painting

[olderthandirt]

Looking at horizontal stab and difficulty getting paint in some area's..thought is maybe all component parts should be painted before assembly..ie: White being base color..and trim can come later...yes it would get some scratches but much easier to get tight area's..any thoughts..empennage finished, waiting for next four kits to arrive...Dick

[JBPILOT]

If you paint it separately, and let the paint set up very well, you can put masking paper over the sides of the fuse while assembling the HS and not leave marks. I put HS on 2 tables, and used floor jack to raise front wheel to desired height, lowering tail, then slide HS into place slowly. Work slowly getting bolts and washers into place.

[DHeal]

Likely best to paint when disassembled. However, I flew my RV-12 ELSA unpainted for a year and then painted it. We did not remove the VS or the HS prior to painting and the paint came out fine.

[bajapilot]

David, see pm.