Interior Paint

I have been working through the normal priming routine on the interior of the fuse.. There is a big debate on whether to paint now, or to wait and paint once it is assembled. I figure I need to learn about spraying the final top coat, so why not get started now. Plus, it is easier and less masking that you need to worry about if you paint before assembly. The only drawbacks are the rivets won’t be painted.. In my case I think that will be OK, because I am excited about a bit of the industrial look inside the aircraft and as well, the gold rivets will go well with the color I chose. I am going with the Sherwin Williams Genesis and was able to shoot a couple test shots, wasn’t sure about the color or the fact that it is metallic and a semi-gloss, the other issue with the SW Genesis is that it takes about 24 hours to dry, especially in the current December temps around here. However after shooting some tests looking at the color I think I am really excited about it. My only concerns are it is a bit darker than I thought, but in the sun, the gold/yellow hues comes through and lightens it up. I think all up I am really excited about the color and my initial results.  In fact, the pictures don't show it well, it comes across as a very deep color and is a bit lighter and warmer than below.   Plus to top it off Bekah likes it, so I am happy..   ;-)

For the gun, I am using an HVLP gun from Harbor freight. Normally these guns are really pricy, but from harbor freight I got the cheapest one out there. I realized that Volume of Air is the biggest deal.. I was able to get enough air to fully atomize the paint by fine tuning the gun and compressor. Basically am pushing 100psi down the ¼ line to the gun. Then on the gun my regulator is set for 60psi. Now that is high pressure for a HVLP (high volume LOW PRESSURE) gun.. but because of the thin ¼ air line, after 1 second of trigger pull the pressure drops down to 40psi on the gun and stays there. My compressor can even keep it there for the duration, so basically I am compensating for a thinner line by using a bit higher pressure until the trigger is pulled, then the constant pressure is just about perfect. Atomizes the paint great, and the results look really good.