It's been very hot in Houston and Vari-Prime doesn't work too well when it's hot. It cures much faster and doesn't seem to etch (it's self etching) into the aluminum before completely curing.
Armed with that knowledge and experience, I got up this morning at 5:45AM to prime. Oh the joy's of priming and the trouble you're willing to go through. :)
I woke up and needed to clean the right elevator parts with DX-330 before priming. It took nearly 2 hours to clean them. Finally I was really to prime at 7:45AM. It still wasn't too warm, so I started priming. It took another hour.
Honestly, I was a little disappointed becuase after priming, I noticed a couple of spots where the DX-330 apparently didn't get completely dry. This resulted in a little discoloration on the primer. The primer still cured and etched into the aluminum, but it was disappointing that I let it get by me because I was racing the sun.
So it too a full 3 hours to prime the right elevator.
I decided that I wasn't going to work that hard tomorrow on the left elevator. So I spent 2 more hours racing the Sun again. This time I was trying to finish cleaning the left elevator parts with DX-330 before the sun dropped below the horizion. I managed to clean all the parts and I put them out in the evening sun to dry. This time I know they're completely dry. :)
Tomorrow morning, will begin around 5:45 again. I'll get up and shoot them with primer. All the parts are in position and I've got them covered with a tarp. All I have to do is remove the tarp, mix the variprime, and shoot them.
