Bare foam airframes/no paint

[Waconut]

Hi guys.
I own 5 Freewing EDF’s. I have given 4 of them complete repaints. I know a lot of people who buy these planes like to do repaints to give the plane a personal touch.
The base paint on these planes can be hit or miss on how well it is adhered to the foam. I think it would be a nice option if they would offer the option of buying the airframe paint free that way you could prep and apply the base coats.
I was just wondering how many people would prefer to buy bare airframes over factory painted ? If enough people would prefer that option maybe they would offer that option.

[combatflyr]

Hi Waconut , I fully agree! The only factory applied paint schemes I like are on the Avanti. What primers have you had the best luck with? I am getting ready to start on a MIG-21 and I had to take the Blue version because it was the only one in stock. I have seen guys strip the factory paint using acetone but that is inherently dangerous due to vapors, chemical exposure and the risk of fire. I plan to scuff the factory paint with fine Scotch Brite then a wipe down with denatured alcohol before primer.

[Waconut]

combatflyr if using rattle cans I tend to stick with Krylon. The F-86 in the pic below was painted with Krylon. The F-4 and A-10 were painted with latex thru a HVLP gun and airbrush.
Funny the only plane I didn’t repaint is my Avanti as well.

[combatflyr]

Very nice fleet! I especially like the F-86, the Sky Blazers theme is one of my favorites. A long time ago I worked as a mechanic on privately owned Sabres. I was engine run and taxi qualified, loved that plane. Free Wings paint scheme on the new Draken is hideous and the only one offered I think that is a marketing mistake.

[Waconut]

Thanks!!
The Skyblazers paint scheme was the most difficult one of the bunch. The base coat kept lifting on me. I just put the maiden in it Saturday and it is a sweet flying plane and has a great sound.

[combatflyr]

Where did you get the decals?

[Waconut]

Where did you get the decals?

Callies graphics, she does not list them on her site but she has them.

[Waconut]

I e-mailed Motion to see if I could special order a plane without paint and the answer was no.

In my opinion FW and Motion are missing the boat here. They offer some planes in base gray or white as an option. I think if they offered no paint as an option it would be popular and they could sell them at the same price and would be cheaper to produce.

Oh well I will just have to buy a painted version and spend hours removing the factory paint.

[tab28682]

I e-mailed Motion to see if I could special order a plane without paint and the answer was no.

In my opinion FW and Motion are missing the boat here. They offer some planes in base gray or white as an option. I think if they offered no paint as an option it would be popular and they could sell them at the same price and would be cheaper to produce.

Oh well I will just have to buy a painted version and spend hours removing the factory paint.

The reality is that for every person that does a repaint on a painted ARF, there are 20-30 or more that do not not get repainted. The owners are perfectly happy with the stock color schemes.

I fly with a large club and only one person besides myself does ARF repaints out of couple of hundred members.

Motion did do three models with a blank canvas paint scheme: the AL-37 airliner, an F-18 and a BAE Hawk. This made it easy for modelers to do any airline scheme they wanted on AL-37 and to do other paint and livery on the two fighters.

The plain gray F-18 is one of the few Freewing EDFs on sale at this time. Might mean it is not selling well.

While you would think that stocking an unpainted version would be cheaper, it would not automatically save that much money.

[Waconut]

tab28682 i actually own the base gray F-4 and F-18. I am looking at buying the AL37 which is offered in the base white. The issue is the AL37 has a known issue with the base paint lifting while removing masking tape. This particular model gets a lot of repaints. If you go to the commercial aircraft forum there is a sticky thread at the top just for the AL37 repaints.
Anyhow I will just strip the aircraft before starting if I do decide to make the AL37 a winter project.