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Paint shops N Florida

S

stevengrasley

Member
I built my bird in 2013 and have a little less than 2,000 TT. Paint is getting long in the tooth and I’m tired of chasing touch ups. Looking for a good shop. I could do South Florida as Marathon is my permanent home base. But 2nd home base is near Gainesville in peace and quiet. Rather work with a shop that knows RVs. Looking for suggestions. Sort of surprised my searches on VAF reveal few recommendations.
 
Winter Haven

I ended up @ Winter Haven during SNF '21 and had the pleasure of meeting Neal Butterworth of HOVA Flight Services when I was experiencing some engine trouble. Neal went out of his way to make sure I had tools, a dry space in the hangar, and anything else needed to get my Panther back in the air. Turns out HOVA @ Winter Haven specializes in aircraft painting and Neal is their chief painter. While there I observed several freshly painted aircraft up close and was very impressed with the quality their shop turns out. Apparently the folks in the GA world knew this since he seemed to have no shortage of work. Here's his contact information:

Neal Butterworh
HOVA FLIGHT SERVICES
Winter Have Airport - KGIF
3000 21st Street NW
Hangar # 110
Winter Haven, FL 33881

[email protected]
www.flyhova.com
office: 863-956-3300
cell: 863-677-6341
 
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Paint

Also know of a shop in Zephyrhills near Tampa. I saw them pushing an RV-12 out of the booth when I was there. Can't speak for his quality, but i believe his pricing is fairly reasonable.
 
hanginbythebelts said:
I’ve seen good several RV results come out of Ormond Aircraft @ KOMN
Click to expand...

Plus 1 - they painted the -14A I built:

IMG_1112.jpg


Mark and Steve are the brothers who run the paint / maintenance facility.
 
mulde35d said:
Also know of a shop in Zephyrhills near Tampa. I saw them pushing an RV-12 out of the booth when I was there. Can't speak for his quality, but i believe his pricing is fairly reasonable.
Click to expand...

That would be Hawk at KZPH.

He painted my 9A 12 years ago. Still looks great. Looking for a recent photo.

N194CR frontrightqtrsmall.jpg
 
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How about soda blasting

Some great suggestions. Thank you all.

I’m wondering if any know that any of these shops strip old paint with soda blasting as opposed to chemical stripping. IMO soda planting is better because you don’t risk damaging interior primer coats inside the wing and controls. I used to do soda blasting on boats years ago and learned how well it works.
 
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