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Paint Shop within 500 miles of So Cal?

G

GDS

Well Known Member
Greetings, I'm flying a completed RV12 that I want to have professionally painted. Can anyone suggest a good shop with reasonable pricing within ~500 miles of So California? I've gotten quotes from $9200 to $7200, seems kind of high for a bare aluminum airframe. I don't mind taking it a day's flight away from CA. I recently met an RV owner that used a shop in Boulder Nevada, any comments?
 
Kingman, AZ

Straube's Aircraft Services in my home town Kingman, AZ http://www.airstraube.com/

I haven't had the need to paint my plane (yet) but we've known a few workers from this shop over the years and have seen some nice work come out of it. Doesn't hurt to call and ask (928) 757-2727.

There's also Master Aircraft Services in Wickenburg, AZ that did a nice job on a neighbors Zenith.

Here's a VAF'r report that used them http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=15434
 
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Painter

I used Have Gun will Travel in Red Bluff. Great paint job and very reasonable. He will come to you if you have a place to paint. I think the removable wing should make it easy to find a place to paint. 530 527 1970
 
Check with the FBO at Safford AZ

He painted a Piper for my friend for $4k. I don't know his name so I suggest you call the FBO at Safford, AZ.

The Piper came out really good (all white with red accents) and I believe he used Jet Glo.
 
Chino Tom said:
Who have you contacted in SoCal? Have you tried Flying Kolors at Riverside
or Century Aircraft Paint at Chino?
Click to expand...

Steve at Flying Kolors has painted at least 4 RVs that I know and all of them are pleased...:)

He enjoys working with homebuilders unlike some professionals that don't want anyone else in their shop.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I have talked to Master AC Services in Wickenburg, they painted my C-206 years ago and did a good job. I thought they were a little pricey for the RV12. I'll call the other suggestions tomorrow.
 
Aircraft painting in Salinas

Juan at T&P in Salinas has done excellent jobs on five RVs at Livermore. I strongly recommend him.
Leland

T & P Aero Refinishers
203 Skyway Blvd
Salinas, California 93905-3328
408-422-6158
contacts: Connie or Juan
 
T&P

Juan at T&P in Salinas has done excellent jobs on five RVs at Livermore. I strongly recommend him.
Leland

T & P Aero Refinishers
203 Skyway Blvd
Salinas, California 93905-3328
408-422-6158
contacts: Connie or Juan
Click to expand...


My RV-6A is in the T&P shop right now and Juan has been great to work with. Hope to have pictures to post soon....

Looked at a number of Bay area RVs painted by Juan's shop and he does nice work.
 
longranger said:
A lot of folks I know have been happy with Matthews Aviation in Yerington, NV. They used to be in Tehachapi, but got tired of dealing with the local rules. You might also try Rob Loughlin at Antelope Valley General Aviation Services in Mojave.
Click to expand...

My plane was painted by Matthews in Yerrington. Their quote was $5,000 and the final price was $6,300, due to fiberglass work and a paint upgrade. The problem I have with the paint job is the large number of chips on the wheel pants, even though I've never landed off pavement.

Some of the planes painted by T&P at Salinas are shown on http://www.eaa663.org/Aircraft/aircraft.htm, under the names Bodie, Cowan, Crosby, Cruikshank, Graves and Steffen. These owners are very pleased with the quality of their paint jobs.
Leland
 
Thanks all, I'm getting some excellent leads. I'll be flying down to Flying Kolors next week so they can get a look at the AC to provide a quote. left messages for others. The website www.EAA633.org is outstanding, gotta be the envy of all chapters!
 
Please advise

Gary - please let us know which shop or person, you choose. I'd like to follow your painting progress. Thanks, Ed.
 
Have Gun Will Travel is great

I too used Have Gun Will Travel out of Red Bluff. Dan and Linda do a great job for very reasonable prices. They have painted 9 planes up here in Battle Ground and everyone is very happy with their work. They will come to you if you have a place to paint. They can also paint your plane in Red Bluff if that works for you. Great people to work with.

Dan Miller
Battle Ground, WA
RV-8 914 hours
 
The Job is Done!

I used Flying Kolors at Riverside, KRAL. They are close to my home base and when I went to the shop I made a good connection with owner Steve and Tech Dan. They are very knowledgeable about airplanes and excellent painters.

I couldn't be happier with the job. Not everyone will be as casual as my partner and I, but when we left the shop, we had only a general agreement on the exact colors and the design, Steve used his judgement and some trial and error and the job turned out beautiful. These guys give a lot of attention to detail and know what looks good on the finished product. As I was leaving, Steve told me, "if you scratch it bring it back so I can fix it, it's your plane but I own the paint job."

Price was not cheap, but not expensive either, I thought it was very fair.

I highly recommend them, I'm very pleased with the result!
 
GDS said:
....I couldn't be happier with the job. Not everyone will be as casual as my partner and I, but when we left the shop, we had only a general agreement on the exact colors and the design, Steve used his judgement and some trial and error and the job turned out beautiful. These guys give a lot of attention to detail and know what looks good on the finished product. ....
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I did on my Tiger 5 years ago.

I gave Steve a rough sketch and he filled in the exact details to "look right" - and it did....:)

What looks good on a 3-view doesn't always translate onto the real thing. Spacing between stripes and the strength of the colors makes a difference. In my case, since my red stripes were quite small, he just used the red base paint - as bright as you can get.
 
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