Paint Stripper and Naval Jelly

[Hillbilly]

I know opinions vary on the subject, some say sandblast, others say hand prep.
I have been prepping my PA-22 fuselage with stripper and naval jelly one segment at a time to break it into smaller work lots
I posted on the other site as to being pleased with the results, just thought Id post a pic.
Taken just after neutralizing the NJ, prior to final clean up and primer. The dry winter air seems ideal for the task.

[Steve Pierce]

Allan, Has your rudder post been replaced? Looks awful tall. How long do you figure it will take to do the naval jelly trick to the whole fuselage?

[Hillbilly]

Not to my knowledge Steve, I think its just perspective of the camera, I have not been keeping tabs on my time but just a few evenings after the day job, I'd have to guess including stripping and naval Jelly I've probably got 6 hours in the aft segment some of that time is just letting the chemicals work. about half of that time is naval jelly treatment. Some segments will be easier some will be much harder I'll guess I'll have 45 hours in it when I'm done.

If I'm lucky.... :shock:

[rmalone]

Maybe I am slow. I get the stripper part but naval jelly?

[Hillbilly]

Maybe I am slow. I get the stripper part but naval jelly?


Removes rust, oxidation and conditions the steel for primer adhesion. I'm using it as opposed to sandblasting the tubes.

[Homer Landreth]

Hey Hillbilly; I showed my Wife the picture above to illustrate to her what a REAL work area looks like in the middle of a restoration project. She said that you and I would get along real well !

[rexandkim]

Rex, what do you mean you 'get' the stripper part???? :evil:

[rmalone]

No comment Honey. Oh and I can sympathize with a small work area.

[Hillbilly]

Hey Hillbilly; I showed my Wife the picture above to illustrate to her what a REAL work area looks like in the middle of a restoration project. She said that you and I would get along real well !

Heh Homer, my wife knows shes not allowed into the shop unless I ask her to come in...LOL
Its a real close fit in there already, I have to walk outside to change my mind...
One of my friends says it looks like I took the roof off and crashed it in there.

Rex, tell Kim you're coming to my shop to watch my stripper "work"... :o

[rmalone]

She will like that.

[Hillbilly]

You know, I was just looking at the photo I posted and I must say it is a little misleading...My shop is exceedingly small but I can walk around the Tail of the frame between all that "stuff" and the frame. Looking at that photo, it looks as if its practically sitting on top of the "stuff".

Steve how long is the portion of the rudder horn sticking above the top longerons? Mine is 5". I cant find any evidence of any
repairs on the frame (other than the current rebuild) neither on it or in the logs. I have the drawings I guess I could check them for the rudder horn dimension.

[Hillbilly]

I posted this on the other site but it might help someone here...A long time ago a buddy told me to paint the fuselage tubes with a brush to avoid wasting that expensive epoxy paint in overspray. I didn't want it to look like a kindergarten class painted it so I've been spraying tubes with my airbrush, works great with minimal waste.

[Steve Pierce]

My Dad used an airbrush to get in all the nooks and crannies on his fuselage.

[Hillbilly]

Wouldnt ya know, any good idea has already been pioneered by a Pierce...

But anyway not just nooks and crannies for me, the spray pattern is just right for the tubes, if you arent in a huge hurry..

Its not super slow (or super fast) but I'm satisfied its faster than a brush...lol

[Hillbilly]

Hey Hillbilly; I showed my Wife the picture above to illustrate to her what a REAL work area looks like in the middle of a restoration project. She said that you and I would get along real well !

Heh Homer, my wife knows shes not allowed into the shop unless I ask her to come in...LOL
Its a real close fit in there already, I have to walk outside to change my mind...
One of my friends says it looks like I took the roof off and crashed it in there.
Homer I re-read this and had to clarify, I don't let her in without supervision because she is a compulsive cleaner, I'd never find anything..just so you'll "get it" this is a woman that has washed our COATHANGERS...the ten second rule does not apply in my house, I'll eat off my floors anyday.


Just thought I'd post another pic showing some progress and how complex this segment is I calculated it and came up with 4 trillion individual surfaces on this segment :o (MAYbe a slight exaggeration).

[Hillbilly]

progress...

[JohnW]

Hillbilly, I gotta say... that really looks NICE. But... it only takes the better part of two seasons of fully focused "spare time" to completely restore one of these airplanes, and you've been at this part of it for MONTHS, no? It's just about one full day to 'blast the fuselage (which pinpoints areas of rust quite nicely!) and invariably only another couple HOURS to seal it back up (epoxy primer it).

You should be in "prime coats" on the shrunk dacron by now, at least, no? [TWANG! heehee]

[Steve Pierce]

Allen, John is right, bring that thing to Graham this weekend. Starting Thursday we are having a blasting party. Gonna blast 3 Clippers, a Pacer and a Super Cub frame. I'll let you know how I feel come Monday. :shock:

[Stephen]

Steve, what media do you use for blasting?

[Hillbilly]

Ha! I have a lot more time than money, yes JohnW I've been working at it for months. Bear in mind I get an hour or two a few evenings a week to work on it and about half a day on the weekend. I'll pick up a little speed on the project once its ready to start reassembling. "slow and steady wins the race"

Steve, I'd love to join you but sounds like you have your hands full already, besides I'd hate to change methods mid stream...

(Oh and John, I went back and re-did part of the job, canceled out about a month or so there.)

[Gilbert Pierce]

I wonder why they call it Naval Jelly. Does it come from your belly button? I spent 20 years in the Navy. All I saw was chipping hammers, sand blasting and wire brushing. No Naval Jelly.

[Hillbilly]

I think its like toe jam....cept...naval jelly...

[Steve Pierce]

Stephen, i'm using "Black Beauty" which is iron slag. We used to take a fuselage to Air Tractor, have it, the doors, tail feathers and landing gear blasted with this stuff and primed for $200-250 in a few hours, after hours. Now they won't do anything because they are afraid of hazardous materials.

[Stephen]

Sorry, I can't see it in operation. If you take and post anypictures, I want to see you wearing your safety glasses. Or, at least hiding in another room while you have some other suckers doing the job.

[Steve Pierce]

Actually Rex is going to help. Getting the big diesel compressor in the morning, not looking forward to it but it will be a major step in getting these flying.

[Hillbilly]

Sorry, I can't see it in operation. If you take and post anypictures, I want to see you wearing your safety glasses. Or, at least hiding in another room while you have some other suckers doing the job.



Actually Rex is going to help. Getting the big diesel compressor in the morning, not looking forward to it but it will be a major step in getting these flying.


Rex, I think a name change is in order. I hereby dub thee "Some other sucker".....

[Frank Green]

Hillbilly-I'd be careful with the airbrush. Might apply it to dry and not get good adhesion. You want to spray as wet as possible as soon as possible with out getting too many runs. I use a Finex mini gun, available at autobody supply stores It is HVLP so you don't get much overspray and can get into the nooks and crannies. I recommend the PPG epoxy primer. The advantage is you can mix and shoot without the wait time. John- 2 years? I'm 6 years into my Tri rebuild. Got to still make a living and take care of the honey dews. This time of year I can get about 20 hours a week at it but come summer and fall progress comes to a standstill. If it weren't for farming out the wings I'd be another 2 years. They were able to get them done in 3 months but that was working on them full time, but they were the worst condition they have ever seen. Goal this year is to be at Sentimental and then on to Oshkosh.

[Steve Pierce]

Frank, I have heard good things about the PPG epoxy and that it is available in different colors. Are those the numbers on the cans in your picture? I would like to try it.

[Hillbilly]

Hillbilly-I'd be careful with the airbrush. Might apply it to dry and not get good adhesion. You want to spray as wet as possible as soon as possible with out getting too many runs. I use a Finex mini gun, available at autobody supply stores It is HVLP so you don't get much overspray and can get into the nooks and crannies. I recommend the PPG epoxy primer. The advantage is you can mix and shoot without the wait time. John- 2 years? I'm 6 years into my Tri rebuild. Got to still make a living and take care of the honey dews. This time of year I can get about 20 hours a week at it but come summer and fall progress comes to a standstill. If it weren't for farming out the wings I'd be another 2 years. They were able to get them done in 3 months but that was working on them full time, but they were the worst condition they have ever seen. Goal this year is to be at Sentimental and then on to Oshkosh.

Thanks Frank, but its really a non issue, I'm still having to be careful not to run it. Its going on wet and taking an appropriate several hours to dry. I have also a mini gun but the airbrush works more to my liking. I'm not crazy about the wait time for the catalyst induction but I'm getting used to it.

Steve let us know if you try the PPG, I might switch when I use up the EP420 that I have on hand.
Frank hows it priced, is it comparable to the EP420?
-Hillbilly

[Stephen]

I used PPG of the last job I did, on the recommendation of a highly experience A/C builder, it worked fine for me.

[Frank Green]

Those are the #s for the no wait stuff. They also have a different catalist also for if you want to wait, it has a longer pot life but I found the instant use pot life was fine. Also you have less waste by over mixing what you need so you don't run out and have to wait to finish that one last tube. Price used to be about $50 a quart but I bought some this week and now it's over $70 the 2 cans to make a quart plus reducer.