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Date:  10-15-2017
Number of Hours:  3.50
Manual Reference:  L1
Brief Description:  Landing Gear Paint

Plans:
1. Paint Landing Gear Parts.

Status: In/Work. One of the things I have learned is that aluminum does not take paint well. You can paint it but it comes off easily. With the green zinc chromate primer I just sprayed it on and let it go at that. I figured that the vast majority of tubes are hidden in the structure. Hence they would not get scratched in use. Not so for the landing gear, wheels and struts. As exposed parts I wanted something that would both look good and wear well. I thought about having it professionally powder coated. Or I could simply spray paint it myself. I have had experience with a product called Aluma-Hyde II that worked very well. It is an epoxy paint especially formulated for guns. I have also heard that powder coating can hide cracks that might spell disaster. Since I was happy with the epoxy paint I chose it as it was simple, convenient, fast and relatively inexpensive.

Aluminum requires chemical preparation to make it able to take paint. This is done with an acid bath and hard chrome coating. Two chemicals available at Aircraft Spruce. A little expensive but it makes a world of difference. You just brush it on and wait a few minutes.

A last note. When using the spray paint I started getting blobs of paint instead of the mist. I thought the nozzle was clogging at first but it turned out to be my gloved fingertip accumulating paint. The latex glove would collect paint that eventually dropped into the mist. It would ruin the part. The easy fix was to avoid getting the glove's fingertip in front of the mist.
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Aluminum Prep Chemicals

Aluminum Prep Chemicals

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Matt Black Epoxy Paint

Matt Black Epoxy Paint

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Painted Landing Gear Gussets

Painted Landing Gear Gussets

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