What do the colors cost?

I'm curious as to what the different colors cost. I'm not interested in what a total paint scheme cost to put on the airplane. I know the general range of pricing an entire airplane, and that it varies with complexity of design.

But, does anyone have any info on the difference in cost between say...Blue and White (white), assuming the same brand and qualities. I keep hearing that RED is EXPEN$IVE, and that Black doesn't last, and this and that.

What's the deal with colors? Is an all red airplane gonna cost more than an all white one, or all blue more or less than all green?

Red is more

expensive, at least I paid more for it I was told that it takes more coats to cover evenly and the paint itself is about double what white is. I used JetGlo if that makes any difference.

My yellow paint was about $100 more a gallon than the grey. Red's more expensive too.

red is as high as camel snot

red is very high. i painted my k-5 blazer and one quart of red in ppg dbu base was double or more what the black was. it really does depend on color but there are some that are well known for their cost such as red is. as far as the grand scheme of things it shouldnt vary more than a couple hundred if you are doing it and maybe none if a pro does it. there is enough profit built in for that.

black ??

my k 5 has been painted for over two years and looks as fresh as when it was shot. it was baked on but the painter swears air dry is better. i disagree with that but he does it every day and i dont. these are clear coated paint jobs and i beleive they want a 5 year job from them. but it has been my experience that they always last much longer.

Shot with KODAK DX7590 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA at 2007-07-12
this one was 4 years old at the time of pic.
Shot with KODAK DX7590 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA at 2007-07-12


as far as one outlasting the other thats pure bs IMHO and i have painted many cars .maybe different for single stage colors. mostly metallics reds whites (pearls) and blues. i hate black but i wasnt up to jamming the k-5 out. the only reason i didnt paint these two was because i wanted them baked and my freind shot them for a 100$...read i did ALL the work except shooting the final color and clear.

Yes, red is expensive. It's the most expensive solid color. Reds usually don't "cover" very well requiring you to add more coats of paint to achieve the desired color. One way to reduce the number of coats of red is to paint gray first. If you really want to spend some money on paint go price some of that color changing stuff. The last time I bought some it was $550 a pint.

Cool, thanks all!

Do painters accept emailed drawings (made up nice in Photoshop) to estimate quotes?

I can't speak for all painters but I would say yes.