Glider Paint Question

[km]

Dear Group,
I was talking to a paint guy who paints airplanes. He is going to
paint my glider in PU or AU (After I do all the prep work of course).
He ask if I would like to use a clear coat. Someone else with an
aviation background ask if a clear coat would work better than a
single stage. I know that 2 stage paint jobs are common on power
planes but I have never heard of this on a glass sailplane. One could
probably clear the wings fuse and horizontal but I think the control
surfaces would be too heavy (On the AS products I understand it is
difficult to keep them within limits).
My question is has anyone ever used a two stage paint job on a modern
composite sailplane? Or seen it done? Thanks

[Mike]

There was a near perfect LS 6 at our club for a while. It was
refinished and had clear coat over base coat.

Not sure that base/clear coats have to be heavier. Multiple coats of
AU are usually applied anyway.

[JJ Sinclair]

Sprayed paint may have a nice shine, but it isn't as smooth as is
needed for the performance most are looking for. In a good glider
repair shop, AU will be shot on until "orange peal" is showing
everywhere (about 4 medium to heavy coats), then after curing, the
last coat will be sanded off using 600 wet followed by 800 wet, then
buffed out to make it shine and perform as we want. An auto paint shop
will shoot on 2 medium coats and they don't want to touch the paint
after that. When told what we want,think we are nuts!
JJ

[Tim Murphy]

>Single stage is the best way.Just finished up a LS-1f and now
>starting on a ASW-20.We put down a epoxy primer to seal the gelcoat
>then sprayed PU concept white all PPG brand.Wet sanded and puffed
>it well worth the extra work,looks and performance wise.

[mike]

Today I asked a painter about this. He was trained in auto paint and
now does sailplane painting. He is excellent. According to him, it is
easy to sand and buff the clearcoat as smooth as we do with our AU
method.

Two base coats and two or three clear coats and sand the orange peel.

BTW a guy at PPG, told me that what we do by painting and then
sanding to get rid of orange peel and not clear coating is not optimal
in terms of durability. When we sand we are sanding through the resin
and that leaves the pigment bare causing it to age more rapidly.
According to him wax does not protect as well as the pigment being
encapsulated by the resin that is sanded away. Our sailplanes though,
are not left out much like an auto, so that part doesn't seem like
such a big deal.