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black paint schemes on aluminum airplanes feedbacks?

Bastien

Bastien

Well Known Member
Hi everyone,

The first flight becoming closer and after 2 years of never ending debate with friends and family about my RV8 paint scheme. I will certainly going with Aircraft Studio Design to make my paint scheme. I will have the paint designer on phone next thursday and he will ask me what I like to let him design the paint scheme that would feet my likes.

I really like black airplanes with colorful lines on them (orange/yellow or green).

The main problem is that black paint don't have good reflection properties and I suspect that the deformation the heat would do could make the paint crack.
I can also imagine that the heat generates distortions that could, after years, weaken the airframe (rivet stress, aluminum stress, etc..).
I'm also worrying about black paint on wings and fuel tanks that could vaporize the gas.

Does any of you having dark color airplanes or black ones have feedbacks on this concerns?

Do you think I could go this way or should I forget black paint RV's

Thanks
 
Bastien said:
Hi everyone,

The first flight becoming closer and after 2 years of never ending debate with friends and family about my RV8 paint scheme. I will certainly going with Aircraft Studio Design to make my paint scheme. I will have the paint designer on phone next thursday and he will ask me what I like to let him design the paint scheme that would feet my likes.

I really like black airplanes with colorful lines on them (orange/yellow or green).

The main problem is that black paint don't have good reflection properties and I suspect that the deformation the heat would do could make the paint crack.
I can also imagine that the heat generates distortions that could, after years, weaken the airframe (rivet stress, aluminum stress, etc..).
I'm also worrying about black paint on wings and fuel tanks that could vaporize the gas.

Does any of you having dark color airplanes or black ones have feedbacks on this concerns?

Do you think I could go this way or should I forget black paint RV's

Thanks
Click to expand...

Here is my "black" RV-6, painted 1999:

http://thervjournal.com/399SB-11.jpg

There have been no problems with the paint deteriorating (single stage PPG Concept automotive finish). I did choose the scheme to eliminate concerns about the skin "oil canning" on the top surfaces. A completely black plane might see some panels popping on a hot day on top surfaces of the airframe that are relatively flat. But the combination scheme on my plane has caused no problems.
 
Ours is mostly dark blue - no problem

Our last airplane we had for 22 years and after the first 5 we had it repainted mostly red with silver and black trim and never tired of it. The black which was a minor trim color never presented a problem maintenace or otherwise. When we completed our RV-6A we flew it for a year before painting and worked intensely on the color scheme which we had played with for several years in building. When we had what we wanted we made full size patterns and took them to the airport and taped them in place. Much to my surprize it didn't look quite right and we made changes until we got it right. Then we picked the Imron color chips with clear coat and made a PowerPoint file 42 pages long (mostly illustrations and dimensions) describing precisely what we wanted. We signed a contract with the painter (Gray's Aircraft Refinishing in Ozark, Arkansas - I may not have this name exactly right) and the PowerPoint file and the final full size patterns were the the controlling elements of that contract. They did a great job and seven years later it still looks brand new. We have had it in a hangar all the time except during travel. Hot sunny days have not presented a problem but black is the worst case I believe for heat problems.

IMG-3.jpg
This is it in the January page of the SARL 2012 calendar.

Bob Axsom
 
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Small Dark planes are hard to see

Small Dark planes are hard to see against ground clutter. Even United 757s with their dark blue and grey can look a little spooky on low parallel final at places like Sana Ana, CA (SNA).

Bob Axsom
 
There are a LOT of black cars out there that seem to survive the heat. I had a black RV4 once and I was told that it was very east to see in the air. You will have to have a thick skin though as lots of people will come up to you and tell you that you can not paint an airplane black.
 
Unscientific Test

A friend and I who had similar auto vans, mine white, his black, took underhood temps with a Raytec infrared thermometer. On a 105 degree day in Texas, the black was about 30 degrees hotter.

That is a lot to a human but maybe not so much for paint and metal.
 
There's an (almost) all-black Lear 25 that lives here at PDK, and generally I see it sitting outside in the sun. That may or may not be particularly relevant, but the thing sure does look cool.

:)

68077_1236302622.jpg
 
Well if we're talking about any plane painted black you can't forget this one.

60628_1214749500.jpg


I have owned a black truck here in Arizona and it really doesn't matter because when metal gets hot to the touch no matter what paint color if left in the sun long enough. Just sayin...
 
Tom Martin said:
There are a LOT of black cars out there that seem to survive the heat. ....
Click to expand...

I see you are in the great white north...:)

If you touch a black car in the Arizona desert in the summer you can just about burn your hand on it.....:eek:

The cars do survive, but don't touch them, and don't paint your expensive Cirrus black!

This guy measured almost 55F surface temp. difference on cars -

http://www.tom-morrow-land.com/tests/cartemp/index.htm
 
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One experience with aircraft paint I forgot earlier

The metalic silver tended to go flat in appearance after a number of years. We did not clear coat that paint job and the rest held up fine. I have read that metalic paints tend to do that but clear coat may have helped. All of our aircraft paint has been Imron.

Bob Axsom
 
Thanks

I really appreciate your answers.
I live in France in a county where the temps rarely exceed 85F I think I should have mentioned that before.
In a majority, you don't report paint crack and structural issues with black paint. That's was I was worry about.

The airplane will always be hangared except when flying or when traveling to other fields. But compared to black cars, or aluminum black boats, I think the airplane won't suffer a lot.
 
I was a ramp rat in high school, we had a handful of all black airplanes that would frequent our airport.

I can't even fathom how much money those things pee'd away in fuel through the vents. Didn't matter what the temp was, if the sun was on them they poured a rediculous amount out. One was a Bonanza, I actually measured it one day. Guy wanted it topped off, so I topped it off (about 9am when they arrived). Went back out at 1500 and the fuel level was down almost two inches, from my finger tip up to almost my knuckle.
 
sun is hot?

c'mon Gil, you have to admit that sun is also a factor here in the frozen north of Kanada eh?
It's not unusual for it to be over 110 degrees fahrenheit on the ramp here in the Okanagan valley in summer. ( southern BC)
The sun may not cook us from directly overhead, but the fact that it is out for over SIXTEEN HOURS could be a factor!!! :)
 
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