Started January 2, 2007
My planned paint scheme is the standard Bearhawk Red/White like the prototypes are painted. The layout and measurements for the stripe pattern are found in the November 2001 Bear-Traks newsletter. My color choices are Poly Fiber's Insignia White and Pontiac Red.
Some builders are using Aerothane for a high gloss look, but I have chosen to go with Poly Tone. I'm looking for the more traditional look of a fabric airplane. I'll compound polish the Poly Tone paint with a polishing wheel later and will get a fairly good glossy shine but without having to worry about a fresh air respirator. The Poly Tone also allows for easier repairs, should I need to do that later. All metal parts will be Epoxy Primed with EP 420 then top coated with Poly Fiber Enamel (with hardener) in matching colors.
Preparation is the key to a great paint job. Taking your time and getting out every flaw you can find now, will pay off later with a nice looking paint job.
Once the first 2 cross coats of Poly Spray were applied over a 2 day period, the whole thing was thoroughly wet sanded being careful to not rub completely through to the fabric. Once you reach pink, stop sanding.
A final cross coat was put on and some touch up sanding was needed here and there. Finally one more cross coat just to make sure that the Poly Spray that was taken off during sanding, was replaced.
Here is the fuselage ready for paint:
Here is a picture of the interior with 2 cross coats of Poly Spray:
You will know if you have enough Poly Spray by looking at the inside back
toward the tail, with sunlight shining on the outside. You should not be
able to see any light coming through the fabric. If so, re-spray with
poly spray until it's totally dark inside.
Now for the white paint. The entire fuselage was first wiped down with the Poly paint prep and then tack clothed. Poly Tone Insignia White was then applied as per the Poly Fiber system instructions. It is best to spray everything white, including the areas where it will be Red. The white base coat gives all other colors a brighter appearance.
I found the Poly Tone very easy to apply. I would encourage anyone to paint your own airplane. With Poly Tone its no big deal - really!
Here is the fuselage with 3 coats of Insignia White Poly Tone applied:
The other side:
Who says you can't get a glossy look with Poly Tone? - and this hasn't even
been rubbed out yet:
Just think about how nice it will look after I polish it out with a wheel
and put some Carnuba Car wax on it.
The interior, which will eventually be sprayed with a light grey Poly Tone,
was also painted white initially:
I purposely tried to mist coat the white on the interior to get a flat (no
gloss) look, but as you can see it came out a little shiny anyway.
The plan now is to mask off the door flanges with a paper overhang and then spray the interior grey trying to get it as flat as possible by using higher pressure and lighter paint flow. I really do not want a shiny interior.
To set up my stripe pattern for the Pontiac Red, I want to have the engine in place with nose bowl and prop spinner in place. I will then be able to lay out nice straight stripes from nose to tail to lay out the red stripes and pattern.
To mount the engine, I needed to put the landing gear and tail wheel back on. I also mounted the rudder so I can get good alignment for the red stripe pattern on the tail.
The nose bowl needs to be located in it's final position by blocking it up
with some wood blocks and
clamps:
note: In the picture above, the nose hasn't been positioned yet.