Cheapest way to paint an airplane?

MotoFlier said:
I saw a picture some time ago where a guy painted his whole BMW with a Sharpie it looked really cool I can't imagine it held up.:dunno:

Found it looks like there is a Lamborghini now too!



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That thing looks like it has a few miles on it.

Jim
 
Many, many years ago a guy at my airport bought a C-172 from the flight school and painted the WHOLE THING with "rattle can" paint! Don't know how many cans it took but the result was...wait for it...TERRIBLE! The surface was rough as a cob...must have slowed the plane down PLENTY
 
What I started with was a doggy Cherokee 140. What I ended up with was presentable. It cost about $8k, and I did Everything.
So, that's ~$8k in materials alone. Took me about a month of hard labor. ;)
 

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Blueangel said:
So I found nice plane that needs a new paint job. One local aircraft painter in Corona quoted me 12K for a full strip and repaint. Is there a cheaper place and way to do this? Can you have an auto body shop paint a plane for much less money than an aircraft paint shop? My friend said this is possible and costs thousands less than the huge massive markup that aircraft paint shops charge.
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I wonder what the reaction would be if you brought a plane into an auto body shop...
 
Kyrpto said:
I wonder what the reaction would be if you brought a plane into an auto body shop...
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I've done it. However he knew it was coming in ;)

It's not the painting that's the issue but who signs it off in the logbook.
 
I got a quote from a shop fairly near me for my pa28-140, and was able to see a few examples of their work while I was there... looked beautiful. It was either $10,700 or $11,700, including any needed fiberglass work on wingtips and cowl, anddent/ding removal, and full annual afterwards. There was a cap on fiberglass hours. For the amount of work involved and fhe quality of the work I saw, I'll have them do before even considering doing it myself. Mechanical work? Sure, I'll DIY as much as anyone will let me, Artisitic make-it-pretty stuff? Nope, not me.

Of course, getting my maybe $20k Cherokee painted is the last item on the list to be done... if ever.
 
MuseChaser said:
Of course, getting my maybe $20k Cherokee painted is the last item on the list to be done... if ever.
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It's a problem many of us will face eventually. Our aircraft aren't worth any of the major repairs we have to do periodically. A Cherokee or a Skyhawk isn't worth it for a quality engine rebuild, or a good paint job. The most rational financial thing to do is buy the aircraft, runtime them until something big breaks, scrap them and buy another. The problem is as airplanes disappear the survivors get more expensive. Few people buy them, so the services attached get more expensive. No matter what they won't be worth it to do major repairs. This is the death knell for GA that I think is going on right now.
 
steingar said:
It's a problem many of us will face eventually. Our aircraft aren't worth any of the major repairs we have to do periodically. A Cherokee or a Skyhawk isn't worth it for a quality engine rebuild, or a good paint job. The most rational financial thing to do is buy the aircraft, runtime them until something big breaks, scrap them and buy another. The problem is as airplanes disappear the survivors get more expensive. Few people buy them, so the services attached get more expensive. No matter what they won't be worth it to do major repairs. This is the death knell for GA that I think is going on right now.
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You'd think that, but the how much of a death knell is it when the paint shops around here are stacked 6+ months out. ~$28,000 for a paint job on a Comanche. Thing is, the 'scrapped' ones will get picked up by someone who can put some money into it and sell it for around what the other survivors are going for when the price of them rises. If the prices get too high, no one buys, and the price comes down. We saw that from 2003 => present. Prices peaked until the economy crapped in 2008/2009, and now they are back up again. They will come down when the economy goes sluggish again. Econ 101.
 
A lotta airplanes would look pretty good with the cowl and wheel pants repainted.
 
steingar said:
The most rational financial thing to do is buy the aircraft, runtime them until something big breaks, scrap them and buy another.
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Depends, over the winter we just re-engined our 201. Full firewall forward, everything up front new or reman'd. It's been such a good bird over the last 13 years that we didn't want to roll the dice on something new to us. Also, the whole selling/buying thing is a drag. YMMV
 
Bill Jennings said:
Depends, over the winter we just re-engined our 201. Full firewall forward, everything up front new or reman'd. It's been such a good bird over the last 13 years that we didn't want to roll the dice on something new to us. Also, the whole selling/buying thing is a drag. YMMV
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While I agree wholeheartedly, this makes no financial sense. You will never recover your investment. That said, I think we must all be willing to engage in financial missense for the fleet to survive. I will. They don't make my airplane anymore and never will. But it is an amazing machine that deserves to function on.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Depends, over the winter we just re-engined our 201. Full firewall forward, everything up front new or reman'd. It's been such a good bird over the last 13 years that we didn't want to roll the dice on something new to us. Also, the whole selling/buying thing is a drag. YMMV
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But a 201 is worth a lot more than $20K, nice ones go for well over $100K, so I think they’re worth upgrading.


Tom
 
An engine keeps an airplane in the air - paint makes it heavier, therefore slower. You can fly the value of an engine out of the airplane. Paint will make it worth more, but probably not as much as it costs.
For me, the value of my 1957 C182A is in it's utility, not it's resale value, so it'll stay ugly, but flying well, for now.
 
For those they had their plane painted, what’s the process of detailing out how they do the paint scheme? If you use a professional paint scheme company, that adds $1500 cost to an already expensive job. Do you just draw it out using some line drawings? Show them a picture of a plane you like to copy?
It’s funny, cars look normal being 1 color, but planes look odd?


Tom
 
Depends on the plane. Cubs don't look odd.
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
For those they had their plane painted, what’s the process of detailing out how they do the paint scheme? If you use a professional paint scheme company, that adds $1500 cost to an already expensive job. Do you just draw it out using some line drawings? Show them a picture of a plane you like to copy?
It’s funny, cars look normal being 1 color, but planes look odd?


Tom
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I used pictures to show the scheme.
 
steingar said:
While I agree wholeheartedly, this makes no financial sense. You will never recover your investment. That said, I think we must all be willing to engage in financial missense for the fleet to survive. I will. They don't make my airplane anymore and never will. But it is an amazing machine that deserves to function on.
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I don’t know ... makes sense to me. Instead of parking it and buying something else he spent the same money repowering a plane with 13 years of known maintenance and reliability that now is all shinny and new firewall forward.
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
If you use a professional paint scheme company, that adds $1500 cost to an already expensive job. Do you just draw it out using some line drawings? Show them a picture of a plane you like to copy?
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All the above. Depends on the situation and end result requirements. The last 2 aircraft I was involved in elected to paint the aircraft a base color then applied the accent strips with custom graphics tape/decals. A lot cheaper than masking/painting the stripes.

And just as a side note, depending on the type and condition of your old paint there are a few products out there that can "rejuvenate" its appearance and color. Then afterwards top it off with a good protective coating like Rejex.
 
You guys have this all wrong. If you see the OP's original post, it says what's the cheapest way to paint an airplane.
clearly the cheapest way to paint an airplane is with a paint roller and some latex paint from Home Depot.

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Guys, High costs kill almost any deal. If the price is really high forget it.
 
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