Surface Area of an RV?

[claycookiemonster]

Has anyone ever measured or derived the surface area of an RV (8 in my case) prior to painting? I have a paint which they say will cover 300 sq ft per gallon, but how many square feet do I have?

[swjohnsey]

Figure the area of top of one wing x 4; horizontal stabilizer/elevator one side x 4; vertical stabilizer/ruder one side x 2. Call the fuselage a long cylinder. You only need to get to the nearest 300 sq/ft.

[PhatRV]

I was told I will need slightly less than 2 gallons for the plane. One gallon should cover the fuse + 1 wing. The 2nd gallon covers the 2nd wing + all the rest.

I have primed all the control surfaces (flaps + ailerons), plus the empennage, and all the fiberglass parts (cowls, wheel fairings). I went through 1 gallon of epoxy primer so far. There was some rework on the flaps so I probably used more primer than a normal person. The fiberglass parts needed extra primer to allow sanding down in order to get rid of the pinholes and sanding imperfections. These fiberglass parts requires more layers of epoxy than the regular aluminum parts. Base on my current usage, I will probably use slightly more than 2 gallons of epoxy primer for the exterior surface to complete the coverage for the fuse and wings.

After wet sanding the primed surfaces with 400 grit, I don't think I will lay down that much paint because the surfaces are very smooth and the imperfections are covered with the primer. So the 2 gallons of paint are probably enough.

The estimate is based on empirical data from my painting progress.

[Bandera]

For priming the bare metal I use about 2.5 quarts sprayable of primer. If painting an all white RV8 with a couple of stripes, I would buy 2 gallons of paint, 2 gallons of hardener, and one gallon of reducer. When I’m done spraying I should have 2 to 3 quarts of paint leftover.

[claycookiemonster]

Thanks!
Now, another question. I'm planning on matching a specific military paint scheme, and so I've found the exact FS numbers to match the original. The question is, none of the "standard" commercial paint suppliers could do this. I've found a company in Phoenix, Intrepid Coatings, who will mix me my colors. Two stage Polyurethane. However, the cans will not say Sherwin Williams or any other recognizable paint supplier. The paint is referred to as "Mil-Perf-85285"

I'm guessing that's some military approved paint formulation, which sounds good to me. They've sent me the data sheet, but it's Greek to me. Intrepid Coatings knows the that their paint is intended for an airplane.

How can I know this will be good paint for my RV?

[Bandera]

Most modern paints are not that different from each other.

If you want a name brand paint, look for a dealer that carries Sherwin-Williams Military Aircraft Coatings. I’ve used it. It’s good stuff. Off the top of my head Blend Supply in Ft Worth Tx carries it. You can also try Advanced Aircraft Coatings in OK City, or Air Mart in Mena AR.

[wirejock]

Try this. One of the tabs is a ft² calculation for the 7.
Another tab is a paint calculator.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k28...ew?usp=sharing

[Little Al]

Not sure on surface area but the last one I painted was with PPG base clear. I used 5 ready to spray qts per coat.