Spray painted FT TT and Explorer, notes on sanding/masking

[markfickett]

I painted my FliteTest planes! Rust-Oleum spray paint, matte base coat with gloss color coat + gloss clear coat.

I didn't end up needing to sand for good adhesion even on taped areas. I had some dollar-store foam core board and some lasercut semi-waterproof. I had already been flying the planes for a while, so I masked around all the electronics; it was a pain but worked out fine with the caveat that I had to free up a couple pushrods afterwards. The article I found was unclear on whether sanding was necessary, and was using some more advanced stenciling techniques, so hoping this helps someone looking for a very basic/simple approach!

I did have to stick the (blue painter's) masking tape to cloth a few times before sticking it to the plane or else it would pull paint off, and my masked edges weren't perfectly clean but look fine at a distance.

I took design inspiration from The Balsa Workbench; may main goal was making it easier to see orientation in the air.

 

[PsyBorg]

I painted my FliteTest planes! Rust-Oleum spray paint, matte base coat with gloss color coat + gloss clear coat.

I didn't end up needing to sand for good adhesion even on taped areas. I had some dollar-store foam core board and some lasercut semi-waterproof. I had already been flying the planes for a while, so I masked around all the electronics; it was a pain but worked out fine with the caveat that I had to free up a couple pushrods afterwards. The article I found was unclear on whether sanding was necessary, and was using some more advanced stenciling techniques, so hoping this helps someone looking for a very basic/simple approach!

I did have to stick the (blue painter's) masking tape to cloth a few times before sticking it to the plane or else it would pull paint off, and my masked edges weren't perfectly clean but look fine at a distance.

I took design inspiration from The Balsa Workbench; may main goal was making it easier to see orientation in the air.

I have been testing paint on foam and found that Rust Oleum to be horrible. Specially that 2x coverage primer. Thats more like house paint then spray paint. I find the Krylon sanding primer to be much better. Its much thinner so lighter coats can be applied PLUS you sand it back to make things perfectly smooth. That's great for air brushing so you can get perfect finish coats and extremely fine details with practice.

 

[markfickett]

Thanks, glad to hear Krylon is better. I didn't really love Rust Oleum, and whatever 2x is supposed to mean I used up a whole can on just these planes to get an opaque coat so I guess it's not 2x the sqft you can cover with the spray can. I didn't have much time for this project though, so multiple coats plus sanding would have really stretched it out.