Paint problems

[Jdm]

Does anyone have a good match for Cessna white? In a spray can preferably. It’s a 172M. Seems like I’m always replacing fairings, or finding something that needs repainting. It takes forever and cost a lot to have such minor painting done at a shop.
Now that we have 2 airplanes I’m even considering purchasing some sort of touch-up spray equipment. Suggestions please..

 

[Stewartb]

A good automotive paint retailer can put custom colors into rattle cans. I prefer to keep the proper paint and catalyst around and do touch-ups with a small trim gun using a portable compressor. Mine uses disposable cup liners so mixing and cleaning up are simple.

 

[Jdm]

A good automotive paint retailer can put custom colors into rattle cans.

I used to do the same thing years ago for the 172. It was a great deal back then. Nowadays we’re down to only one automotive supplier that will load into a rattle can. Unfortunately, they have been VERY unsuccessful in matching the color. Something to do with the machine they use to capture the match. It has to grab the closest automotive color code, which can’t be tweaked.

They can do a much better job of matching if I shoot it from a gun.

I prefer to keep the proper paint and catalyst around and do touch-ups with a small trim gun using a portable compressor. Mine uses disposable cup liners so mixing and cleaning up are simple.

Could you possibly send a link of a good trim gun that you like? I’ve got a very limited paint background. Used to paint occasionally at my first job right out of A&P school back in the 80’s. Would definitely need to school up on the process again.

 

[Stewartb]

Mine's an SRI Pro detail gun. Not cheap and I'm not sure they even make it anymore. The equivalent Starting Line detail gun would be a good choice. I like these small guns for small batches of paint. I use DeKups and can store catalyzed paint in the freezer to keep it useful for a few days for multiple coats. https://www.eastwood.com/devilbiss-startingline-detail-gravity-gun-802405.html

 

[Chip Sylverne]

In music, the sound is in the fingers, not the instrument. Painting is much the same. Take time setting up the gun for the material practice on junk panels and learn it's nuances and a $45 hvlp jamb gun from Harbor Frieght will shoot just as good a film as a Sato costing hundreds. The difference is in the durability, but if you don't earn you living with it, there's no need to spend the money.

Don't forget dryers and filters and such for your air source as well.

 

[Doug Reid]

Look into Prevail. Great for small jobs.

 

[Jdm]

We’ll heck, that’s not too terribly much.
I was hopeful to find a decent match in a can but it’s just not happening in this town.
Excellent info!

 

[Morgan3820]

Matterhorn White at Advanced Auto worked for my Piper. FWIW

 

[Huckster79]

Absolutely second the harbor freight gun!

I use their $15 purple detail gun. I never painted a thing in my life with a gun, was intimidated to until I tried it… not really any more difficult than doing a good job with a rattle can, if not easier, and the finish is just far superior!

the experimental airplane world loves “the purple gun” from HF…

A great tip that helped me a lot- once done wash the cup quick with spirits and spray till it’s out- then put a bit of reducer only in the cup (an ingredient you use to mix the paint cocktail for spraying) and mist the whole darn thing with a coat of reducer… it will blend out the finish to make it look like a pro did it.

for true touch ups like little dings a Testors airbrush works great - they used canned air and are about $20. Literally the one ya get for models.

There has to be a paint code Cessna used I’d think if it’s factory… if not have you dig through the logs? I found my paint code in there and the local NAPA mixed it for me.

I highly recommend epoxy primer. It’s pricey but it grabs whatever you put it on very very well!

 

[Jdm]

the experimental airplane world loves “the purple gun” from HF…

Awesome. That should work just fine for what I’m doing. Glad I posted the question.

 

[Clip4]

Does anyone have a good match for Cessna white? In a spray can preferably. It’s a 172M. Seems like I’m always replacing fairings, or finding something that needs repainting. It takes forever and cost a lot to have such minor painting done at a shop.
Now that we have 2 airplanes I’m even considering purchasing some sort of touch-up spray equipment. Suggestions please..

Imron Vestal White

 

[Jdm]

Here’s an update on my paint situation. I’ve determined that it’s extremely difficult to find a good paint store capable, or willing to take the time to make a good match. One guy even told me that he’s not going to spend the time unless I purchase a large order. After having horrible luck (even after providing the paint codes) at a couple of auto paint supply places I finally found a small supply company that got me well taken care of. I had to leave my samples with them for a couple of days, but it was worth it. They were able to get an almost perfect match for all 3 colors.
The prep work on the wheel pants took forever. Had to make a couple of aluminum patches due to cracks. Had to do a some fiberglass work. Then there was a ton of sanding, primer, filling pin holes, and repeating. Also painted about a dozen new fiberglass fairings. My favorite being the brake caliper fairings. They required riveting nut plates but it was well worth it. So much better now!
I used a upper medium quality single stage acrylic urethane. Applied it with an inexpensive HVLP gun.

He’s a few before and after pics.

 

[Gary Ward]

A good automotive paint retailer can put custom colors into rattle cans. I prefer to keep the proper paint and catalyst around and do touch-ups with a small trim gun using a portable compressor. Mine uses disposable cup liners so mixing and cleaning up are simple.

This is what I did. I took a panel to the auto paint store and they used a "camera" to match the color. I had them mixed me up a quart and 2 spray cans. It matched pretty dang close. I have several real nice HVLP guns that I have used over the years for auto paint jobs.

Last year I reupholstered my plane seats and bought a HF purple spray gun to spray contact adhesive. They do seem to be pretty decent gun for 15 bucks? But the holder for the gun is 20 bucks I think so it is more like 35 bucks for the spray gun.

Then lately I bought a prevail sprayer to spray lube but I haven't used it yet and not even sure how it works. It it a one time use? Or can it it be reused? I got 2 nearly full cans of LPV 2 lube that the spray tips broke off during use around the hangar. So I was hoping to put the lube in a pre vail sprayer to be able to use it?

 

[Chris Scherry]

Great job on the paint. Those parts look very nice!

 

[Snowmass]

Blending touch up paint is standard practice and almost mandatory with metallics. An automotive how to paint manual will explain a lot but blending means painting in concentric circles with ever more thinned out paint as you move outward. Also you can often look through a paint chip book at an automotive paint store and find a good color match especially with a bit of blending.

 

[Jdm]

Blending touch up paint is standard practice and almost mandatory with metallics. An automotive how to paint manual will explain a lot but blending means painting in concentric circles with ever more thinned out paint as you move outward. Also you can often look through a paint chip book at an automotive paint store and find a good color match especially with a bit of blending.

Good to know about thinning. Not sure if your suggesting thinning the paint more, or simply reducing the amount of spray as moving outward?
I’ve also noticed that a lot of folks use a touch-up HPLV gun for the small jobs. I was a reluctant to try that because of the tip size commonly found on touch-up guns. Most single stage urethanes are recommended to be feed through a 1.3 to 1.4 tip. The smaller touch-up guns come with a considerably smaller tip (.8 to 1.0)

Because of the smaller tip, I’m considering using a touch-up gun for some light blending where a few of the new fairings didn’t cover as much area as the old ones.

 

[Stewartb]

Blending urethanes? The best method is to paint to a seam. If you try to "blend" you'll leave a haze around the edges.

 

[kshaw]

Randolph White worked on my Cessna 152. Holds up pretty well, also.

 

[Jdm]

Blending urethanes? The best method is to paint to a seam. If you try to "blend" you'll leave a haze around the edges.

No doubt, but not always an option. I’ve seen it done well with single stage urethane before. Not sure what that mechanic’s technique was. Planning to see him in a couple of weeks for help with a annual. Hopefully can get some pointers from the old pro.

 

[texasclouds]

Paint it matte black, like a rat rod.

 

[Jdm]

Matte black done right ain’t easy! I remember doing a small job on MC Hammer’s plane once. It was painted black! That was back when he had money to blow of course

 

[texasclouds]

Matte black done right ain’t easy! I remember doing a small job on MC Hammer’s plane once. It was painted black! That was back when he had money to blow of course

Pics or it didn’t happen

 

[Jdm]

Pics or it didn’t happen

Ha, well first of all it was nothing to brag about. Secondly, that was just over 30 years ago. I thought it was a big deal that I had just gotten my first personal pager. Used it as an on call mechanic for the FBO and American Airlines. Certainly didn’t have a digital camera

It must not have happened

 

[texasclouds]

Ha, well first of all it was nothing to brag about. Secondly, that was just over 30 years ago. I thought it was a big deal that I had just gotten my first personal pager. Used it as an on call mechanic for the FBO and American Airlines. Certainly didn’t have a digital camera

It must not have happened

not even a tin type????

 

[Jdm]

He had a B727. It was a -100 if I remember correctly. I had seven-two school from a couple of airlines, but was mainly a DC-9 mechanic. I was also moonlighting (or daylighting) at a sizable FBO to make ends meet. $8.00 bucks per hour as an A&P, and was damn thankful! They used me for everything, but always for customers with comparable airplanes. That’s how it it happened.

 

[SoCal 182 Driver]

Does anyone have a good match for Cessna white? In a spray can preferably. It’s a 172M. Seems like I’m always replacing fairings, or finding something that needs repainting. It takes forever and cost a lot to have such minor painting done at a shop.
Now that we have 2 airplanes I’m even considering purchasing some sort of touch-up spray equipment. Suggestions please..

I've used Rustoleum white appliance epoxy spray paint. It's not an identical match to Cessna Vestal White, but for my purposes it was close enough.

 

[SoCalPilot88]

I've used Rustoleum gloss white with fairly good results. I also had custom spray paint mixed by Martin Auto Body here in Southern California with very good results. I brought in a panel from my airplane that had three different colors on it, and they matched it well. I got a few cans of each color. I think their cans spray a pattern that is better than the Rustoleum can. They saved my information for future orders so I don't need to bring the panel in every time I need more paint.

 

[BryanAV8R]

If you have a supplier like Albert Kemperle (https://www.kemperle.com/), you can bring down a piece of the fuselage (I used the baggage door, since it had all three colors I needed to finish my cowling, wing tips, and elevator tips) and they can scan and match pretty well these days. The paint flowed on very nicely; while not cheap ($35. per rattle can of mixed single stage urethane...for the cowling, it took 1 can of white, and 2 and a little more of blue, for the stripes, one can each of red and blue...don't forget to use an organic vapor respirator!!!), the match was spot on, accounting for the different tint of the primer under the white, but the red and blue matched up beautifully:


Looks good from 10' away anyway. Well, at least better than it did.