Painting at Sunquest Air Specialties - Everett, WA

After 4 years of flying with bare aluminum and fiberglass, I took the plunge and got 727JW painted. Having painted cars in my hotrod days, I have had my fill, plus I don't have a good facility to do this at even if I did want to tackle the project. I ended up at Sunquest Air Specialties at Paine Field (KPAE). They have done some RVs before, and were pretty easy to work with in getting the details figured out.

Paint scheme? Well, it isn't too original, but the 1930s Air Corp trainer/Stearman "blue and yellow" is one I've always liked, plus my wife Laurie and daughters Grace and Emma also approved. So, off to the "RV spa" as the girls call it for several weeks of exfoliation, skin treatment, etc, and. . . .

Here is Emma (the tomboy in her Carharrts...) modeling as I button up the last gear fairing parts prior to rollout:



Although is has been very foggy here in the Puget Sound area for several days and we did not expect it to lift, it actually did clear, so we rolled the bird out:




A short, easy flight home to Bremerton and the bird is safely in the hangar.
Now, I have to learn to be careful when working around it, and not just put tools, etc. on the skins!!

The Sunquest people were good to work with and I think I ended up with the paint job I wanted: not "show quality" (the underyling metalwork sure isn't ) but a very nice job that looks good, should wear well, with attention paid to the details, and that didn't break the bank.

Hmm - Need to Resize Pictures?

Guess I'd better resize those!

Nice paint job...

Hi John,

Very nice paint job! Reminds me of the very first control line model airplane my dad bought me back in the 60's. Never could figure out how to get that thing to fly...

I'm finishing up my -7 now, and would really like to get it painted before moving to the airport (AWO). I've looked at doing the job myself, or getting a shop to do it.

What type of paint did you use, and why did you choose it? Did the shop do the prep work, or would they let you do some of the grunt labor? Can you give us an idea of the bottom line$$$?

The checkbook and credit card are getting a little strained paying for all of the "little" things that are involved with completing and flying, such as Use Tax, Insurance, Hanger, Transistion Training, etc...

Paint Details

Scott, here are the details:

1. The prep work was alodine plus 2-part epoxy primer, and - of course - lots of filling and sanding on all the fiberglass stuff, which was in "as received from Van's" condition.

2. Color is PPG's Desothane single stage polyurethane, which is a commercial aircraft coating that the guys at Sunquest recommended; they use it painting a lot of their commercial jobs, including some of the new Kodiak turboprops that are just coming out, etc. (saw a Kodiak in there getting prepped, and one outside that was just finished - what a beast! If that machine and 750SHP ain't enough for you, I don't know want to know what kind of flying you're doing )

3. The Desothane color selection is huge - just about anything you would want. Sunquest said that the yellow would need a coat or two of white underneath to cover properly, and so that is how we did it.

4. They like the owner to handle R&R of fairing/access cover/flight controls/cowling on experimentals, and I was fine with that because I know how everything fits together and wanted to complete my annual inspection at the same time. They were willing to share some of the other prep work to save costs, but I opted to have them do it all because (1) that way, there is only one person responsible for the final product, and (2) I did not want to bother with that stuff, which I've done in years past and did not want to do again. We had a dang busy year at the firm in 2008 and I figured some of those extra billable hours would be best spent on paying the pros to do what they do best.

5. Base price for a bare (unpainted) RV-6 in white (or similar color that does not cost extra due to expensive pigments, like red, yellow, etc.) with two colors of trim stripes was $8,000. That includes 8 hrs of corrosion repair and/or bodywork. I paid for some extra bodywork to clean up an ugly joint at the forward edge of the tipup canopy skin, and they did a very nice job of getting that done, including R&R of the canopy; it looks 1,000% better than before. As with just about any body shop, it is a question of "how many hours of shop time do you want to pay us, to get what level of perfection in the underlying structure before the color coats go on?" I opted for "make it look nice but don't go overboard, I don't plan to enter it in any airshows, etc.", which is of course a subjective thing - but I think we ended up being on about the same wavelength in that regard.

6. With those extras and tax, I came out about $10,300. That includes whatever graphics/placards you want, and they have lots of AN hardware on hand to use in putting everything back together.

7. I ran into my CFI at Bremerton yesterday; he flies for FedEx after retiring from flying 747s. He knows Sunquest and mentioned that unlike some other shops, they have a very good reputation for putting the plane back together properly - i.e., grounding and bonding straps properly installed with bare metal connections, etc. He commented that some shops miss these details and the owner ends up with a bad ground somewhere, avionics that now don't work, plugged static ports, etc. I checked all that stuff carefully myself, since I was putting it all back together, and it seemed pretty clear to me that these guys were paying attention to the details.

8. I know I could have saved a few $$ somewhere else, but having the shop close by, where I could get over there are handle details, get my annual done, etc. was a real plus for me. My work calendar was busy through December and the first few months of this year, with several trials set, so traveling somewhere and staying for 2 weeks, etc. was not a good option. There is another local -7 builder, as I recall, who is leaving soon for Grady's place at GLO; it sounded as though Grady came in a couple thousand less than a quote he got from Sunquest, and with the avgas expense, etc. he would lose some of that savings but would get a nice XC trip out of the deal, so he is going that route. I do know that despite my painting work in years past, there is no way I could have gotten the results that the Sunquest guys delivered.

First thing tomorrow: order the non-skid wingwalks from Van's, so I don't trash that beautiful paint!

Hope this helps -

Scott,

I flew mine from AWO in June and have been flying since that without paint, but I'm trying to get out to the paint shop this week. Just for another view, I'm really glad I waited for paint as there's just a lot of things that may need tweaking/ fixing/ etc after you start flying.

Jim
Auburn, WA

Wait to paint -or- Wait to fly?

Jim,

I guess that I'm in that stage of denial that tells me that I've built my -7 so straight that there will be nothing to tweak. I won't have to add any trim tabs, or mess with the alignment of the wheel pants, or adjust the fit of the slider...

It just seems so obvious that I should paint before assembling everything. And just think of all of the bugs, the oil and grease, the corrosion!

Well, I'll just keep on plugging along. I went down to the airport this afternoon to look at a hanger - might end up sharing space with a piper clipper that needs some major rebuild and restoration work.

Nice Paint!

I was thinking just the other day that I hadn't seen a pre-war trainer paint job on an RV yet. I'm sure they are there, but this is the first I've seen. Very cool - and different.

Jeff,
Come on down to Green Cove Springs in Florida. I can show you my RV-8.

Except for mine and now Rutus, I have only seen one other in the blue and yellow scheme.

I will post a couple of pictures when I get a chance.

Great looking bird! congrats on the new look, she deserves it! Any plans to add pre-war Air Corps roundals (the pre "star and bar")?

Wow!

Beautiful paint job! I've never been able to decide whether I love the Stearman because of the colors, or the paint scheme because it reminds me of a Stearman...

John, Nice paint job! I had Sunquest paint my RV7 and have benn very pleased with the job they did. I'll watch for your plane as we fly into PWT often (I'm at PAE). Mine is the red and white checker board one on Vans calendar March 08.

Roundels coming later....

It is always nice to have a positive response from others - especially when you've just dropped $10k on the paint.

Yes, my wife and daughters are both encouraging me to add the roundels to the plane, so I will probably get to that later this year. Jim Piavis, who posted on this thread, emailed me that he has a reference book that gives all the correct info on these markings (time frame used, sizing, colors, location, etc.) and graciously offered to lend it to me. I plan to take him up on that. His -7 is currently down at GLO getting the spa treatment, as far as I know.

JW