Klass Kote on the Comet Sailplane

Today I started the involved process of spraying satin clear Klass Kote on the Sailplane components. I moved our cars out of the garage and into the carport and swept out the garage floor thoroughly. I mixed up an 8 oz batch of Klass Kote epoxy consisting of (a) 2 oz of Epoxy Clear #40, (b) 2 oz of Satin Catalyst #463, and (c) 3-1/2 oz of Reducer #500 (thinner). Typically, I like to air brush Klass Kote, but the Sailplane's fuselage is so large, I used my DeVilbiss automotive touch up spray gun shown below. If you ever use one of these, you will love it. For air, I use a standard small air compressor unit equipped with a regulator and a separator/dryer shown below. I adjust the regulator to a pressure 30 psi for the DeVilbiss gun. I intentionally took this picture very soon after spraying the edges and bottom of the stab so you could see the atomized Klass Kote epoxy particles still suspended in the air in the closed garage. This is a stupid funny looking picture I know, but I wanted you to see the North Safety (Model No. 3001) mask I have on below that I always wear when spraying any kind of epoxy. It has multi stage filters, including the all important charcoal stage, to help filter out and prevent inhaling the atomized Klass Kote epoxy particles that get suspended in the air. This is an interesting picture of the Sailplane's fuselage after it was sprayed with satin clear Klass Kote and the atomized particles allowed to settle out of the air. Several years ago I made a power rotating device that allows me to rotate the fuselage to any position while I am spraying it. I used a slow grill geared rotisserie with pipe on the end that the fuselage painting mandrel plugs into as shown below. Once the fuselage has been sprayed, it transported, by holding onto the mandrel, from the garage into model room and allowed to dry/cure for 24 hour. Several years ago I also made up a simple paint drying stand so I could store the painted fuselage vertically using the painting mandrel, which is shown below. This picture shows all of the Sailplane's components that I sprayed with satin clear Klass Kote today. They are sitting on the model room work table for overnight drying and they will not be handled or touched until tomorrow. All of the little support fixtures are so important during the extending drying time. Of course, only the edges and bottom of the stab were sprayed today. Tomorrow, the stab will be turned over and mounted on a different support fixture shown below and the top of the stab will be sprayed with satin clear Klass Kote. I called Nate Dickerson (612) 243-1234, owner of the Klass Kote company info@klasskote.com, this afternoon and discussed how to keep the remaining 6 ounces of satin clear Klass Kote I have mixed up for use tomorrow. Nate said to put the mix in a jar and seal it tightly with a lid. Then place the jar in the refrigerator, which will remove heat and essentially stop the mix from curing. He said the mix can be used for up to two or three days. However, when the mix is removed from the refrigerator, it must be allowed to come up to room temperature before it is usable again. He said if it seems a little viscous, just stir in a touch of the Reducer to thin it out again for spraying. Nate went on to say that you can also store the mix in the freezer to extend the number of useable days.....................Tandy