Cheapest way to paint an airplane?

Too many people only pay attention to market value, and forget to factor in that as a consumer, the greatest value you get from your investment in a plane is your personal use. It is false value not to upgrade a panel because you won't get your money back in five or ten years. You aren't buying a panel for resale value, you are buying a panel for the information it provides you in operation. The question you need to ask on value is, "Is this an operational value? Will I get my money's worth out of my use of it?"
 
Blueangel said:
True and I am not rushing anything. The plane has dual nav/com with dual VOR and an old functional B4 autopilot with ILS so it can be used for IFR training. I flew it yesterday for a couple of hours and its a fast plane with the IO-550.
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What kind of plane ? Old Bonanza ?
 
Blueangel said:
Agree in fact the first thing I would do next year is get a decent paint job on the plane if the purchase moves forward. I had the chance to fly it today and very sweet plane! That IO-550 is serious power and super smooth engine that is fairly low time. I can delay the paint until late next year to budget for the first annual, basic mx, hangar and fuel budget. The autopilot and GPS are very basic old ones but function ok. So long term putting a Garmin 750 with STEC 55x autopilot and new ADSB transponder would be the way to go with it. Even if I put 50-100k into it, much less than a used Cirrus or Diamond and just as fast!
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or...you could buy one already done for a fraction of what you'll have into it.
 
Vinyl wraps and rivets don't go together too well. You would need to design the graphics to not intersect with rivets.
 
Most older piston aircraft need updating so that is part of the cost you need to budget into the purchase. Still one with good bones is worth the cost to update if none are available with the avionics and fancy paint job.
 
I hangar at Corona and they just did some work on my A36 (wing leading edges and around all windows after I replaced them). Granted it wasn't the whole plane but they did a nice job. My hangar is in the same row as their prep hangar-a team of guys work real hard on stripping and sanding. There is a huge amount of labor that goes into the job. And cash money talks...
 
I know this is an old thread but there was a lot of useful information in it. I'm hoping the guys that believe its possible to paint your own aircraft are still around.
I have a 1978 Grumman Tiger I want to repaint.

The questions I have are;
Is it necessary to remove all of the old paint? As far as I can tell I have a 40 year old paint on the airplane now, it would seem using it as a "primer" or sanded surface makes more sense than removing all of the paint an hoping to get good adhesion with an fresh paint job.

I have an additional concern regarding stripper because the construction uses bonded/glued materials which can be weaken by paint stripper. On the other hand the "bands" between the sections can be removed breaking the wings down into 3 individual sections making painting it easier.

My plan is to paint the whole plane high gloss white and use some graphics when its done. No two tone paint or stripping.

I already know the issues regarding flight controls, weight and balance, and added load for paint. It seems to me there is a lot of hair splitting over the weight of paint.
Bare airplane, + entire aircraft primed/sanded + new paint.
Sanded airplane substract sanded/removed paint, start with remaining paint + light primer coat + paint. Can't be that much difference in weight.
 
murphey said:
Repeat as necessary...don't sand an airplane.

Aircraft aluminum is very thin. That's why paint stripper and etching is used, not sanding.
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...and the layer of pure aluminum which helps prevent corrosion is even thinner...
 
Come on, he said cheapest. Get a couple of gallons of the least expensive latex exterior paint, pour from the roof and try to smooth it out a little on the way down. Taping windows is optional. Less than $100 even if you do tape the winders.

Now, did you really mean cheapest or did you also want a way that lets you fly that plane too ;)
 
Frozenflyer said:
What about 3M Scotch Bright pads? Then a fill primer then ultra fine wet pad sanding, then paint?
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Do not sand airplanes.
Do not use primer.
Use only aviation materials.

Repeat this mantra as needed.

You want proof? Ask any A&P.
 
Step 1. Catch 100,000,000,000 bugs and inject them with the color you like.
Step 2. Release them
Step 3. Clean plane and then fly (because you will hit that many after a good wipe down)
Step 4. Enjoy not cleaning the plane and your new paint job
 
Make sure to read the maintenance manuals instructions on using any paint stripper on the Grummans.. The bond lines and any areas that adhesives are used need to be protected from the stripper....




Frozenflyer said:
What about 3M Scotch Bright pads? Then a fill primer then ultra fine wet pad sanding, then paint?
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Vance Breese said:
I have seen some nice paint jobs come out of Art-Craft in Santa Maria, California (KSMX).
I feel it is a mistake to shop for a cheap paint job.
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Artcraft painted my plane 20 years ago. This after I stripped it myself. I wouldn't do that again (LOL) [the stripping part - what a PITA]. The paint job has held up well.
Dunno what they are charging nowadays.

Dave
 
paflyer said:
How about this stuff?
http://www.skygeek.com/942.html?utm...m_medium=email&utm_campaign=JULY2017Clearance
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That goes on AFTER the airplane has been properly stripped.

I'm baffled why you keep looking for shortcuts when knowledgable people (not me, I write software for a living) keep explaining what's required to paint an airplane that 1) adheres to hazmat regs, 2) will last for a long time and 3) is done properly?

Aint no shortcuts if you want it done right. There's an airplane at the local airport where the owners (good friends, too!) just took spray cans of RustOLeum or similar. Looks ok from 10 ft away. But they didn't strip, just painted over. Did not get the plane weighed again. Did not have the control services properly balanced. I won't fly with them in the plane.
 
murphey said:
That goes on AFTER the airplane has been properly stripped.

I'm baffled why you keep looking for shortcuts when knowledgable people (not me, I write software for a living) keep explaining what's required to paint an airplane that 1) adheres to hazmat regs, 2) will last for a long time and 3) is done properly?

Aint no shortcuts if you want it done right. There's an airplane at the local airport where the owners (good friends, too!) just took spray cans of RustOLeum or similar. Looks ok from 10 ft away. But they didn't strip, just painted over. Did not get the plane weighed again. Did not have the control services properly balanced. I won't fly with them in the plane.
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I'm looking for shortcuts? How do you figure that?
 
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I'm not an expert but I have refinished and painted stuff (cars, boats - not airplanes)

I would approach this one of two ways. One- DIY Scuff and spray. Hand sand with very light sandpaper just enough to scuff the existing paint, clean to remove all wax (use aluminum safe cleaner) and shoot it with a two part, single stage high gloss automotive enamel. Of course you will need to find an A&P to check the control surface balance before flying.

Two, pay someone for a full on professional job.
 
Also depending on what condition your existing paint is in, a good compound can really bring it back to life.
 
dell30rb said:
Of course you will need to find an A&P to check the control surface balance before flying.

Two, pay someone for a full on professional job.
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Out of curiosity, is the A&P check typically included in the professional job, or is that still an additional expense?
 
Skyrys62 said:
Out of curiosity, is the A&P check typically included in the professional job, or is that still an additional expense?
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I would assume that it is included. I believe the FAA requires that any balanced control surface must have a balance check done and signed off by an a&p prior to being returned for service after it is repainted.

Flutter is very bad, so make sure the balance is in spec!
 
paflyer said:
I'm looking for shortcuts? How do you figure that?
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Because your original post was "cheapest way to paint an airplane", and the additional questions all indicate approaches & materials that are either not legal or poor choices for aviation. If I misunderstood your original request, mea culpa.
 
murphey said:
Because your original post was "cheapest way to paint an airplane", and the additional questions all indicate approaches & materials that are either not legal or poor choices for aviation. If I misunderstood your original request, mea culpa.
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I'm not the OP.

I posted a link re your post about not using primer, to actual aluminum aircraft primer.
 
Look at it like this: A Chevy Tahoe costs about $4k+ to paint and do it right. An aircraft (say of the PA28-140/C172 kind) has about the same painted area as 3 or 4 Tahoes. So there ya go. Add in a full strip to the mix, and price goes up from there.
So ~$12k to strip and paint an airplane, and do it right is not a bad price.
Paint will be roughly $2k +/- (depending on colors), add in stripper another $300-$400, masking tape, paper, sandpaper, plastic sheeting, etc. another $couple hundred,
leaving about $9k for labor, and shop expense, to R&I all the control surfaces, wheel pants, inspection covers, cowling, etc. Check balance on control surfaces, re-rig, and what-all.
 
As some of you may know, I recently finished up painting (restoring) our Cessna 172. I'll say this: it's a HELL of a LOT of WORK! The clip earlier that it is about the same as 3-4 Chevy Tahoes is spot on! Our C172 took about the same amount of paint as 4ea family sedans. Now, I did a LOT more work than just painting the bird, and with some help from my kids (and wife) (and a few others at times) we managed to finish the job in 11 (Yes, Eleven!) months. Not everything is the same quality as I would expect from a shop, some of the finish isn't as good as I would like. But the behind the scenes work that included a fresh set of windows, a new audio panel, remanufacturing all vacuum lines, new rubber fuel lines, and a zillion other small details is WAAY better than nearly every paint shop job. Total cost was roughly $6k in supplies, and a roughly 11 months of free slave labor (oh--I mean Sweat Equity!). Of the $6k, paint and windows was roughly 2/3 of that cost. Another type of paint (compares to Imron) that I had quoted was roughly $3k for paint/primer in matterhorn white ONLY.

Would I do it again? Probably, and I imagine it would cost a bit more, and take only half as long... Check out the process at the link below if you like:

V/r,

-Dana
 
Very nice Dana.....I do appreciate what you did. I did a C-150 and know how much work stripping and painting can be. Yours turned out wonderful!!!!

I'm sure you learned tons about your plane no doubt....and now you probably have a bit more emotional attachment too.

My second paint project....I contracted out. :D
 
dell30rb said:
I'm not an expert but I have refinished and painted stuff (cars, boats - not airplanes)

I would approach this one of two ways. One- DIY Scuff and spray. Hand sand with very light sandpaper just enough to scuff the existing paint, clean to remove all wax (use aluminum safe cleaner) and shoot it with a two part, single stage high gloss automotive enamel. Of course you will need to find an A&P to check the control surface balance before flying.

Two, pay someone for a full on professional job.
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I've painted a Vans aluminum homebuilt, composite glider wings and various patch and repair jobs. I'm a total amateur.

Scuff and spray seems reasonable, but.

Rivets for a start; you will hit bare aluminum on the tops and you will have a hard time scuffing around them.

A question to ask is, "why are you painting?" Peeling paint? You'll need to remove that and deal with bare aluminum in those spots. Surface (filiform) corrosion? That will continue unabated by repainting unless stripped and (see bare aluminum). Faded paint? Compound to work off calories and fly, or just leave it - it's an airplane, fly it. A quick/cheap job can only make fly worse and look bad later.

Automotive urethane is what I used, two part single stage in particular. The good stuff is good stuff... and expensive but that's a nit relative to the overall effort. A lot of the aviation product is made to withstand 400 knot rain - hyper expensive and good if you can find a distributor.

Random thoughts; I'll just paint it white, no striping. You've already done the heavy lifting, a bit of trim is a real price performer no matter how you do it.

Latex house paints... fine for homebuilt sport aircraft that are trailered, stored indoors, fly 80 knots in sunny wx. One trip at 120 knots and rain and degradation starts...

The best $$$ saving approach is DIY, but. I concluded there are not multiple tiers of aircraft paint shops.... just experienced and competent, and those that may become so, or not.

ps: Total compliance with environmental regulations is demanding and costly and critical for a pro shop. You can and probably should evade or counter some of them on a DIY job, e.g. VOC regs dictate that Urethanes (the very good, easy to get a great job with stuff) are thick and to be used with little or no thinning. Thin the stuff a bit beyond the reg limiting specs and suddenly you can do a good job with cheap equipment. The stuff is toxic as hell so be sure to protect yourself with fresh air breathing equipment and don't overspray your neighbors car or plane. But you aren't running a shop doing multiple jobs a year with multiple employees who WILL suffer from the toxicity eventually, along with the general public.

Then go watch a boat shop with a 50' paint booth paint a 75' yacht hull so you can feel good about yourself.... no, actually run the other direction.




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I recently visited a paint shop (*** paint) in SoCal to look at the quality of their work. I had already received a quote from them of around $14k to paint my Mooney for an all metallic design with a pearl white base. This was about $4k cheaper than ArtCraft, who seems to be one of the best from what I hear.

When I saw the paint up close at *** paint I noticed some minor orange peel on the paint which is only visible up close. For $4k less than ArtCraft I could probably live with it. But I plan to visit AC and several other shops before I pull the trigger.

But will minor orange peel affect the speed of the plan a little? I know that may sound like a dumb question or extreme but it got me wondering. Mooneys are fast because they’re slick and I don wonder if smoothness of the paint would affect it at all. And does a little bit of orange peel say something else about the quality of work?
 
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