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Paint cost

Carl Froehlich

Well Known Member
All,

I’m just back from the PPG paint store with material to do the new RV-8 using high end urethane base and clear coat.

I knew prices have gone up but shoot fire - what is driving this last huge jump? Some cost data - three planes all painted with the same paint, all paint bought from the same place:
- RV-8A 2004, $1200
- RV-10 2012, $2700 (but a much bigger plane)
- RV-8 2020, $3700

Considering the skyrocketing price of engines and now paint, we’ll all end up flying polished aluminum planes with some auto engine conversion....

Carl
 
Try a different brand

I noticed the same thing. I’ve always shot with PPG. Between the price and the inability to get Concept in CA I’ve just recently switched to Tamco. It seems to shoot just like Concept but 1/2 the price, and they’ll ship to CA as well.
I’m done with PPG.
Laird
 
6% per year

The guy painting my 7, says he has documented a 6% increase annually on PPG products. That would be about the numbers you listed.
 
I just bought my paint. PPG Evolution single stage Matterhorn White. 3 gallons with the needed additive, hardener and thinner. 1 gal. Epoxy primer and hardener. 1qt. Blue. A few other items for the job. $2800.
 
All,

I’m just back from the PPG paint store with material to do the new RV-8 using high end urethane base and clear coat.

I knew prices have gone up but shoot fire - what is driving this last huge jump? Some cost data - three planes all painted with the same paint, all paint bought from the same place:
- RV-8A 2004, $1200
- RV-10 2012, $2700 (but a much bigger plane)
- RV-8 2020, $3700

Considering the skyrocketing price of engines and now paint, we’ll all end up flying polished aluminum planes with some auto engine conversion....

Carl

Update - had to buy more so cost is now $4500 just for materials! The up side is PPG Deltron paint produces a show car finish.
Carl
 
I finally finished painting the RV-8, reassembled and tested. Final bill for high end PPG urethane base/clear (materials only) was $4700.

I do not yet know the cost to fix the tennis elbow from holding the paint gun for hours on end.

Carl
C59238-C2-88-EE-4061-B3-CA-928-A1-F5-E7851.jpg
 
I finally finished painting the RV-8, reassembled and tested. Final bill for high end PPG urethane base/clear (materials only) was $4700.

Carl

The paint job looks great Carl. And in the end you probably did it for a quarter of the cost of going to a pro aviation paint shop.

The cost of your PPG paint price rise over the years is due to multiple factors. Firstly of course the dollar has significantly decreased in purchasing power since 2004 due to inflation.

The auto paint industry has also seen huge increases in the cost of their raw products. 50% of the cost of producing paint is in the commodity prices which have gone up dramatically in recent years. Solvents in particular have skyrocketed....in 2016 alone acetone skyrocketed by 100%. These dramatic price jumps probably reflect the increased cost of complying with ever stricter global environmental controls.

And finally, you’ve chosen very expensive colour pigments....yellow and blue. White would have been much cheaper....but would not have looked anywhere near as exciting. :D

In the end many people look at the escalating price of certain goods and feel inclined to believe in corporate conspiracy theories (forming conspiracy theories is a traditional American pastime). But I suspect that the auto paint industry is in fact highly competitive.
 
I painted my 10 a year and a half ago. I won't use the name brand companies due to price; It seems criminal what they charge. I used Southern Polyurethanes, as I did for my 6 and a few custom cars. Enough Epoxy Primer, Red & white base coat and clear coat, activators, reducers, and some 2K primer was $1900. Very high quality and good support. Had enough primer to do the entire interior as well.

They are a hidden gem in my opinion. Quality is on par with top of the line brand name versions. Yes, these prices are about double what I paid 5+ years ago, but still reasonable in comparison.

Larry
 
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I also used SPI Epoxy and Universal Clear, went with PPG DBC base as SPI did not offer the colors.
I used SPI Epoxy and Clear on a number of other non aircraft projects with great success. Very happy with SPI products.
 
I also used SPI Epoxy and Universal Clear, went with PPG DBC base as SPI did not offer the colors.
I used SPI Epoxy and Clear on a number of other non aircraft projects with great success. Very happy with SPI products.

I have also used Diamont and other base coats, due to limited color selection. With the 10, I needed so much base that I chose to stick with a color SPI offered. Most won't go that route, but I did. You can get real sticker shock when looking at Red base from some of the suppliers, at least in the quantities needed to cover a 10. The specific color just wasn't that important to me.

I have had no issues with adhesion when using these base products with SPI primer and clear.

I used their single stage on my 6 and it is a GREAT product. They use urethane pigments, so you can color sand without the mottling seen when doing this with lesser quality products. Most SS paints allow only a very light color sanding and this just doesn't work for me, as I paint in the garage and cannot control dust.
 
One of the things that surprised me when John Stahr painted my little jet was that every color is right over primer - there was no overall base white followed by colors goign on top. Not only did this make things lighter and eliminate “lips”, it also cuts down on the amount of paint you need - and with prices like these, that’s a big deal!

Paul
 
another upvote for SPI

I also used SPI epoxy primer and love it.

My yellow / white combo is PPG yellow and SPI white top coat single stage.
I hadn't shot paint in 25 years, so last time I was using a suction gun acrylic enamel IIRC.
I found the SPI a bit harder to shoot as they didn't call for any reducer and I was getting a lot of orange peel. Eventually I tried just a little reducer and got very nice results.
The PPG yellow shot really nice right out of the gate... for double the price per gallon.

Unfortunately SPI single stage is only available in white, black, and red. They say it can be tinted but that was starting to get to be over my head.
 
One of the things that surprised me when John Stahr painted my little jet was that every color is right over primer - there was no overall base white followed by colors goign on top. Not only did this make things lighter and eliminate “lips”, it also cuts down on the amount of paint you need - and with prices like these, that’s a big deal!

Paul

Was it basecoat clear coat system? or straight color - so he butted one color to the other?
 
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