Question on two-pack paint
My TB20GT is painted with MAPAERO paint.
Socata, like most French firms, like to buy stuff from French suppliers even if it costs 5x as much, and this paint is hard to get. One can get it, but the minimum is 1 litre packs which is way too much for touch-up jobs, given that one needs to buy half a dozen packs to get the full prescribed set (base colour(s), thinner, hardener, diamond pearl topcoat).
Q1: Is Mapaero any better than the paints which normal GA paint shops use?
Q2: Is the "hardener" actually necessary? I have the complete set of the other paints at present (having scrounged various little bits from Air Touring before they went bust, and having got some leftover from a bigger paint job) but have no hardener left. The stuff seems to dry perfectly well without it. I know that with epoxy paints the hardener is obviously absolutely required but this is not epoxy paint.
For primer I use the standard aviation zinc chromate primer. I wonder however if etch primer (as used in the car trade) is better for steel or bronze parts.