David's RV-14

03 Jan 22 - 07-07 Step 9 - Priming

Finally got all the 'bits' I (think I) needed to prime by air spraying. Never done this before, so another voyage into the unknown. After eko cleaning & eko etching, i arranged it on the spray racks I built from some chicken wire & the two ends of the Vans shipping crate. In hindsight I tried to do much in one go, as I also was planning to spray the rudder skins too. Long story short, it didnt go well. I am not sure if the paint wasnt mixed properly or it was too cold, or I am just terrible at it. There were lots of streaks that needed to be sanded and some areas where the primer didn't adhere well. The only good news it doesnt smell anywhere as bad as the rattle cans, and actually isnt that hard to clean up. So in the interest of time, I decided to overcoat with rattle can primer where needed (which was pretty much everywhere). So the inside of my rudder will be green/white combo, but no one will see it :)

Lessons learned : Mix the paint better, so I finally found a Mixing Mate Paint Lid I had seen on a US builder's youtube so we will see if it helps. I give it a few turns everytime I go into the workshop. Cant do much about the weather, but I can practise more, so intend to prime the practise aerofoils. I also think the spray racks will be recycled. As they are heavy, difficult to move and take up alot of space. Back to cardboard..simples...

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31 Dec 21 - Ch7 07-07

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