Badland Part 103 Pilots and Builders Forum

Anyone have any suggestions on which paint to use for priming of wings , flaperons and tail feathers? I was told to use Kilz but found that the water based primer caused instant surface rust on the metal tail feathers. I have spent many hours sanding and wire brushing to remove this rust.

If your metal parts are not powder coated, it may be worth looking into how much that would cost. Another option would be enamels, which are specifically designed for painting metal. Enamel sticks better to metal. As for a primer, though, someone may have a suggestion for that. I would be cautious about using Kilz as that's really not designed for aircraft use that I know of. I could be way off on that one, and Kilz may have an aircraft version. Hopefully another member will chime in with more experience in this area.

Todd

I used the green zinc chromate (I think) paint commonly used on planes as it was recommended for Oratex covering thanks to its resilience in peeling off.

It may be worth researching. However, on other exposed parts I used rattle can Rustoleum. If you let it dry for a few days its unlikely to scratch or peel, from my experience.

I'd worry way more about the wood than the aluminum. I'll leave the 6061 aluminum bare to save weight, and it will last a lot longer than I will. Steel needs to be protected, and powder coat rules. If I have to paint it, my go-to is a two part epoxy. It tends to play well with other paints and it's very durable. The white or black looks good enough to leave as the final paint in my opinion, but cosmetics were never really that important to me.

I left my aluminum bare to save weight, as Rusty said. Any wood was sealed.

I only worried about the steel.

One thing I didnt do is grease all moving parts, which I may go back and do.