pariah
Senior Heliman
Location: West Valley City, UT - United States of America
| The "Auto Air Colors" line of paints (acrylic Auto paint made by Createx - not to be confused with "Createx Colors" which is meant for porous materials - ie. not metal or fiberglass) suggest a 2 part urethane based clearcoat in their technical documentation.
www.autoaircolors.com has the full manual.
I mention the different lines of paints by Createx because I originally bought "Createx Colors" - only to find that the instructions explicitly say they have trouble adhering to metal and fiberglass.
I seem to recall the RC Heli mag article recommending that you take it to an auto body shop to get it cleared - for a couple of reasons:
1.) The hazards of working with the stuff - the protective equipment alone is more expensive than the clear. One suggested by Bill @ Arizona Heli costs about $400 - and that's the el cheapo hobby model, not the $1300 model he uses.
2.) Clear is fairly expensive stuff - The author called PPG clear "Liquid Gold" in the article.
3.) Quite often, an auto-body shop will have enough "left over" clear mixed up at the end of the day to shoot it onto your canopy. Normally they'd end up throwing it out. So shooting onto something small lets them "use" it properly instead of wasting it.
4.) With clear, there's no substitute for experience. Don't expect the first thing you clear to come out perfect.
One thing to be aware of: You know how a lot of spray paints say "may cause cancer"? Clear doesn't have this warning. It says "will cause cancer", among other things leading up to hospitalization and death. Many of those hazards are for occupational users of the stuff - ie. pro painters who use it daily. I'm not sure I care about the distinction, though.
In other words, while the Createx paints are rather safe as they're nontoxic & water-based, the clear is an entirely different animal.
* Wear safety glasses. You don't want overspray getting in your eyes.
* Wear a mask with a filter designed for VOC's (ie. the "gas masks" at the auto body shop - not to be confused with dust masks from home depot).
* Wear skin protection to keep overspray off your skin. I'm not sure if you really need a tyvek "bunny suit", but at minimum an old long-sleeved shirt, latex/nitrile gloves, and long pants.
* Use a well-ventilated area. This is a must, the fumes are powerful.
* Don't spray if you think there's a chance that children or pregnant women will get exposed to the fumes.
If you do it in your garage, I want to emphasize the unpleasantness of the fumes (this is from my own experience):
* Keep the garage door open to the ouside - well ventilated...
* Lock & bolt & put a sign on all doors from the inside of the house that lead into the garage so nobody goes through it when you're shooting clear. (Just opening & closing the door for a second or two makes the whole house stink)
* Then shut any windows into the house near the open garage door.
* Yes, the fumes really are that strong, and more importantly, they are that dangerous. It's good for domestic tranquility to keep them out of the home...
--
Helicopters & Women: The last thing I want is one whose head has a few loose screws. |
