Interior Paint

Previously I was using a 'machine gray' top coat on empennage and baggage areas pieces.  However it became apparent once I received interior color samples that this wasn't going to match my leather and headliner choices.  Knowing I was going to need to paint the visible parts of the baggage area as well as the plastic interior panels I started searching for a paint type.

I wanted to stay away from a 2-part spray on epoxy type paint.  I'm sure these work great but for small repairs it's a bit cumbersome so I searched for an aerosol spray type.  I settled on an SEM Color Coat product.  The Warm Gray is a fairly close match to the Dove Gray leather and headliner material from AeroSport.  On top of that it's the exact same product I used on my 172 interior project and 2 years later it's held up great.  An additional step I'm doing on this project that I didn't do on the 172 is to spray everything with SEM's low luster clear coat product.  This will help give it an additional finished look and feel without being too shiny.

Throughout the build there are several times you'll have to paint the interior.  Some paint the entire interior to include the access panels.  I decided to only paint the baggage area and anything that will be visible on completion, so not covered with any side paneling or carpet material.  Only painting these parts saves time, money and complication.  At a later date I'll need to paint the interior panels themselves and any forward cabin area that's not getting covered but that will be a later adventure with the process remaining the same.

The process for painting is really straight forward.  I used 320 grit paper and roughed up my previously painted parts as well as the unpainted parts.  Cleaned off with some Acetone and then taped out the areas.  As with any paint job a majority of the work goes into the prep work and taping off area's to avoid over-sprayed.  I went ahead and removed the baggage door to paint separately with the tailcone access panel pieces.

Reusing Vans packing material

First coat

Painting process started by using a thick coat of primer on the bare metal parts that were being painted.  Wasn't overly concerned with over-spray onto the previous painted pieces since they were getting repainted anyhow.  Two thick coats did the trick and I let that dry for about 4 hours.  Then I put three coats of top coat on and looked for any areas of concern.  That would be cosmetic items like runs in the paint or missed areas.  You can easily wipe off the paint with some acetone if it doesn't look right and respray that area.  Once I was happy with it I let it dry over night.  The next day I just looked for any areas of concern and not finding any put two coats of the low luster clear coat on it.

Once the clear coat dries a bit it's safe to take all the paper and taping off and marvel at the beauty of it all.

Baggage area painted