Repaint advice

[Tom]

Well I've had mt Varieze for a couple of years now,, and I love the plane.

But its time to repaint it, the only problem is the paint that is currently on the plane has not adhered to the primer very well. For example you can pull off the paint with duct tape.

What I was going to do was to remove all the old paint with tape (I know, I know) but I was advised my a local eaa guy not to..

anyone else have any suggestions??

The aircraft is finished superbly and I want to try to avoid removing any filler.

Thanks

Tom

[Anonymous]

This is sort of an obvious suggestion and might sound like overkill, but I personally would consider consulting two different auto/plane professional painters, even if only to look at the primer situation (i.e. find out why the topcoat is coming off, and for suggestions on a suitable topcoat for the current primer).

I fell pray to the Stits Smoothprime/Flight Gloss fiasco, what a mess.  Talk about topcoat peeling off......

Painting a plane is obviously a big undertaking, something that you don't want to do twice.  Moreover, you'd hate to have problems in a couple years that you might have been able to avoid by having skilled eyes look at things now.

[Dan Patch]

Painting a plane is obviously a big undertaking, something that you don't want to do twice. Moreover, you'd hate to have problems in a couple years that you might have been able to avoid by having skilled eyes look at things now...

I'd second the advice about getting some professional input.  I know several guys that have had paint adhesion problems over the years, and it really is a huge setback/problem to have to deal with if your paint doesn't hold up.    :evil:    

Putting a good paint over a 'good' primer can still be big trouble if they aren't really a compatible system.

[1 guest]

My Long-EZ is twenty years old and the paint job from the builder still looks pretty good. I have some cracks and a few chips here and there but it is still functional, so I'm not going to repaint it.  I still clean it with water and use a little wax now and then.  Besides, if I ever decide to sell the plane, nothing will be hidden from the new owner.

Go fly yours and keep havin' fun.

N5DN

[Guest 38]

My Varieze is over 20 years old. I used acrylic lacquer with both a light grey and a dark grey (almost black) primer applied first.
My paint seperation problems seem to be with the dark grey primer and also in areas where micro was used such as over the spars. The white paint will crack and lift all the way to the micro. I later found that featherfill will absorb moisture. No problem in Mojave!
My fix has been to repair with Mortons Eliminator. It seems to be totally resistant to moisture and have had no problems in those repaired areas since.