Designing a paint scheme

[Palamedes]

Hey guys,

So.. I'm done with my RV10 Empennage and waiting for the Wings slow build to be delivered (10 days!!).. As such, I'm a bit bored.. hah

I want to work on designing my paint scheme but not sure the best way forward. Do you guys have a 3d model or something you use or do you just use paper designs? MSPaint and an outline of the plane? etc.. What?

Can someone point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

[Mike S]

While we were building and for the first couple years after flying, my wife took a lot of photos of paint schemes that she liked, and color combinations that she felt worked well.

I found some outline drawings of the RV 10 (profile and plan form) that I printed off for her to work on, and she did sketch after sketch until she felt happy with the results.

We went to the paint shop with two sheets of hand drawn design, top and side view.

After the plane had its white coat done, we went to the paint shop and worked with the painter to make the transition from design on paper to design on metal. Do not underestimate this step----what looks good on a flat sheet of paper may not work on a three dimensional compound curve surface.

Turned out pretty good, we think.



The process is somewhat photo documented here. https://picasaweb.google.com/mikesta...5/N210LMPaint#

[rv9builder]

Originally Posted by Mike S

Turned out pretty good, we think.

Looks really good, Mike!

[clutch22]

Get on EAA video site and search "designing the perfect paint scheme." It was an October webinar. I found it to be quite informative and enjoyable.

[rgmwa]

This little shareware program does quite a good job. I used it to work out a scheme for my RV-12. The author even added wheel pants to the original RV-12 model after I contacted him and sent him some details. http://www.airplanecolor.com/download.htm

[N941WR]

When picking your colors, try to use automotive paint codes. It is much simpler to walk into a paint shop with a "known" paint code, especially later on when you need to do some touch ups.

Also, try to design a scheme where the gear legs and wheel pants are all one color. They take a beating and will need to be repaired and repainted at some point.

For the -10, think about painting the vertical supports for the windows black so they blend into the windows. This can give the -10 a completely different look.

Good luck!

[plehrke]

Originally Posted by N941WR

When picking your colors, try to use automotive paint codes. It is much simpler to walk into a paint shop with a "known" paint code, especially later on when you need to do some touch ups.

I looked at cars to see different colors in shadow and bright sunlight as I did not want a blue that looked purplish in the bright sun. Paint chips in a book under artificial light look totally different than outside on large painted surfaces. Go to a car dealer and walk their lot outside looking at the latest colors. When you find ones you like, go to auto paint store and get the color code for that year/make/model.

[Randy]

Being artistically challenged, I had dropped my RV7A off at the paint shop with a few photos of a paint scheme I liked and was going to leave it for the painter to modify etc. Then I listened to the webinar mentioned above. The part that got me concerned was the statement made that the worst thing you can do is let the guy with the tape design your paint scheme...

So I got nervous and hired scheme designers to help me. They did a stellar job, giving me quick feed back on each idea change, sending computer generated sketches of the ideas so it was easy to actually see the ideas etc. The end product was a very professionally done paint specification that was very detailed with all dimensions clearly specified etc.

Another advantage of using this service is the owner knows just about all the paint shops in the country and beyond and can probably give feedback on any paint shop you might be considering, or maybe recommend one if your looking.

In my case I just happened to have my plane in one of the very best shops in the US and probably did not have to worry after all, but I am certainly happy with the end result.

I will add that using the service made the paint job more expensive, but much of that effect was of my own doing as I chose to add effects that I liked in the sketches that were sent. Without that feedback I probably would have kept the scheme less complicated and less expensive. However, I am very glad I did what I did and recommend the services of Schemedesigners to anyone in a similar situation.

I would also add that Don Copeland and his son Chris at Arizona Aeropainting in Eloy AZ were a pleasure to work with and did a great job on my project. Once I her her home and get some good photos I will post some.

[Taildrgr]

Here are a few you tube videos of RV paint schemes done by Smitty's RV.

https://youtu.be/IyDjxzDpmc0

https://youtu.be/CN-R05_Cit0