Progress is happening

Even though I haven't posted lately, progress is in the works. I sanded a lot of the paint off and made arrangements to have a local body shop shoot it. So far, they have shot the upper and lower cowl, the flight controls, canopy and tailcone. Today, we are supposed to trailer the fuselage over and paint it over the weekend.

No photos, with this post, instead, take a look at the photos, at Sandy's blog www.sanleeott.blogspot.com , from last week's mini-vacation in Arizona. I gave a Mistake-Proofing presentation at the National Association for Healthcare Quality on Monday, so we fooled around in Arizona for the rest of the week.

A Paint Job Gone Bad - Rats!!!

After the paint job was done, and much to my total dismay, I discovered there were significant problems with the color match on different parts of the plane. The forward fuselage/wing/canard is one shade and the tail cone, control surfaces, cowling and canopy are another.

Blame is easily dispensed, but in truth, it is shared.

Maybe I should just make a list of the issues, rather than elaborating on each one.

1. The paint booth did not have a clean regulated air supply. This meant that the pressure delivered to the air gun ranged from 70 - 110 psi. Rob could adjust the pressure at his gun, but that was a band-aid.
   
2. We did not have the proper range of tips for his expensive HVLP spray gun. Having the correct tip size is critical to accomodate the viscosity of the paint. My brother forgot to bring the other tips and was forced to use his "retired" HVHP gun, which resulted in wasting a lot of paint.
3. We used two different gallons of custom mixed paint, purchased with a one month interval. The paint shop did not properly mix the second gallon, so it didn't exactly match the first. It should have been a lot closer. However, it would have been better to purchase the two gallons at the same time, then mix them together before shooting. Bouncing up to steps #1&2 above, if we had the right gun and a regulated air supply we would have used a lot less paint and the second gallon may not have been an issue. Everything is connected.
   
4. Due to having the wrong gun, we ran out of the second gallon and were unable to paint the canopy. We purchased a single quart and it turned out that it was mixed way off and was very light. The paint shop remixed another quart, but it is not enough compensation for the extra work involved.
   
5. We shot the fuselage at the end of a long day. It would have been much better to wait until the next day when we were fresher and thinking straighter.
6. The cup used to proportion the paint, hardener, and reducer was confusing to use and not really suited to the paint we used.

Of course, my first thought was to see if I could just live with it. I brought Sandy out to look at the plane and get her opinion. She didn't like it either and said something to the effect that "you'll never be happy with this".

I brought out a father/son team from a local body shop and asked them how to make it right. Chris said the words I really didn't want to hear; "If it was mine, I'd just re-shoot the whole thing. You're not going to be able to blend this properly".

So now, almost a month after the first shoot, I have a lot of the paint sanded off and I will be hauling it off to the body shop this afternoon.

The "lessons learned" post will come later. Have a nice day.

Q-2 canopy for sale

I have a new clear canopy for sale, on Ebay.
Here is the URL http://tinyurl.com/62j6gd



All proceeds will be donated to the Plastic Explosive "Sander's Elbow" fund.