another step forward

So, for those who have been following my build, I got the second cross coat of Eko-Fill applied today. Its been kind of a challenge keeping the shop warm and dry enough to start the paint process and I had to hand a drop cloth over the frame to keep the condensation from dripping on it. Hopefully I will get it painted in a few more days.

Nice progress! I am EkoFilling and painting my wings now. Will hit the fuselage last. I am also trying the new white EkoFill for my final two coats to help with my white base paint. I sure like the Stewart Systems process.

I had trouble with the Stewart system poly paint on some controls I did last summer. I read the info and watched the C.D., I am sure it is more me than the paint.
I did a Champ in the early 90,s with the old "Blue River"system , but used butyrate after the filler coats for all the color coats.
It work well. Has anyone used butyerate color with the Stewart system?
Doug

I can't speak to the difficulties you had with Stewarts but all I can say is I just went all the way through paint on all my control surfaces and it was a pure joy. I kept saying to myself I can't believe great this stuff is. This is a first time cover job for me too. I think shop temp is important, should be at least 65 degrees. I have been shooting at 67-68 and have great results.

All of the Stewart videos are on YouTube now.

Temp and humidity are important. Below 60 deg it's not worth trying to paint. If it's over 90% humidity it takes longer for the glue and paint to dry so you have to adjust for that. A little experimenting before tackling the "REAL" job is recommended.

I just replaced a tip bow and painted it in a make-shift booth at the customers hanger. The 3 problems I ran into were, lack of heat and time to adequately let the primer (ekofill) dry before painting the top coat, the compressor had a hard time keeping up with the gun which required constant attention and adjustment of the gun to keep the paint atomized correctly, and not enough light to properly see how the paint was laying down while I was dealing with the slightly inadequate air supply. I also made one little mistake and started my 4th coat with the fan(spray pattern) in the wrong position for the direction I was spraying No runs but it did create a blemish. Overall the customer is extremely happy and thinks it looks great.

The most important thing to remember when spraying the Stewart Systems paint is to follow the directions, Spray LIGHT! coats, and make sure you follow the recommended tack times DON'T RUSH. If you lay it on heavy or rush the tack times the paint will pin-hole and have little air-bubbles and craters that look like trash in the paint. If the primer(ekofill) is not dry before you paint the color you will get what I call the "swiss cheese" affect. I'll have to post some pics so you can see what I mean. The gloss comes from better prep work before painting, not from extra paint.

Jason

Well I finally got it painted. Its a good 5 foot paint job. Not perfect by any means but not bad considering its my first time covering/painting and with what I had to work with. Lessons learned:
1) Even a little psi makes a big difference with a LPHV spray gun.
2) You cant ever have enough light to work with
3) No matter how well you think you cover something up or mask it off you will still get over spray on every thing possible!