Perfect Paint

I have a profile P-40 Warhawk project that I want to do in camo, and wondered if anyone has experience with Perfect Paint. I like their selection of camo colors and believe they are labeled as fuel proof. Will it go over a dope base allright? Have does it dry? Does it hold up? I can airbrush the camo (it's a smallish model).

Thanks!
Kelvin

>I have a profile P-40 Warhawk project that I want to do in
>camo, and wondered if anyone has experience with Perfect
>Paint. I like their selection of camo colors and believe
>they are labeled as fuel proof. Will it go over a dope base
>allright? Have does it dry? Does it hold up? I can airbrush
>the camo (it's a smallish model).
>
>Thanks!
>Kelvin

It's a polyurethane and the colors are pretty accurate as to matching to something like an FS standard.
I suspect it will probably be ok, but I'd try it on a test piece first to be sure (guess how I learned this?).
The only problem might arise if you had an open bay structure and ever had a repair patch to make.

Thanks, Jake. Does it need its' own reducer or is there a substitute?

Kelvin,
I've used the Perfect Paint opaque colors (yellow, specifically) on a couple of profile fuselages, with good success. Never tried it over open bays.
Used both the SIG dope and tissue and the recommended Perfect Primer (over dope/tissue)as substrates, with equal success. Primer sands easier.
Note that the Perfect Primer requires a different type of thinner/reducer than the Perfect Paint! Use their (Perfect brand)thinners as well.
It needs very little thinning for spraying application, maybe 15-20%.
Covers well, dries slow (1 day to tack, 5-7 days to cure, complete cure in about 2-3 weeks, depending on ambient temperature). If sprayed well, it flows out into a beautiful gloss, and it stays like that for years. 100% hot-fuel proof. No clear coats / sanding / rubbing required.

--Mike

>Kelvin,
>I've used the Perfect Paint opaque colors (yellow,
>specifically) on a couple of profile fuselages, with good
>success. Never tried it over open bays.
>Used both the SIG dope and tissue and the recommended
>Perfect Primer (over dope/tissue)as substrates, with equal
>success. Primer sands easier.
>Note that the Perfect Primer requires a different type of
>thinner/reducer than the Perfect Paint! Use their (Perfect
>brand)thinners as well.
>It needs very little thinning for spraying application,
>maybe 15-20%.
>Covers well, dries slow (1 day to tack, 5-7 days to cure,
>complete cure in about 2-3 weeks, depending on ambient
>temperature). If sprayed well, it flows out into a
>beautiful gloss, and it stays like that for years. 100%
>hot-fuel proof. No clear coats / sanding / rubbing
>required.
>
>--Mike

Mike is correct about the beautiful shine on the gloss colors,however the military colors dry flat and have a slightly chalky texture. i usually clearcoat the military stuff with either dead flat or semi gloss. Of course on a stunt ship you'd use the gloss clear.
This paint will brush quite well for those that don't have spray equipment. I've done 2 planes this year with Perfect and have one drying now as I write this.
On Mike's remark about Perfect Primer they say to use Naptha, don't use it as it really makes the product unuseable. It almost seems like they reformulated it and forgot to make new labels.
This product came out in the 70's and I wasn't aware that it was a urethane, I thought that it was an enamel.
The gloss colors do take awhile to cure and the higher the humidity the longer the cure time.The flats are fast drying but don't forget the clear or they will rub off over time
This product really covers well so you use very little of it, even brushing it most colors take only one coat,unthinned. If you spray use no more then 5% thinner.
Done properly the clear will remind you of a K&B epoxy finish with the appropriate gloss,however I don't think that it'll stand up to 65% nitro. Dennis

It's a warbird, so the flat finish and military colors are what I'm after. The slow drying is right if the paint is polyurethane. If you've ever used Pactra Polyurethane, you know how slowly it dries. If they have a flat clear, then I'm in business. I want to do the nose art after some of the P-40s stationed in the Aleutian Islands during the war. They had a strange, bright yellow, sort of abstract cat figure on the nose.

One last question. Who is a good supplier? The stuff appears hard to find from my searches of the 'net and area LHSs.

Thanks very much,
Kelvin

>It's a warbird, so the flat finish and military colors are
>what I'm after. The slow drying is right if the paint is
>polyurethane. If you've ever used Pactra Polyurethane, you
>know how slowly it dries. If they have a flat clear, then
>I'm in business. I want to do the nose art after some of the
>P-40s stationed in the Aleutian Islands during the war. They
>had a strange, bright yellow, sort of abstract cat figure on
>the nose.
>
>One last question. Who is a good supplier? The stuff appears
>hard to find from my searches of the 'net and area LHSs.
>
>Thanks very much,
>Kelvin

They do.
ALL enamels are very slow to dry/cure, slowest are the alkyds like Rustoleum, the polyurethanes are next in line.
Brodak carries the entire line of Perfect paint.
You are talking about the "Aleutian Tiger" that was on a squadron of P-40s. Get the Squadron Mail Order book on the P-40, they have a good B&W shot of one in there plus the colour plate as I recall.

Yep, Jake, that's where I got the idea. I just found the list of Perfect Paints at Brodak. And I need some dope, too, so an order will be going in. They also list the flat clear that I want. Thanks everyone, for the help.
Kelvin

>You are talking about the "Aleutian Tiger" that was on a
>squadron of P-40s. Get the Squadron Mail Order book on the
>P-40, they have a good B&W shot of one in there plus the
>colour plate as I recall.
>
>Jake

Of course on a
>stunt ship you'd use the gloss clear.
Ron B.
F4Fguy

WHAT???? It's a P-40 for crying out loud!!!!!!!!!

There's some irony here in at least one of these posts!

I've used perfect camo for quite some time and had very good results. It's ok over dope and works with enamel as well. The paint covers well and the dust type coloring actually makes your plane look more weathered. (this is what would have happened to the actual aircraft in the field, they would have bleached and blended etc.)
Dope will go over it for repairs but the paint has to be well over a year old, otherwise it will bubble and peel.

It is fel proof up to 10% nitro so far for me.

I've painted over clear monocote and that seems to be the best overall application of the paint so far.

My experience over open bays with this product was that it made the silkspan a bit brittle and it did not combine well when patching an OOps! after dropping ones screwdriver through it. The undamaged bays wrinkled a bit and the patch over a delicate wing frame did not dry evenly. Satisfactory results were obtained (the hole was covered)by cutting away the entire panel and roughing up the area around it where the patch is intended to adhere with some 320 grit prior to wet span and dope patch. This was followed by subsequent coats that did not help the situation and accented the mid July blush in the paint..Even then, the paint below the fresh patch curdled a bit and looked a bit like an Xray of a human colon. Flat may yeild better results!

The patch stuck despite my haphazard repair...and this was over gloss on an old Ban-sheesh!

I've never used Perfect over silkspan, usually on clear $$cote and over fabrics.
My covering of choice for this product years ago was silkspun Coverite which was replaced by the inferior Micafilm,my opinion on that.
It really was never a problem with weight in RC and I'm not particularly bothered by excess weight in C/L. I guess I have not developed paranoia about it since I never weigh a finished plane. Of course I'm not a world class caliber flyer either so perhaps it's moot. I do build light,but really hate to repair silkspan so I always like a slightly more durable finish, without the tediosity of sanding, rubbing and waxing dope. Dennis

Yeah, I hear you. But this is a 15 size project, and some of my heavier 15 powered planes have been more like...well...projectiles, than airplanes. So I want to use the lightest tissue base and airbrush the color as light as I can.

>I have a profile P-40 Warhawk project that I want to do in
>camo, and wondered if anyone has experience with Perfect
>Paint. I like their selection of camo colors and believe
>they are labeled as fuel proof. Will it go over a dope base
>allright? Have does it dry? Does it hold up? I can airbrush
>the camo (it's a smallish model).
>
>Thanks!
>Kelvin
All I can tell you in addition to what the others have said is once you open the can you need to use it right away or else lumps develope in it which makes it impossible to spray unless you strain it through a stocking or something.
It covers well and is extremely fuel proof when completely dry.
You can use it over dope but if spraying apply a LIGHT coat first so it won't affect the dope.
The flat clear works well and you can vary how flat it is by mixing gloss and flat.
If I remember right I applied dope over it once and it caused the dope (or the polyurethane)to craze.
BudS