Paint problem

[MNJoe]

Has anybody in the past had problems with Aerothane not curing after applying?

I painted the lower half of my fuselage with paint I had just purchased. I followed the instructions, the plane is in a heated hanger with low humidity and now two weeks later the paint is still tacky. This was a repaint over 10 plus year old Aerothane.

The manufacturer has told me to throw away the paint I received and they are going to replace it at no cost to me and to paint over the paint that is not curing.

I do not want this to turn into an insurance claim.

Thanks

Joe

[Jim Hartley]

Re: Paint problem

My experience with Aerothane was tack free in just a few hours or less in a low humidity environment. Paint went over well sanded dope.

[Pearson]

Re: Paint problem

Has anybody in the past had problems with Aerothane not curing after applying?
Thanks Joe

Joe,

It sounds like either the catalyst that you used was old/bad or you didn't put enough into the mixture. Are you sure you used Poly Fiber catalyst and not some other brand? Same with the reducer. You can't mix brands when it comes to catalyst or reducer. Painting over old paint shouldn't have caused it. If they are sending you new paint and catalyst, that should work. But you still have to get the old stuff off the plane. If it were me, I would wash off small areas at a time with enamel reducer. When you get down to the silver, stop rubbing. You will probably want to lightly wet sand it again before you repaint.

[Robert Lees]

Re: Paint problem

Yes I had a similar problem, albeit several years ago.
I took pictures & wrote a bit about it on my rebuild blog: http://www.taylorcraft.org.uk/Brey_r...aminated Paint

[paulnuss]

Re: Paint problem

Something is definitely wrong with the paint, the catalyst, or the reducer. Quite a few years ago (almost 30, now that i think about it!) I had a similar problem with Randolph paint, remained tacky for days. I waited a long time (a couple months) before re-painting, when it seemed to have dried enough, but new paint reacted badly with old stuff, kind of "melted in" and remained tacky, with bad finish. Randolph told me I did something wrong. I used all their stuff, nothing else, I think they had a bad batch. I ended up having to cut off the fabric and re-cover to get a good job. It set me back a long time, to get my enthusiasm back, plus the time and money to do it all over again.

[MNJoe]

Re: Paint problem

If you read what I wrote I followed the instructions and bought everything from them mixed it correctly checked a dozen times believe me I'm sick about it. They have been good about it so far since they are sending me new paint, catalyst, reducer and cleaner, I'm really not interested in trying to remove the paint down to silver unless somebody else pays for it.

[paulnuss]

Re: Paint problem

I understand you did things right, by the instructions, as I did back then. The bad news, they may have sold some bad stuff. My point was that good paint over bad didn't work. And at that time, no one at Randolph was interested in my problem, and they couldn't believe they had sold some bad stuff. Their line was "no one else had any trouble"... Replacement paint is one thing; the time and effort to get down to silver, that is, getting rid of all the bad paint, is quite another. Believe me, it made me sick too! I can only wish you good luck, however you go about it.