Best and lightest method to paint or color a Carbon Fiber rubber motor tube

[PantherM100]

Hi Guys:
What is best and lightest method and product to color a carbon fiber, rubber motor
Tube for a P-30 airplane? That wouldn’t destroy the Carbon fiber tube?
Sincerely,
Jon B. Shereshaw

[lincoln]

If you have an airbrush, you could use acrylic paint that's actually made for spraying. For light colors, a coat of silver underneath might help. I don't know how well this stuff holds up to sunscreen covered hands. Water clean up, as I recall.

Latex paint, which I've used on boats, seems to work fine with epoxy glass, but In don't know if really light coats would do the job.

 I've seen some very fine pigments in some paint I bought at a store that sells plastic models. Not the bottom of the line Testors, but possibly their higher grade stuff. I don't know how well this stuff does with epoxy, but I imagine that epoxy would hold up better than polystyrene.

Krylon makes spray paint for plastic, same caveat as for model paint. I'm guessing that it would be a little heavier. I think I used regular spray paint on an old model of mine that had an epoxy-glass fuselage. Held up to everything except a brand of sunscreen which also softened a guy's expensive transmitter.

I'd be surprised if a little spray can of auto touch up paint wouldn't work.


You should probably wash the tube before painting, and perhaps even scuff it with that plastic stuff that's supposed to be like steel wool. Or use steel wool, but go to the National Magnet lab to pull off all the potentially rusty little bits. ;-) If there's any blush on the epoxy, washing should remove it. This isn't like blush in dope. It's more like slime, as I recall. Happens if epoxy is cold or exposed to humid air while curing. Commercial tubes, I'd guess, wouldn't have blush because they'd be cured at elevated temperatures to speed things up. They'd probably withstand higher temperatures too.

Please tell us about the tube.