Dealing with the Runs

Tuesday 8th January 2008 3 hours


Sanded runs on elevator parts and re-primed. 2nd coat primer to left elevator and vertical stabiliser skins. Started into 2nd quart of primer.


Although most of the primer in the tailplane will never be seen, I just could not leave those runs in the primer without fixing them. The primer had cured to the stage where it could be sanded back so I used some of my 150 grit paper and took them off. there were traces of metal showing through after the sanding but I didn't feel like giving them another two coats for time, weight and material cost reasons. I just went a bit heavier with the primer on the re-spray, keeping the parts horizontal to avoid further runs.


The first quart of primer is now used up and I am into the second. This time, I am thinning as I go, mainly because I do not want to thin a second container and have the whole lot go too thin like the first one. I need to experiment with this one to find the right consistency. I decided to thin by about 10% to start with and I am doing this in the paint pot of the spray gun itself. This is far more convenient but it means I can't measure viscosity because the quantities are too small.


At this level of thinning the paint dries much quicker despite more paint going on. However, it has a rough surface - like fine sandpaper. I probably need to increase the thinning to 15 or 20% but I have to use this lot up first.