EP-420W EPIBOND applying airbrush

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Doing some repair work on my Vagabond. Yes I know it's not a 170. I need to repaint the bottom of my landing gear axle tubes in situ. Wondering if anyone has used EP-420W EPIBOND sprayed through an airbrush? I know it can be sprayed through a "touch up" gun but even that is a bit big for the amount of paint I need to spray.

Thanks

[darhymes]

Have you ever tried using a Preval Sprayer? I find it much more reliable than an airbrush for spraying paint that shouldn’t be thinned excessively.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Yes Dustin I have used the Preval sprayer many times and have a small stock of them. I like them as well but they do have limitations. One, you can't regulate the amount sprayed or the pattern any better than a spray bomb, which it is. Second with the bottle on the bottom, they are quite tall and for this job I need to get low under the axle requiring that Preval to be tilted pretty far. I was thinking an airbrush could be a better tool but wonder if the airbrush may be too small to spray this epoxy without over thinning it.

[gfeher]

Bruce, I’ve used a Paasche H airbrush for touch up work using Poly-Brush, Poly-Spray and Poly-Tone with good results. No special thinning. I prefer it for small repairs. I haven’t tried it with Randolph EP-420W Epibond primer, but if my memory is correct (it’s been a little while) I used the Paasche airbrush with Poly-Fiber EP-420 epoxy primer and Aero-thane on new J3 wing struts. I initially sprayed them with a touch up gun, but because of the aerodynamic shape, the spray was light on the edges. (The spray would tend to go around the strut when spraying the edges head on.) So i used the airbrush with its smaller pattern to touch up the edges. Again, if my memory is correct, I didn’t thin it any more than recommenced for a touch up gun. All I can say is mix a small batch and try it on a test piece.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Thanks Gene, just the info I was looking for.