Another Kitfox IV rebuild project

[TJay 1041]

Hey I used Latex paint on this one many many years ago. The guy that bought it sent me a pic 2 years ago and it still looks great. Keep it up.

Edited 20 Feb 2021 by TJay

[109jb 181]

Had about 1-1/2 hours this morning and got the side fabric stuck back down and the new top fabric on. Heat shrunk everything and longerons still straight. Then tonight I got all of the tapes on and put the first 2 cross coats of primer. 2 more cross coats and I'll be back to where I was. Looks good and the only way you can tell anything was done is because the corner tapes aren't continuous from tail to turtledeck. Hardly noticable even if you know what you are looking for. Lost 3 evenings of work on the airplane but glad I fixed this instead of having to look at it for years and years.

 

 

[109jb 181]

Getting the color on her. The gloss of the latex is definitely better than polytone. The white is really hard to tell but the blue has a little orange peel which was not unexpected. It is about what I was expecting and is in the perfectly acceptable realm for my tastes. If I ever decide to I could color sand and buff it but I doubt I ever will. Overall I would call it a success but in doing the fuselage I have learned a few things and will be modifying the process a little. The results that Malcolm at wienerdogaero.com gets can't be argued with, but at least for me a few changes to his process make it much easier for me. For my rudder and landing gear legs I made the following modifications which work very well for me.

I am starting to thin the first coat of primer a bit more than he recommends in order to make it easier to get more complete wetting of the fabric.

On the primer coats on the fuselage I used the wienerdoaero method and brushed each coat on sanding between each coat with 320 grit dry sandpaper. I still brush that first coat on, and on the landing gear I also brushed several coats, putting the primer on in one direction and tipping it at 90 degrees. Ultimately I went to spraying the primer on. The primer is still thinned and sprays nicely, leaving a slightly orange peeled surface. The orange peel is much easier to sand smooth than the brush marks from brushing/tipping. On my rudder I am spraying all but the first primer coat and it is going very well. You can get a smooth finish brushing and sanding, but it is a lot more work in my opinion. Spraying i was also able to reduce the sanding interval to 1/2 by applying 2 coats (one cross coat) at a time, waiting until the first coat tacks up and applying the crossing coat. I have also gone to wet-sanding with 400 grit which again is much easier for me.

Anyway, here is crappy picture of the airplane after the first cross coat of blue was applied and had dried about an hour.

 

[109jb 181]

Got the final coat if blue on and got it unmasked.  Came out nice. Has good gloss but a little orange peel that was expected. Latex is a win so far for ne. 

[1avidflyer 1983]

Looks good!  JimChuk