Preparing to paint flight controls
Imron is deadly, so I'm using a Hobby Air forced air respirator and wearing long sleeves, gloves, and glasses. The Hobby Air unit pumps fresh air in through a 40' hose. Works great.
Fuselage just fits back into garage after painting is done for the day
Wings are bolted to pressboard which is used to keep the wet painted side of the wing off the table that holds the wing
Wing after painting. Lights clamped to wing support illuminate the job while the paint is shot. As Check Shedd, EAA Tech Counselor told me, it helps to have a light arranged so you can see the reflected glare while you paint.
Painting work ran late a few times
Lessons learned: DeVilbiss tech support convinced me that a HVLP gun wouldn't be economical for a single aircraft paint job. Wrong. I ended up needing 3 full gallons of Imron (plus activator). The small ($50) cost differential between a DeVilbis standard Finish Line gun and the DeVilbis HVLP Finish Line gun pales in comparison to $150/gallon Imron paint and $50/qt Imron activator.
Other Lessons learned: DuPont's Imron application instructions (1 medium coat, 10 minute flash, 1 heavy coat) didn't work too well for covering dimpled rivets. DuPont tech support had a better suggestion, which worked well: two medium coats rather than one, flash time of 25 minutes or more rather than 10 minutes, THEN the heavy coat. This provides much better rivet coverage. The longer flash time allows a heavier intermediate coats without causing sagging.