VAF Forums - GillsAeroPaint Best Bang for the Buck

:) I have to say that satisfaction with painters is very subjective, but I'll try to communicate my very good experience with Gillis.

My plane had been flying for 3 years with my home grown painting of 20% of the aluminum and all of the fiberglass parts. The cowl, wheel pants, and tail parts I finished with good results, but the gear leg fairings and some other fiberglass definitely needed more attention. My painting was fair at best. I saved my pennies and set out to get estimates on stripping the paint off, which covered about 20 percent of the aircraft, with the rest polished aluminum, and then painting the entire plane.

For a simple 2 color design, the estimates, because of the fiberglass work and some minor stripping, were very high from the Arizona painters ($8-12K). I then began a dialog with Calvin Gillis of Gillis AeroPaint and was happy with his assessment of my airplane and his price for the job. With Gillis I was able to get much more bang for the buck. I did a much flashier paint scheme for half the other estimates. The paint job was exactly what I pictured and was of good quality ($5,500). As one person said, "the quality is not a show plane winner, but good quality". Overall I'd rate the job as the best bang for the buck!