I ran seem to indicate that it is very light and pretty hard. We'll see when the time comes.
Title: Re: Painting Electrics.
Post by: Mike Griffin on November 09, 2013, 06:52:58 PM
Let me know how it turns out Randy

Thanks

Mike
Title: Re: Painting Electrics.
Post by: Howard Rush on November 19, 2013, 01:38:24 AM
I like acrylic lacquer, but it's getting harder to find.  I had to scrounge toners from paint stores all over town for my last dog.  Tim has a good point about other folks spraying or dripping.  I tooted my acrylic-painted electric dog with IDP clearcoat to reduce the worry.   
Title: Re: Painting Electrics.
Post by: Crist Rigotti on November 26, 2013, 09:33:07 AM
Monokote and SIG Dope.
Title: Re: Painting Electrics.
Post by: RandySmith on November 27, 2013, 08:20:56 PM
I jusst read in the latest FM mag where some one is using Tamiya spray paints to redo electric RC models.  Worth a read. H^^

My VECTRA  was painted with a lot of different colors of Lexan car paint, the paints for plastic cars, I mixed it with DuPont thinner  and SIG dope thinner, then shot lite coat, and then PPG clear lacquer over it. It all worked fine, if you get curdling  dump it !  You can get in trouble doing stuff like this  so do it slowly let it dry completely  and most of all  keep in mind, do it at your own risk

Randy
Title: Re: Painting Electrics.
Post by: Steve Helmick on December 05, 2013, 06:45:34 PM
I fail to see the advantage to using Duplicolor lacquers, if you're diametrically opposed to using butyrate dope. For all intents and purposes, it is butyrate dope. The reason to use it is that it's probably cheaper than buying and shipping bottles of Brodak dope, and the color selection is almost infinite. You can put it over butyrate or under butyrate, and it smells just as much as butyrate dope. I like butyrate dope...and Duplicolor is on my + list.

I looked through my bookmarks and found the following. I'm not sure that weights and other critical factors were ever reported on some of the posts. Maybe they could be updated?   ~> Steve

http://stunthanger.com/smf/index.php?topic=31735.0 (http://stunthanger.com/smf/index.php?topic=31735.0)
http://stunthanger.com/smf/index.php?topic=29455.0 (http://stunthanger.com/smf/index.php?topic=29455.0)
http://stunthanger.com/smf/index.php?topic=30183.0 (http://stunthanger.com/smf/index.php?topic=30183.0)