Painting PE Parts

hello scott, yes, priming PE parts will help the paint adhere better. i have just painted some parts that werent gonna take any abuse when attaching them, with paint only and had no problems. later.

A good enamel or lacquer primer will work best on PE. I use Floquil grey primer. After the prime has cured, you can paint with enamels or acrylics. If the PE needs forming, bending of any degree, do it before you prime/paint or the paint is likely to chip off.

Regards, Rick

Thanks guys, I appreciate the help. I figured that was going to be the case but figured I'd ask anyway. Acrylic is so flexible I thought that if it would stick the chipping and flaking wouldn't be a problem. Oh well, dig out the primer I guess.

These stupid PE belts and harness wound up costing me $60. Tamiya included pilot figures with the model, but I don't like them with figures. Unfortunately the seats had no belts. I found an Eduard ejection seat PE kit for $10. Then I found another exterior detail set that would look good. And then something else. By the time I got done finding stuff it was $60 worth of PE parts

WOW!! sounds like fun!! later.

I feel your pain. If you go heavy on AM you can soon far exceed the cost of the original kit. For most of my shelf sitters, the motto is "If it aint in the box it aint on the model". Course I violate that maxim pretty often until my accountant (read wife) catches up to me.

Regards, Rick

I don't usually go real heavy on the AM parts, just in places where the kit is weak. A cockpit here or there, but I don't go hog wild. This one had zero straps or harness connection clips because of the pilot figures so it was either scratch build them or spend $10 for the PE parts (no brainer there!). Then one thing led to another and another. Besides, I usually spend several months on a model so what the heck

Now if I could just finish my F-105 I could start on it.

Scott, I know the feeling.

My current build is much the same:

Kit £3.50
Cockpit £6.00
Flaps £3.50
Decals £6.00
Wheels £2.50
Total £21.50

It just seems to spiral!

Karl

If you rough the PE parts up a bit with some passes over some sandpaper it will help the paint/primer adhere better.

I have read that some people do not sand the PE fret but they do wash it in soapy water to get the chemical residue off it. This residue will repel paint and some primers.

So either way washing or sanding it. Should help you out.

Paul

Paint needs a rough surface (relatively speaking) on metal to hold best. That's why if you're going to paint your car you need to sand it. In 1 to 1 aircraft, sanding is not reccommended, so you can either bead blast the surface (soda or very fine beads) or apply a surface prep chemical (a very mild acid) which etches the surface. At one place I worked, we discovered that vinegar would etch the surface just as well as the expensive chemicals and was a heck of a lot cheaper. Just spray or wipe it on and then rinse immediatly with water.
I would suggest that you put some vinegar in a cup or small pan, dip your pe into it for a minute or two and then rinse with running water.

Good idea guys. I think what I'll do is take a piece of the fret, wash it in vinegar and then try painting it with acrylic without priming and see what happens. Acrylic is so flexible that if it sticks at all I'll be able to bend the straps as needed. I've painted vinyl cartridge belts with acrylics, and I could bend them all around without the paint flaking or peeling. Nothing to lose anyway. I'll let everyone know what happens.

Karl, I can relate to that I finally had to just quit looking and order what I wanted because everywhere I turned I found more stuff that I "Had To Have"!

I'm with Paul on this one. I don't know why it took me years of flaking paint to figure this one out, but I very lightly rough up the PE parts while still on the fret, taking care not to kink the long, thin parts. However, some of these parts will be painted in natural metal, and though I haven't tried the vinegar trick, it might be tailor made for parts where the scratches might show through.
TOM

Sorry guys, I forgot to get back to this post again.

I cut some fret off of my PE parts, cleaned them with alcohol, and then painted them three different ways using Tamiya acrylic:

1) Sprayed with Krylon enamel primer (I used Krylon instead of model-type primer since it supposedly adheres to metal)

2) Dunked in vinegar for about a minute

3) Bare naked metal.

To be honest I couldn't see any difference. I twisted all three pieces into tight little bends and none of them flaked or chipped at all. It could be the acrylic paint. That stuff doesn't really dry that hard, at least not like enamel, it remains somewhat flexible. I've used it on vinyl cartridge belts and twisted them all over the place without it flaking.

I haven't actually done the belts for my seats yet, but will probably just go with the vinegar trick to be on the safe side.

Here's a picture. The piece on the left was primed on one side and bare on the other side as indicated by the arrows. The piece on the right was etched with vinegar. Note that both of them have pretty tight radius bends and there is no indication of flaking or chipping (there is one place that is chipped from the tweezers but I don't think it shows in the picture).