Paint Wing With or Without Tanks
 

Is there a general consensus, or is this a never-ending debate; should the tanks be removed from the wings during painting and painted separately? Cosmetically, it probably looks nice not having the screw heads exposed, but if you ever had to remove the tanks.....

I am going to paint the wings in the next week or two (fuselage is done), so I wanted to know what those before me have found to work best.

I couldn't even imagine removing the tanks for paint. Why put yourself through it?!? If one desired to have unpainted screw heads, it would be far less trouble to simply remove the screws prior to paint and then replace them afterward. The bolts through the zee brackets would be more than sufficient support during the painting process.

All of that said, I painted the screws on my -8 and plan to do the same on the new -14A. Offhand, I'm having trouble envisioning a non-military scheme where unpainted screw heads would look better than painted.

Timely post for me, I am taking the plane for paint tomorrow. Like you, I don't want the screws to for the tank or any other removable/serviceable item to be painted thus I have instructions to remove all screws before paint. I think it would be safe to remove the screws and paint. The tank is fairly tight in its spot and it is being held by the Z brackets.

On the RV-6 there are no Z-Brackets, so once the screws are out there is nothing to hold the tank on. However, unlike the -7, the tanks are pretty easy to remove (just take out a pile of screws), so it can go either way. I'm leaning towards tanks off (screws out). Since the paint will be white it shouldn't be as noticeable as a military grey or darker color.

Be advised, when you paint parts with no screws, you paint the dimples. Torquing the screws down will then lift and move the paint slightly in that dimple and the effects often carry well outside the screw.

I have numerous areas where this has occured on my 6 (wing tips, fuse/wing fairing, etc) and would not be happy if it visible across my upper wing skins.

I painted over the screws on my 6 and can't recommend any other way. Its not likely you will ever take them off and if you do, they sell paint cuter to make this easy.

This issue is more prevalent on aluminum parts, as the primer bond is weaker than with fiberglass or steel. It is made worse by the fact that the interior of the dimple doesn't get sanded, further weakening the bond. I would be less concerned if the plane was alodine treated, as this increases paint bond strength.

Larry

painting wings
 

I painted with tanks on, but I did remove all the #8 screws and plugged the holes with little silicon plugs made for painting. Then after the paint had set for a couple weeks I put the screws back in. So the screws show like I had painted with the tank off and if I ever want to take it off the screws are not painted over. You can see it here. http://www.mykitlog.com/users/catego...category=11091

I?m about to get paint too. I was thinking about backing the tank screws out almost all the way and then spray. Thoughts?

man, you guys are making this hard. There are good points for both methods. I am I like the idea of having the screws unpainted for future maintenance, but I have also seen what can happen when you drive the screws into a painted dimple. For the access panel, I will definitely paint separately. For the tank, I believe at some point they will have to come off. How many years...who knows. I figure the level senders can't last forever.

Easy.

Before painting you remove the tank screws. Take a few screws and cut the head OD down a bit to hold the tanks in place for painting, and screw them in. Paint the wings. After paint, remove the cut down screws and clean the paint out of the screw dimples with a countersink tool and and install screws.

While I haven't done it, I can't imagine their replacement requires tank removal.

Larry