Tailcone Prime and Paint

One thing that I'm doing different on the tailcone versus the other empennage parts is that I'm painting the parts after priming.  Aesthetically I would prefer to see a clean color when looking down the tail vs AKZO primer green. Also, as I continue with this build I may scratch, add or remove parts and wanted to have an easy method for doing touch ups.  With the easy part in mind I picked an off the shelve Rust-Oluem product as a top coat. There are a number of colors and I picked Light Machine Gray because it's fairly neutral and I'm planning on a gray and charcoal interior so it should blend well.

With the current weather starting to get cooler I wanted to get a bulk of my tailcone parts primed and painted over the weekend.  Saturday it was warm enough to paint but with a threat of pending rain I had to plan accordingly.  I laid out the parts in my garage and did my usual routine of prepping the parts and letting them dry.  Once I was a few hours into part prepping I mixed a batch of primer and started with thin coats, 2 each side.  A few times drops of rain started to fall so I pulled everything back into my garage, dried pieces off and started again.  The rain wasn't falling consistently so was able to get everything primed over the course of the afternoon.

Organized parts, I labeled the cardboard instead of the parts.

Primed Parts, at the point I label the parts.

You have a window of time between priming in which you need to paint to ensure proper adhesion. AKZO states that time as being 3 - 24 hours.  So even though today it was in the 40s and really too cold to paint outside I had to get it done so decided to do it all in the garage. I set up my paint booth and laid out several pieces of cardboard.  Put my shop fan facing the work area and laid everything out.  To prep each piece, I visually inspected for any issues and used 600 grit sandpaper to sand any areas of concern, then used a clean rag to get any dust or particles off.

Painting was time consuming but not difficult.  I used a little $5 handle that hooks onto the rattle cans to save my fingers.  Worked out well and put 2-3 coats on each piece.  After letting it dry for an hour or so I flipped the pieces and repeated the process.  After an hour or so of that I visually inspected each piece and touched up as needed.  My garage is insulated but it's probably still 60 something in there so I'll give the pieces a few days to cure before I mess with them.

A few of the parts painted

Went through almost 5 cans!

Once I finish dimpling the skins I will repeat this process with them.  I will also have to do this with my replacement pieces that I should get in the next week or so.  Given that it will most likely be cold out I will need to do this in the garage again.  Wasn't much of an issue, important to wear a respirator and periodically open the garage doors and let the paint dust blow out.