Matt's RV-8 Project



Matt Dralle's RV-8 Project
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Date:  12-15-2009
Number of Hours:  3.00
Manual Reference:  
Brief Description:  Masking Off The Interiror For Painting - Part 1

Well, that was it. All of the interior fuselage fabrication is complete as well as the wiring. There's only one thing left to do and that's paint it! But there's a lot of stuff I DON'T want painted in there too. Like all of the wiring, the various electrical components like the servos for the auto-pilot and electric trim, and of course the powder coated instrument panel and mounts. There were a few other things too like some of the AN fittings for the fuel and brake lines. So, that meant there was only one thing I could do and that was mask all that stuff off...

Wow, did this ever turn into a bigger job than I thought it was going to be. I spent the good part of one afternoon masking stuff off with that blue painters tape, only to find out that there are issues with that kind of tape and the thinner they use with the paint that will be sprayed on the fuselage interior. Kraig Maas over at the paint shop gave me a couple of rolls of the Professional Grade masking tape they use and I have to say, it is amazing stuff. Defiantly better than the Blue 3M tape as far as stickyness and durability.

So I pulled all the blue tape off and started over with the tape from Kraig. Masking wasn't too hard, but it took a while. I also used a generous amount of aluminium foil to cover the long runs of cables and other objects. The foil works great for this as you can really crimp it down tightly around various things. I did use a bit of masking tap on most of the foil ends, however, to make sure the spray doesn't get up under it.

Once the masking was done, I duct taped a large piece of plastic to the top of the fuselage its entire length to keep the wind from ripping off any of the masking during the drive over to the paint shop.

Whew, another task complete...
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Interior Masking Complete

Interior Masking Complete

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Interior Masking Complete

Interior Masking Complete

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Instrument Panel & Wiring Masked

Instrument Panel & Wiring Masked

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