Month: April 2023

Last night I finally finished painting the cockpit area and the canopy frame. It took a lot of touch-up coats to ensure all the surfaces were covered, and it was more time consuming than I anticipated.

The last thing I did was strip off the primer I had painted on the outside of the forward canopy skin. I had painted this in a somewhat absent-minded moment earlier in the canopy frame construction. The aft part of the skin is painted mat black to minimize reflections on the canopy.

With the painting done, I peeled off the paper and tape, and was happy with the way everything turned out. It’s far from perfect, but it’s adequate for me given my limited experience and sub-optimal painting environment.

To keep it out of the way, I moved the frame back onto the airplane, then set the canopy onto the workbench. I then countersunk all of the holes along the trailing edge for #6 screws. I used some vinyl tape on the countersunk cage which helped stop any rotation and scratching.

Over the last couple of days I’ve been painting the cockpit, and the canopy frame. I’m using stewart systems’ finish coat, battleship grey, and adding some flattener to get a flat finish.

I’m still learning as I go, and feel like I’m gradually getting a more consistent application. It’s still far from perfect, but it’s good enough for what I need. I’ve needed to tweak the amount of water I’m using to thin the paint because of the flattener. Less water seems to be the way to go to avoid runs and splotches. Waiting for 15 minutes between thin fog coats helps to build up the color and result in a consistent looking finish. Good lighting helps a lot.

At this point I have one more coat to apply to the roll bar, but otherwise it’s done for now. Hoping to finish this paint job tonight.