Aces High Makeover

[N4768Z]

I just finished the majority of the work on my cub. I fixed the broken and repainted. She's sporting a new wing. I was getting tired of the rising sun look. I taped off the new wings vulnerable edges first and then sprayed her with several good coats. You can barely see the tape at all. I sanded the tape before painting to get a good grab. I think that it's going to hold up well. This one looks a little bit more...mature...whatever that means. All that I have left to do is find her COG and take her for a test flight. I'm not sure that I'm going to put the Aces High logo back on it. I may just put the name Aces High in small letters under the front side windows. Anyway...here she is.

[jbess]

Great paint job! Sad to see the decals go, are you going to replace them?

I am planning on painting my SC in the spring. What paint do you use on the foam, and the plastic parts (cowling)? How are you getting the nice black stripes?

[SCC]

Fantastic paint job Ace. Looking forward to seeing that on water.

[ginginho]

Very pretty, nice job. Can you adjust the toe-in on the floats? I'm wondering if this may cause it to ground (water) loop.

[john66]

Excellent job!

[john66]

Apr 5, 2010 4:21:04 GMT 1 N4768Z said:

This one looks a little bit more...mature...whatever that means.

Below is the Oxford English dictionary's, "askoxford" definition!

mature

• adjective 1 fully grown or physically developed; adult. 2 like an adult in mental or emotional development. 3 (of thought or planning) careful and thorough. 4 (of certain foodstuffs or drinks) ready for consumption; full-flavoured. 5 (of a bill) due for payment.

• verb 1 become mature. 2 (of an insurance policy, security, etc.) reach the end of its term and hence become payable.

— DERIVATIVES maturely adverb.

— ORIGIN Latin maturus ‘timely, ripe’.

;D ;D ;D ;D

John

[N4768Z]

Apr 5, 2010 4:59:59 GMT 1 jbess said:

Great paint job! Sad to see the decals go, are you going to replace them?

I am planning on painting my SC in the spring. What paint do you use on the foam, and the plastic parts (cowling)? How are you getting the nice black stripes?

I haven't decided if I'm going to add a decal or not. I may design something similar. I make them with Paint Shop Pro and then transfer them to a decal sheet. I have a few ideas.

I use Krylon Fusion paint avail at most stores like Wal-Mart etc.
It's the same paint for all of the parts. I sand the entire cub down (even though the paint can says no sanding required) plastic parts, foam parts, even the taped reinforced wings, anything that's going to get painted I sand with 400grit. After I paint the surface I spray the paint with Krylon clear UV protectant. It gives the paint some shine.

As for the black lines they are pinstripes from an auto parts store. We'll see how well they hold once I send it out into the water. I think that they will be fine.


John, I'm sure that my WIFE was talking about my deficiency in definition # 2 Like an adult in mental or emotional development. ;D

[helikiwi]

Looks good - not sure about the toe in on the floats
I have my floats set straight and it tracks well on the water

[N4768Z]

Apr 5, 2010 19:55:27 GMT 1 helikiwi said:

Looks good - not sure about the toe in on the floats
I have my floats set straight and it tracks well on the water

Double checked the directions and had the wider bar in the back instead of the front. DOH!! Thanks for catching that.

[parrothead]

That is one great looking plane. Excellent work.
I want to take a swing at customizing mine but, I'm a little reluctant because the stock white foam is very forgiven when it comes to masking scratches.


Whats' your secret to the wrinkle free tape? I could not see any hint of it!
Also, do you think the clear coat you applied could help protect the paint with future scratches and dings?

[N4768Z]

Apr 6, 2010 1:45:04 GMT 1 parrothead said:

That is one great looking plane. Excellent work.
I want to take a swing at customizing mine but, I'm a little reluctant because the stock white foam is very forgiven when it comes to masking scratches.


Whats' your secret to the wrinkle free tape? I could not see any hint of it!
Also, do you think the clear coat you applied could help protect the paint with future scratches and dings?

Thanks everyone for their feedback and great comments!

Parrothead: I agree with the white foam statement, it's easy to clean and hides blemishes pretty good. Once you paint your cub, you will never be able to go back unless you replace the part. I even thought about going back to the stock white cub but it's too much fun to be unique. Everything as far as the color and theme are my own creation. The paint job can be easily maintained if you stay on top of it. Once I picked out my paint I sprayed something and then went to my LHS to match it up with a small jar of the closest color that I could find. Mine happens to be Testors Racing Red. It's dang near a dead on match. After every flight I give the cub a once over and touch up any places that may have stretched or scratched off. As the foam flexes you may get little white stress lines and such, but they cover up easy enough.

My secret to wrinkle free tape: I tape all of the flat places that I want protected first, ex. the front leading edge of the wing. I use wide packing tape. I tear a strip the length of the leading edge and apply the top half (horizontally) of it on top of the wing. I work from the center and lay the bottom half to the underside of the wing while gently pulling it tight. Working my way to the ends I try to smooth out all of the wrinkles. If I start to get a wrinkle, I use my hobby knife to cut the entire length of the wrinkle. Know you have two flaps; I press the half nearest to the center first nice and flat, and then press the top flap over the bottom. Now the wrinkle is gone. Sometimes I run a thinner piece of packing tape over the joint of the two to make sure that they stay down. The tip of the wing is tough to do. Small pieces and time.
Man… I hope that it was as clear on this thread as it was in my head. I'm not the best at articulating my thoughts.

UV Coat: I have no idea. I hope so. I didn't use it on my first paint job. It added some shine to the paint. I'm very pleased with the way that it turned out. I'll let you know how it goes. Honestly though I don't think that it will help much with scratches.

I hope that this helped. I feel like I’m finally earning my stripes as a “Flight Lieutenant”

[parrothead]

Thanks man.
Read your procedure twice so I could understand. Some are naturals at this sort of thing, I have to work a little harder at it ( okay, a lot harder).
I think I will put the scary white bird through a little more trauma before I take the paint plunge. I have a new tail assy' and a few other extras, just trying to get a little more use and experience before I change them out. Starting to look like he!! but not a prob from the motor or electronics and I fly almost everyday.

Thanks again,

[N4768Z]

Well I confirmed it. The UV protectant will do diddley squat for the paint job other than put a shine on it. I had some rough landings yesterday and still got stress cracks in the paint on the foam. All of the plastic parts held up fine.

Oh and the pole that I coasted into didn't help at all!