Airbrush touchup

[Highflight]

Has anyone ever used an airbrush to touch up exterior pain on a Mooney

Nick Gravino

nicholasgravino@att.net

[carusoam]

I had good luck with a spray can of automotive paint on my C. Would expect better if you have airbrush experience.

My 40yr old paint was failing in small areas at the time. Sand, primer, sand, paint...

If nothing else, it's good to protect the metal.

To get a decent color match, take one of your removable panels to an automotive paint shop.

If it doesn't work, you can buy a newer plane with great paint on it already...

Best regards,

-a-

[aviatoreb]

Has anyone ever used an airbrush to touch up exterior pain on a Mooney

Nick Gravino

nicholasgravino@att.net

 

The paint on my cowl pieces was pretty beat up when I got the plane - 12 yr old paint job - flying through rain and such can beat up leading edges of paint.  Wings were mostly ok, and leading edges of wing are not a problem if you have tks panels.

 

So there is a retired air force air plane painter on my field.  I brought the cowl cover pieces to the local autobody store and they did a super job of color matching my two different colors - metallic green and a silver.  My painter friend did an amazing job completely recovering the cowl cover pieces, stripes and all - with my very unexpert assistance.  He sprayed with a professional spray gun.  The trick is mixing the paint and hardeners in the right rations.  And choosing the right setting on the gun and moving the gun at the right distance and speed across the surfaces being painted.  Oh and of course prep work takes 90% of the time.  Sanding and masking.   In return I flew him 1.5 hrs round trip visit his son...which was hardly torture since not only do I love to fly..but his son manages a flight line for a medical lift company so I got to crawl around inside all sorts of small jets including a phenom 100.

 

Anyway, 

[rbridges]

A friend of mine airbrushed the wing tip to another buddy's ovation.  It looked really good except the paint color was just off a bit.  Nothing to do with the airbrushing itself.

[1964-M20E]

Color matching can be quite difficult.  What the body shops do is they paint the repaired area or part  with the new paint and then progressively dilute the color with clear and keep going further and further from the repair spot usually to the next body seam in steps and when you look at it is difficult to see the different shade of pant.  How much effort you put into it would really depend on how good the current finish is overall and when you think you may sell or repaint the plane.  There are also touch up paint guns available as well to cover larger areas than you may do with an airbrush.

[RJBrown]

Color matching can be quite difficult.  What the body shops do is they paint the repaired area or part  with the new paint and then progressively dilute the color with clear and keep going further and further from the repair spot usually to the next body seam in steps and when you look at it is difficult to see the different shade of pant.  How much effort you put into it would really depend on how good the current finish is overall and when you think you may sell or repaint the plane.  There are also touch up paint guns available as well to cover larger areas than you may do with an airbrush.

It is called blending. I don't like it though. Gives a good initial result but then fades unevenly. When I had my rt elevator replaced we left the white a little brighter on it. Allows it to fade closer and look better longer. I have seen cars where the faded original paint was matched perfectly. This perfectly matched paint then fades out and looks worse than the original paint.

[jetdriven]

Color matching can be quite difficult.  What the body shops do is they paint the repaired area or part  with the new paint and then progressively dilute the color with clear and keep going further and further from the repair spot usually to the next body seam in steps and when you look at it is difficult to see the different shade of pant.  How much effort you put into it would really depend on how good the current finish is overall and when you think you may sell or repaint the plane.  There are also touch up paint guns available as well to cover larger areas than you may do with an airbrush.

 

Thats incorrect.  On an automobile, they spot paint the damaged area, then clear the whole panel. On a single stage paint like an airplane, they spot paint the damage, and then blend the paint by pulling the gun back as they approach the edge of the repair, effectively ghosting the color onto the existing area. But its very hard to polish that out to match.  Also, if the guy mixing the paint isnt scanning it with a computer scanner, its not even going to be close.

[fantom]

Thats incorrect.  On an automobile, they spot paint the damaged area, then clear the whole panel. On a single stage paint like an airplane, they spot paint the damage, and then blend the paint by pulling the gun back as they approach the edge of the repair, effectively ghosting the color onto the existing area. But its very hard to polish that out to match.  Also, if the guy mixing the paint isnt scanning it with a computer scanner, its not even going to be close.

That's how a good paint shop does it. Also with the new 'wet look' single stage airplane paints, it's why the old technique of scratching a new paint job to apply a clear coat over it isn't advisable anymore. Makes it extremely hard to touch up and match well in the future, doesn't look any better initially (but does smooth out the paint stripe edges) and future yellowing is probable.