Darren_O Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 Well I've bought myself an Ocelot off ebay with a little wing ding. I've zero experience with moulded gliders but I can paint to a reasonable standard. Is it just a case of sanding and painting like a vehicle? Anybody know which yellow they used? Guess I could pick one closest and mask the stripe off. Be nice to get a real match though. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satinet Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 I would mask off at the blue strips. Then what i do is get a piece of card and cut a whole in it, say and inch diameter (trial run of course!). Then you hold the holy card between the can and the area to be sprayed while you're spraying. That way you confine the mist to a much narrower area without having a line at the masking tape. And it's a lot easier to fade the colour out/in. As you know with cars even if you know for a fact what the colour is, it's still very difficult to match exactly. This is assuming you are using a rattle can rather than a fine spray gun. The other point, which I'm sure you know, is to make sure the can is warm. I usually put the can in hot water for a while before using it. Ditto it's easier to paint on to a warm surface. You could send an email to the bloke, as they mostly stick to a set of colours. Like I say though, it's not always easy to match. Thin yellow layers over carbon tend to look more green, although that wing is glass, by the looks of it. There's no magic to it, no. I tend to flat the finish with very fine sand paper and go over with clear lacquer. I think most models are painted straight in the mould with acrylic nowadays. Not sure if they use a lacquer coat. If you take a sand paper to a modern model you are straight through to the cloth underneath. Obviously you will get orange peel, paint runs, and areas that need refilling. And then the lacquer will react with the paint and you'll end up painting half the wing and loosing the will to live, but I don't think it's different than painting anything else! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren_O Posted October 9, 2016 Author Share Posted October 9, 2016 This wing is balsa sheeted, is that correct?? I thought the Ocelot was moulded? Anyone had one? Feels quite weak and easy to press on, feels like a sheeted built up wing. Looking closely at the undamaged part of the wing can see a slight weave under the paint. Thinking he's not glassed the repair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian R Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 I recently had a similar problem with matching up a colour and went to a local car accessory shop. They had a full range of spray paints. The owner suggested the best way to get the nearest colour was to first test the brush touch up paint on part of the model which I took with me. He let me try different ones and once I got the nearest match I bought the spray can. I cannot refer specifically to the Ocelot but a lot of wings are covered with balsa and glassed. Good luck 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren_O Posted October 9, 2016 Author Share Posted October 9, 2016 Many thanks Brian never thought of the touch up pots. Now I'm thinking of airbrushing it using the pot. Cheap fix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satinet Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 4 hours ago, Darren_O said: This wing is balsa sheeted, is that correct?? I thought the Ocelot was moulded? Anyone had one? Feels quite weak and easy to press on, feels like a sheeted built up wing. Looking closely at the undamaged part of the wing can see a slight weave under the paint. Thinking he's not glassed the repair. The wing itself is quite likely laid up using balsa yes. The balsa 'sandwich' goes between the layers of cloth. So a layup for the wing might be glass/balsa/glass/paint or glass/balsa/carbon/paint etc. Most planes now don't use balsa but instead use roahcell or other foam instead. The principal is the same though. Bear in mind glass cloth cures clear with most epoxy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren_O Posted October 11, 2016 Author Share Posted October 11, 2016 On 9/29/2016 at 13:42, satinet said: You could send an email to the bloke, I did just that and got a response in less than 12 hours, great customer service RAL 1018 if anyone else has an Ocelot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satinet Posted October 11, 2016 Share Posted October 11, 2016 That's good. Bet it won't match Like i say the euro mouldie makers often seem to stick to a range of colours even over years of production. Some of the new hi viz colours might be a bit hard to match. Don't fancy matching in to a Samba model precision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren_O Posted October 11, 2016 Author Share Posted October 11, 2016 I can see me getting the t-cut out and buffing it all back like new While you're here the Banana fuse is that kevlar or carbon in the nose? Just wondering for fitting a 2.4 rx in it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satinet Posted October 11, 2016 Share Posted October 11, 2016 If it's not black inside it's not carbon. I don't think too many carbon bananas were made and I'm not sure the fuselage was carbon even then. It should be quite easy to see where the wiring connector enters the fuselage and inside the nose cone, which is the important area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weysoar Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 (edited) Chamfer the edges of the glass cloth to give you the biggest area of cloth to laminate to, lay some new cloth in say 2 x 25 gsm and laminate with epoxy, bang all the bubbles out with the tip of the brush. Lay some nylon lining material (or peelply if you have it!) and wet it out, layer a couple of sheets of paper kitchen cloth over that and bind with masking tape, once satisfied, walk away and leave till hardened. Gently peel the peelply or material off to leave the laminate. Using a firm backing I use sponge kneelers from Wilko, with 400 wet and dry, lots of water and take the excess unused cloth and epoxy away till smooth, use a rattle can of high build filler if needed but be gentle with the wet and dry and wait till dry, paint as per above. I've spent half a lifetime doing repairs for others, I doubt if you'll get perfect results first time, but its a good exercise and it'll be more robust. The easy option is to ignore it and fly! Edited October 12, 2016 by Weysoar Misspell 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren_O Posted November 10, 2016 Author Share Posted November 10, 2016 Slightly different repair, a crease this time. Any advice? As an aside can I use the halfords type repair kits on a wing? http://www.halfords.com/motoring/paints-body-repair/fillers-preparation/davids-fastglass-glass-fibre-kit-small Many thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren_O Posted November 10, 2016 Author Share Posted November 10, 2016 Just looked at the Halfords matting, a bit heavy :):) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jef Ott Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 The fibres are still there, just cyano them to regain their rigidity, sand off the high spots of the cracked gel coat, then fill sand and spray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satinet Posted November 11, 2016 Share Posted November 11, 2016 How floppy is it? Is it both sides? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren_O Posted November 16, 2016 Author Share Posted November 16, 2016 Very floppy and both sides. I've used pink zap and some glass fibre tape to get it flying gain It's ugly but functional. Now...back to the ocelot. Added an elevator servo today and an RX, whilst setting it upon my radio I realised how much play there is in control horns.Seems to be OE hardware looking at kits on the web. Worried they will flutter at speed. Worth changing or am I being over cautious? Many thanks for all the help and advice so far, really has helped me out. p.s. if anyone finds this thread the best place for a can of RAL 1018 yellow paint was maplins ambersil range. £3 ish a can and no delivery charge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren_O Posted November 20, 2016 Author Share Posted November 20, 2016 GRRR no idea what the previous guy used to repair but it's got silicone in it Fisheyes everywhere. Given up with airbrush, remasked it wider and thrown some hi build primer over it. Big weight penalty but at least the paint will stick. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren_O Posted December 3, 2016 Author Share Posted December 3, 2016 Many thanks all, this is now up and flying well. Really do appreciate all the help, be grounded without it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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