Brief Description: Set up paint booth in garage for cockpit painting.
Today I set up the garage as a paint booth to paint the cabin parts and interior of the cockpit. I hung plastic sheeting from the garage door structure and set a box fan in the only garage window. I used duct tape to hold everything together and seal around the window fan. The other half of the garage should be sealed off from any overspray. When I paint I'll raise the garage door about 4" to have a flow through the fan. I used some aluminum conduit that I had laying around and chicken wire to make a spray bench for the loose parts. I am using Sherwin-Williams Jet Flex water based interior paint to paint the interior cockpit area. I know the window fan is not explosion proof, but without the solvents in the paint it should be OK. I'll wear a half respirator which filters organic vapors and aerosol particulates and a face shield to prevent blow-back into my eyes. Tommorrow I'm going to mask off the areas that won't be painted.
As soon as the paint arrives from Aero Performance in Ft. Worth, TX, we'll lightly scuff the primed parts and cockpit areas of the Quick Build with a fine Scotch Brite pad and then wipe it down with a water based cleaner Sherwin-Williams calls Aqua Mate. I'll add the paint to the HVLP spray gun since no reducing is required (uses distilled water to reduce viscosity if needed) and start on the small parts first to get the hang of it. It calls for two medium wet coats with 10-15 minutes flash time between coats. Shouldn't be too bad, but then again, I'm no painting expert.
Hung plastic sheeting from garaged door structure.
