Aircraft Painting CLEAR COATING

CLEAR COATING

Reprinted from Kilo Alpha - King Air Aircraft Operators Group

Clear coat is one of those things that is widely misunderstood and, in some cases, misrepresented. The automotive industry has a paint application method called base coat/clear coat. It works for them and is a highly economical method of doing the job. If someone offers you the same type of job for your airplane - leave. It just won’t work.

Another method that won’t work is after the final stripe coat has been applied; a pot of clear will be put in the paint gun and applied to the airplane. You don’t want that either. If the airplane is already in the paint process, don’t have the clear coat applied. Here’s what happens. The paints, including the base, the stripes and the clear coat all have to chemically bond to the airframe. In theory this might work if all the paints are applied within 72 hours. On an airplane, that is virtually impossible to do. You won’t get the bond. It won’t hold up and it peels.

The other problem with clear coats is that they tend to yellow with time. To overcome all these problems with clear, Oxford uses DuPont’s recommended clear coat paint for airplanes, which you might surmise is the most expensive. The airplane is first painted to its final stage - to the point of delivery - and then, the entire airframe is sanded down and all that beautiful paint is taken down to the stage at which it is dull.

If you were to look at it at this stage, you would wonder if someone had lost their mind. But that’s the way it has to be done. The airframe then goes through three different cleaning steps and finally the clear coat is applied. It then comes back with much more shine than before. It’s amazing to watch the transformation because you start with basically a beautiful, wet-look paint job, sand it to dull and then it comes back shining better than before. It’s hard to believe.

At this stage, we have some chemical but mostly mechanical - bonding. About 50% of all the airplanes that Oxford paints, get a clear coat, especially the high-end airplanes. The advantages of clear coat include the beauty and depth of gloss of the paint job, which can be achieved in no other way. In addition, clear is a very hard paint. It allows for a more durable finish and one that is easier to clean. DuPont claims a 35% longer life expectancy for the paint and it is especially valuable in a high pollution environment. There is an extra charge for this ultimate finish.

Note: The above process is used in Jet Glo and Acry Glo system.

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