Looks like I may be painting an airplane. Talking to the guy and trying to see if it will work out for the both of us. Lots O work. We'll see what happens.
A bit larger than a mini. Put some stripes on the bonnet and take some photos.
I am seriously thinking of painting it OEW with some kind of stripes.
Looks like I got the go ahead to paint this thing. Now the question is does anyone know anything about acrylic enamel paint?
Finally getting the deposit to start on the plane project. I'll try and snap some photos next week. I also have some airplane parts to paint for another guy soon.
Just bought the paint materials and started degreasing the belly today. Sucker is oily.
Reading this thread just reminded me of when my dad use to rebuild little Piper Cubs in our carport. He would get all the mechanical and framework done and tie the tail section in the back of a pickup and haul it down to Sky Harbor and skin it and install the wings. That was a long time ago.
Today I got the left wing pretty much all stripped. Still have a row of rivets to soda blast around and a flap to clean up. Got about an 1/8th of the belly cleaned.
More pics as I progress..
Are you going to paint it Creamsicle Orange ;D
No really, very cool. Are you doing a custom paint job for a rich executive or something?
It even has a neat little window so you can reach out and adjust the mirror. :o
Painting it for a guy who is selling it. I actually have a couple hundred hours in this ugly bastard too. One time had an electrical failure, couldn't tell if the gear went down with the emergency extension, called my boss with my cell, he called the fire department, and I got to do an engine out approach with police and fireman standing by. Was fun.
Brad- only thing worse than sliders on a mini, the lack of window ventilation on a piper.
AZ- speaking of cubs. This was in Tucson a few months ago at the air show.
It should't be flown if it can't function properly. It's not like a car, you can't just pull over.
Worked fine when I took off. They keep flying with no electric anyways.
Today got the right wing stripped down and most the belly degreased.
Also, brought home a cargo door and some wing tips to paint for a 3rd guy. I now have a total of 3 planes I'm doing paint work on. Seems as soon as I started working on one and they realized I can paint, people came out of the wood work.
Dan, is there any special considerations you have to take when painting an airplane vs a car? Do you have to think about the weight of the paint and aerodynamics at all?
Well don't grind off the rivets for starters, lol. Alumi prep and alodine the surface before primer. Redo the weight and balance of the plane after its all said and done. Thats about it as far as I know.
In other plane painting related news, shot a baggage door for a guy using Sherwin Williams. It was a base clear and layed out really nice. Thought for a second I was getting orange peel while spraying the clear, but it flattened out great after a couple minutes.
Got a wing primered, hoping to shoot the other one tomorrow and move onto the fuselage.
What is the color scheme going to look like?
White and blue. Blue wing tips, blue tail tips, blue on the fuselage from about the middle down. So pretty standard for an airplane. I got the other wing primered up today, the door, and a few panels around the door. Already looks better than it did before with just primer on it.
How come you never see guys rockin' (flyin') the primer look while they save up to finish the rest of the paint job on their plane? LOL
It looks pretty cool primer gray, kind of military looking.
Battleship Grey.
Got the belly 90% degreased. Bought some tooth brushes to go around some rivets under there and finish it off. Prepped and primered the elevator today as well. Tomorrow is a day full of flying so doubtful I'll get much done.
Fuselage stripped and primed. Getting tired of sanding. 50.gif
Painted the fiberglass wingtips and elevator tips. First time spraying AE and I'm not 100% satisfied with how it came out. The smaller pieces are fine and should buff to the right amount of gloss I want, but I think I'll be sanding down and spraying the wing tips again. Think I had the gun too far away, came out kinda dull and orange peely for my taste. Better to practice now on the small pieces than be hating life when I paint the whole thing half assed. If I could find the camera charger I'd be posting pictures of this.
My elevator tips color sanded and buffed out really nice. I re-shot the wing tips and played around with my gun settings and reducer quantities and got it to come out looking good. I think I'm prepared to do shoot the plane now. ;D
Quote from: 94touring on August 11, 2010, 05:36:07 PM
If I could find the camera charger I'd be posting pictures of this.
It's ok. We can just envision it. 4.gif Sounds like it's coming along nicely.
:D
Found the charger, now to remember to take the camera. The project is coming along nicely. There were tons of pot marks on the roof where the sun oxidized the primer, so that took a lot of time getting getting worked out, especially with rivets in the way. Primer was on there tough unlike most of the flakey paint on the rest of the plane. I've spent a ton of time sanding around all the rivets, thousands of them in fact, lol. But now all thats really left is to continue the final sanding (320 grit and scotch brite around rivets) on about one half of the plane and she's ready for spot primer where I sanded through and paint. Its all in the prep is certainly the case here. 50 hours prepping with about 50 minutes of spraying.
I'll have some paint on it this week. Spending the weekend painting the nose of another plane.
Are you doing this all with the same spray gun you use for the Minis? Didn't you get it at HF? Can't wait to see the pictures.
Well the gun I primarily use is not from HF, but one I bought a few years ago that was around $300 if I remember correctly. I do have a detail gun I use thats from HF and another gun I use sometimes for primer from HF, both work good. Actually the detail gun works really good and was only $15. I have to primer the horizontal stabilizer on the Arrow and another strip around the windscreen, both sections still needed more prep. Then its ready.
Ah. Are you working outside or in a hanger?
The big project plane I'm working outside, the other plane I sprayed today in a hanger with a pvc pipe frame made into a paint booth with plastic. I kept the front of the booth and nose of the plane close to the front of the hanger and had a really good vented system going outside with a 20x20" filtered box and fans on it and one on the other end, making it a cross flow and catching any paint in the process. As luck would have it not ten minutes after I finished spraying the clear a bad storm kicked up, blowing water inside the 2 foot crack in the hanger door. Water got on top of the plastic and bowed it downward, till water spewed through the line where the sheets of plastic met up in the middle. The end result was about a half gallon of water on a nice paint job and me going home pissed at the world. So tomorrow I get to sand out the water spots on the clear, roughen everything up, and shoot clear again. However I did have a random tiger stripe in the metalic blue paint pop up during clear coating, so I can fix that while I'm at it. Still kinda baffled why, as it looked fine before clear. I may have shot the clear too soon, not sure.
I also have parts to another plane I'm going to be spraying here at my house when the guy gets his paint materials. Elevators, stabilizers, flaps, rudders, ailerons, wing tips, and a few other odds and ends. Plus I'm guaranteed not to dump water on the parts when I'm done.
An interesting story and it sounds like a real challenge. Will you be changing the site name to restorationplane?
Here are some pics after tearing down the booth this morning right after spraying it again. The blue is what I had to paint. This plane is a Seneca for the airplane challenged. I have a charter the 17th in the Seneca I fly to Vegas, or as I like to call it, paid vacation. Also some pics of the wingtips for the Arrow.
Restorationaeroplane, I like it. ;D
Some progress pics. Will be nice when I get the blue on the lower half!
Started filling pin holes on the cowling today to prep that for paint. Looks like I'm going to have just barely enough white paint. Hoping to have the blue on there next week depending on my regular work schedules. Also looks like I picked up another side job painting parts on an airplane. Word sure does get around fast.
I'm not surprised! Now that you are in Arizona do you know how many times I have thought of commissioning you to do my Mini's body and paintwork? All you have to do is look at your previous work to see that you do quality stuff.
Now that I have thoroughly kissed your a$$, I will be expecting a discount if I do have you do my body and paint work! LOL
Keep up posting the pics. They are very interesting to see.
Lol, I'm always interested and am pretty fair on the price. Now's probably good a time as any since I have more time to play cars and planes than I do actual work. ;D
I should mention I got up at 4:30am and headed to the airport to lay that white paint on outside. Nice and calm out and not 1000 degrees. This acrylic enamal made it possible too, no way I could do it with clear coat. It dries fast enough you can get away with a lot. I would have ended up with a bunch of bugs and dirt all over the thing once the helicopters started dropping in around 9am if I did base/clear.
Got the top cowling painted white today, among other odds and ends like the prop dome. Put some tips on and its starting to look like a plane. Next week hopefully blue and done...after some buffing of course.
Looks like tomorrow the blue goes on, minus the lower cowling which still needs much attention. Got my lines masked off today and the belly all prepped up. Was fun trying to mask uniform lines on both side the whole length of a plane!
Todays work....
Next is fixing the lower cowling and buffing things out to a better shine.
Spent the majority of the day color sanding and buffing to a perfect shine, and I'm still not even half way done! Wore out a couple pads on the buffer even.
Have been sidetracked with other work, but did take the bottom cowling off and may have it painted tomorrow. The top cowling was thrown off the plane as the result of a helicopter landing beside it. I was pissed. Landed it rocks and took a beating. I also have a garage full of parts from another plane I need to paint, maybe this weekend.
Ordered tail numbers and decals today. And currently doing these parts for someone...
Not a big fan of the paint for these parts. It runs like a mofo!
What is different about the paint that makes it hard to work with?
Its specifically for aviation, whatever that means. I think its just a little on the thin side is all, so if you lay in on a little heavy you get a nice run. I'm currently redoing the pieces I did and laying them flat and flipping each side. A little trickier that way but at least it helps prevent running.
Edit: shot over the panels with the runs and the F'n paint wrinkled! I stopped quick before I made way more work for myself. Setting them aside and will worry about painting them next week after it dries solid. Can said it was ok to shoot them after 24 hours if a 2nd coat was needed....bastards!
Got the Arrow pretty well buffed and shiney. Started putting tail numbers on after buying vinyl letters from aerographics, and I fubared two of them. Accidently touched stickies and ruined. I'll wait till I have the other side on before I order the two new numbers in case I screw up again. PITA.
Haha, I remember a couple years back you sent me some vinyl number plate stickers for my mini (for the hood for a rally look). I totally effed up both of them trying to put them on! LOL
Haha well that makes me feel better. I was pretty pissed.
Finished up the plane. 4.gif
Looks super. Hope the owner thinks so as well.
That's awesome! Looks like a million bucks now.
I hope he likes it too. Now I get paid ;D