PPG Delta vs. Concept on Cessna

[cstephl]

I am restoring a Cessna 180 and will start painting parts of it soon. I was planning to use PPG Delta polyurethane for the topcoat but it is not available at my local PPG dealer. They have PPG Concept DCC urethane. How do these two compare for light aircraft topcoats? This is a utility airplane that will be parked outdoors in Alaska, so it will be exposed to water, dirt, gas, oil, and exhaust. My objective painting it will be to get coverage and a decent gloss with minimum coats, to keep the weight to a minimum. The base color will be solid white. Is polyurethane still the gold standard for light airplanes? Is there any down side to using the Concept DCC? I appreciate your comments on this.

[drizler]

Back when I did my 150 it was Imron that everyone was using. Not to say there isn't better out there but guys who painted their own used it as the standard finish. Have fun with the stripper if you don't take the wings off, its a real pain. Make double sure to wear tight fitting glasses so nothing gets splashed in your eyes by wind. Stings a bit. Aircraft stripper does loosen up your skin real well too so check your gloves for tears often. You can check with EAA or Cessna Owners Assn for assistance in these things too.

[cstephl]

Thanks for the info Drizler. I have painted airplanes yrs ago with Imron and Durethane, so I have experience with the stripping, etching, alodine, etc. Fortunately, this airplane is bare aluminum, so no stripping req'd. I am painting it disassembled, which makes the spraying easier. What I am really interested in is how PPG Concept compares to the polyurethanes for a light aircraft topcoat. I can get PPG Delta, it is just not very convienient. PPG Concept is available locally.

[drizler]

One thing I found worked great for gloves stripping is a pair of US Army chemical gloves. You can get them at the surplus stores sometimes. The pink stuff doesn't go through those like the kitchen gloves. If I did it again I would get a gas powered pressure washer to blast off the loose stuff. I did mine on the flight line with a 4' plastic dry wall knife and a small pail to catch the scrapings. Yea, you can imagine, thats probably how I got to be half nuts. Those180 's are a beautiful plane. I only went for a ride in one of those once including a ride through the marker lights. Damn but that puppy will do a 45 swerve in the blink of an eye. Lesson learned for the pilot (not me). FOCUS FOCUS keep lookin straight ahead. This guy turned his head to say something at around 25 -35 right after the tail settled and it was off to the races. Way too much airplane for this guy.
One thing I did learn was how nicely you can spruce up those royalite (plastic) panels inside the plane. That stuff paints really nice and all I used at the time was some NAPA lacquer and some plastic bumper elasticizer added. The stuff today should do even better. I wouldn't worry about the burnability of it either as that royalite crap burns just fine by itself, I doubt you could make it worse. That crap burns just fine all by itself. Otherwise if its got a lot of cracks forming and it breaks off really easily just throw it out and buy new, you just can't fix it. At least if you paint it you will have UV protection which you don't have with the raw colored plastic and of course you know how hi a quality materials light planes are made of. You have one big advantage over me, the height of your wing. When you forget to duck that one time the diamond pattern will be across the top of your head and the scar hidden in your hair. That 150 is just right to catch a 6' guy right in the middle of the forehead.
I tried to call my buddy who works for Pratt and see what he has to say. He worked for 20 years for a local regional that did all their own painting on their 1900 Beech's. I couldn't get a hold of him. If i manage to locate him I will let you know what he says.

[cstephl]

Appreciate your input drizler. I will probably use the PPG Delta polyurethane because the polyurethane seems to be the industry std for general aviation. As you said, lacquer works good for painting the royalite interior panels. Haven't flown that C180 in 12 yrs, so should be interesting when I jump back in it. I would be interested to hear what your friend says about the topcoat options.

[drizler]

Yea, I would like to hear from him as well. He is not a real internet lover. It just never caught on with him too deeply. I haven't heard from him in quite a while and he isn't answering so I don't know that he is even reading his email at all. I hope to get ahold of him in time to do my annual before Spring passes away though. Damned if I can remember what it was they used at the airline, I think it started with a P. Whatever it was it was expensive and I wasn't all that impressed with how well it worked. Those 1900's they used seemed to streak peel the paint right back in long 6 to 1' slivers all around the nose, cowlings and especially around the cockpit windows. At $300 / gallon it sure wasn't much of a deal. At any rate I had found that mine had been painted by the P/O with what looked like auto laquer primer and it peeled right off down to the aluminum when taped I just stripped the whole thing and left it that way. Not a thing of beauty but you know the 50 /50 rule. Actually it settled into a nice light grey / silver and hasn't caused any problems at all other than lowering my weight and balance 17 lbs.

[Len]

I've painted a half dozen airplanes the past and always had pretty good luck with DuPont's Imron. It's very toxic stuff to spray but it holds up well over prepped and primed metal surfaces that are stored outdoors. I sprayed one cloth plane, a Stenson, but the customer supplied the paint and I don't remember the brand.

[cstephl]

Thanks Len, I am going to use either Imron or Delta, whichever one is the most available in my location.

[drizler]

That other type you are referring to Len is probably Aerothane, Aircraft Spruce and Alexander Aircraft both sell or sold it forever. I used it on part of mine and it was the same 4 /1 mix as Imron. I know it keeps the same as I still have a bit siting around in the rusty old can and it's still good sitting since 1992. I heard of people putting Imron on fabric planes but heard also it is too stiff and doesn't flex well on the stretched dacron surface. In places it liked to crack where it vibrated a lot.

[bluerooster]

I've Been using Concept on aircraft for about 8 years now.
I first used it on our Cherokee 140, then when I found that it out performs the "aircraft coatings" (aerothane, desothane etc.) I started using it on customers aircraft as well.

I'm a firm believer in a soda blast to strip an entire airframe. Then acid etch, alodine, and I like to top it with DP epoxy.

Painting an airplane is like painting 3 Tahoes. (sq ft of area to be painted)