Painting Hardware: Is it bad?

[boredom.is.me]

Is it a bad idea to paint drive hardware? By this, I mean the rudder and drive strut supporting parts. The surfaces in contact with the water would be left bare. See pics.

ose-80052_medium.JPG71_large.jpg

[Fluid]

The main problem would be getting the paint to stick to the aluminum. It will probably chip off or scratch pretty easily unless you have the parts powder coated. But you can try it, and if it doesn't work out you can remove the paint with the correct solvent. Most folks who want a different look to the aluminum parts have them anodized....a more costly but more permanent solution.



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[boredom.is.me]

I was thinking the same exact thing. I'll play with "anodizing at home" on some scraps. It will be a while before I get the actual parts.

[grsboats]

The rudder is silver anodised ..the strut should be too.I know that because I had to sharp the leading edge with wet sandpaper and figured out this.Gill

[JimClark]

I used to build aluminum sailboat masts. We would acid etch then usa a product called allodine then paint the paint would stick fine but I think it would be useless on a rcboat hardware

[boredom.is.me]

The rudder is silver anodised ..the strut should be too.I know that because I had to sharp the leading edge with wet sandpaper and figured out this.Gill

It would probably need to be reanodized, but I can try dyeing them first.

[boredom.is.me]

I decided to play around with my power supply, a container, some vinegar, and of course some aluminum. I just have to dye the part now. I'll do that tomorrow. I hope it works.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1370757991.855021.jpg


Sent from my mind using telepathy.

[785boats]

Anodised auto paint. Too easy.
I even used it to paint my wooden 33" Whiplash.

http://www.vhtpaint.com/products/anodized/

[boredom.is.me]

Nice!

Edit: They are only available in red, blue, purple, and silver though.

[785boats]

Yeah! That is the only drawback. But all good things have their limitations
There are probably other brands out there that may have different colours.
All the best.
Paul.

[boredom.is.me]

I didn't etch the aluminum tube or even properly clean it so I honestly didn't expect it to be a perfect finish. The spots on the aluminum that did anodize took the black dye decently well. Either way, I ended up just buying UL-1 hardware off of a member on the forum.