Painting on a small logo??

Mike Smith

Mike Smith

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Fresh Prince of PrattVegas
Suppose I wanted a small logo on my plane and I have someone with talent who will paint it for me. !) Are there any regs about that? and 2) if its hand painted, what paint would hold up the best?
 
Just paint the logo on.

I take it you're talking on a metal aircraft?

Be sure you use at least automotive quality paint, careful if they try to sand anything.
 
Yes, metal and Im talking 3-4" on the empennage. And yeah, NO sanding, which leads to the next question, I would assume I would need some sort of wax remover/cleaner so the paint would stick? What would you use?
 
As long as you're painting on the fixed stabilizer and not a balanced movable control surface, you're ok. Mess with the control surface and an A&P will have to check it for balance.

FAR 43 Appendix A:
(c) Preventive maintenance. Preventive maintenance is limited to the following work, provided it does not involve complex assembly operations:
[...]
(9) Refinishing decorative coating of fuselage, balloon baskets, wings tail group surfaces (excluding balanced control surfaces), fairings, cowlings, landing gear, cabin, or cockpit interior when removal or disassembly of any primary structure or operating system is not required
 
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Better to have a vinyl application made up ,easier to apply will last longer than the paint,also not as heavy as paint.
 
And removable if future owner doesn't want it.
 
frfly172 said:
Better to have a vinyl application made up ,easier to apply will last longer than the paint,also not as heavy as paint.
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this....go to a graphics shop and get it cut in vinyl. It will look much better. :yes:
 
If you went with paint, the guy should know how to prep the surface.

If you go vinyal, do a little research, I know there are quite a few diffrent flavors, when our work plane got it's logos we were asked for it's max speed and altitude.

Agree with the others, vinyal is the way to go if you might end up selling it, I'd also get a copy of the file incase you need to redo the logo later, also will work to cut a stencil if you decide to paint it, later down the road.
 
If you need the vinyl logo done, we can do that here for you. We use a UV protected exterior 3M product, and we do full color graphics at whatever size you need. It will hold on and keep it's color longer than the paint will.

Just email what you need to media@thesquawkshoppe.com and we'll knock it out. :)
 
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Archammer said:
If you need the vinyl logo done, we can do that here for you. We use a UV protected 3M product, and we do full color graphics at whatever size you need. It will hold on and keep it's color longer than the paint will.

Just email what you need to media@thesquawkshoppe.com and we'll knock it out. :)
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Shane, can you do two color logos in vinyl?
 
mikeinbama said:
Shane, can you do two color logos in vinyl?
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Full color, as many as you want. :) The less colors the better though, for resilience. Some colors do fade faster than others, so too many will make it looked washed out over time.

The great thing is, that when that happens we just make you a new one to apply!
 
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Anymouse said:
Just curious, what's the price range for stripes/N-numbers??
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For single color die-cut items like numbers, and stripes, just figure about $9-12 per square foot. So Part 45 N-numbers would run you about $10 per alphanumeric. Multicolor images are higher and by piece.
 
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Archammer said:
For single color die-cut items like numbers, and stripes, just figure about $9-12 per square foot. So Part 45 N-numbers would run you about $10 per alphanumeric. Multicolor images are higher and by piece.
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That is actually a pretty good price...
 
Archammer said:
For single color die-cut items like numbers, and stripes, just figure about $9-12 per square foot. So Part 45 N-numbers would run you about $10 per alphanumeric. Multicolor images are higher and by piece.
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N801BH said:
That is actually a pretty good price...
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Not bad at all. The stripes on my Tango cost ~$110 roughly ten years ago. To put it in comparison, one shop I talked to a couple years ago wanted to charge me over $500 just to think about it. This was for my helicopter. Small numbers and not as much acreage to cover.
 
All of the decals on my racecar are done in die cut vinyl. I get excellent pricing (as an example, my roof numbers are 24" tall and 30" wide, and I paid $14 for them).
 
SkyHog said:
All of the decals on my racecar are done in die cut vinyl. I get excellent pricing (as an example, my roof numbers are 24" tall and 30" wide, and I paid $14 for them).
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A similar product. Although the one's on your car are most likely 2.8 mil calendared film. Great for decals and peel away applications, but the thermal die fades a little too fast and the 5 year medium outdoor durability was a turn off for us.

I could probably get away with that for the N numbers, but because they are subjected to much more UV exposure and temp variance, we use a 2 mil 3M Cast Film. A little more expensive, but 9 year excellent outdoor durability and the sharper color longevity made it appropriate.
 
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If you end up back at paint, you might be able to find a local airbrush artist that will do it. I got a custom motorcycle painter/artist to put a modern Mooney bird logo on my v-stab but with my colors and shading/highlights to make it pop more than a factory sticker. He clear-coated over it and it still looks great many years later.
 
I had a local place in KS make vinyl decals for the airplanes and company vehicles. They haven't aged a bit.
 

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I've had great success with custom vinyl, did this earlier this year (including the Cessna logo)

2qIoKypbaSFwFT6OWRUw3EI5zWxfMG5ts7w4gqzb_w=w320-h427-no
 
saulico said:
I've had great success with custom vinyl, did this earlier this year (including the Cessna logo)

2qIoKypbaSFwFT6OWRUw3EI5zWxfMG5ts7w4gqzb_w=w320-h427-no
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Ya, it looks just as good as a painted detail without all the cost. That looks great!
 
I did vinyl lettering on a boat I used to have. It looked great, was inexpensive and held up to the elements well. I wasn't doing 100kts but still. Good option fo sho.
 
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