Paint Shop Review- Euroair Aviation

[RetiredRacer]

Originally Posted by carl nank

I am 70 years old. When I started this project in 2002 (bought my 7A kit at SNF) I intended to paint first. Now however, I am afraid another 3 to 4 months to paint will mean I MIGHT not ever fly. Who knows at my age!!!

I have every hope of flying this summer. Painting will have to wait!

Carl, your going to be flying for at least another ten years. Do that paint job you want to do.
I'm 68 this year and I've just ordered a 9a kit, and I can tell you now it will be painted before it rolls out for the first flight. Think positive!!!!!

[carl nank]

Retired Racer I do have every hope of flying for at least another 10 years.

John Miller flew his personal Bonanza into his 100's. God rest his soul!

I intend to live like I will live forever, however, just in case, I will fly now and paint later. I am sure I can paint, which I intend to do myself, during and after my flight test.

CAVU!

[sprucemoose]

While we're all eagerly awaiting some more photos, let me fill in the gaps with some info about Euroair.

I found out about Euroair about a year ago, through a local guy who was looking at having his Cherokee repainted there. I'd checked out their website at the time, and noticed that their prices were quite a bit lower than other paint shops in the area. On the website, there are pictures of numerous past projects, so I looked up a couple of RVs and, through the miracle of the internet, got in tough with the owners. Both had good things to say about both the quality of the work and the experience with the shop. So, I called them up.

The proprietor of the shop is Denis Stefanek. Denis is a Czeck native, and he speaks with the requisite thick accent. During my first phone conversation, Denis impressed me with his down-to-earth, no BS style. He may not win any salesmanship awards, but he is right to the point, and I for one like dealing with people like that. Especially when large sums of my money are involved.

Anyway, the phone call led to a flight over the Reedsburg Airport (C35, only about 82NM from me) over to check out his shop. This was back in late January, and the weather had warmed up to around 8F that day. The week prior it had been cold, so cold in fact that Denis told me that he could not get his shop up to temperature to paint, even with all the heaters going full bore! Life in the upper Midwest...

Anyway, during this first visit, I met Denis and some of his help, got to talk in person and size him up and, most importantly, got to see a couple of examples of his work. My reaction after looking at a couple of airplanes that he painted went something like this- "Well, it probably won't win a Gold Lindy, but it looks better than anything that I could do myself." And, frankly, this was the kind of paint job I was looking for. A good paint job can make a bad airplane look good, but a bad paint job can make a masterpiece look like a mistake. And I had no interest in spending mega kilodollars on paint. My airplane is most definitely a go plane, not a show plane.

Well, at that first meeting, I was impressed enough to sign a contract and pay the $500 deposit. I flew home with a singed contract and a book of paint chips. The start date was scheduled for April 10th, which gave me enough time to take it back home and get most of the annual inspection completed prior to going into the shop.

Due to scheduling issues (mine, not Denis') I delivered the plane about a week early. Denis told me to expect about a 3 week turnaround time (from April 10) and I was somewhat pessimistic about that, but I nonetheless left my baby in his care. That was more of an emotional experience than I care to admit, but I digress.

Fast forward a few weeks. I talked to Denis on Friday May 1st. He was having a bit of a fisheye issue on the fiberglass that fairs the leading edge of the canopy into the glareshield skin. After some discussion, we decided that the cause was likely that I had been cleaning my canopy with Plexus (a great product BTW) for 5 years and 500 hours, and that likely some of the Plexus had gotten onto the fiberglass and was causing the fisheye. Armed with this information, he told me that he would do some more work and make it right. He did tell me that, had he not had this issue, the plane would have likely been done on Saturday 5-2. That is 3 weeks and 1 day for those keeping score at home. The Plexus problem set us back a few days, but that is OK.

The Plexus problem brings up a discussion point. As many of you know, I have been a vocal advocate of not painting your RV prior to flying it. During my flight test period, I found several little places where things rubbed, fiberglass cracked, etc. It took some work to repair and strengthen the effected areas, but if these areas were already painted, it would require much, much more work to repaint and blend in the repaired areas. So, I think you are better off waiting until your flight test period is flown off, then painting.

However, I do acknowledge, more readily than before, that there are strong arguments on the other side. Painting the plane in pieces is much easier than painting in one big chunk. Plus, the longer it is flown, the more chance for contaminants like grease, oil, Plexus etc. to get where they shouldn't be and cause problems. This is one for the neverending debates section, no doubt.

More to follow...

[GAHco]

Originally Posted by carl nank

I am 70 years old. When I started this project in 2002 (bought my 7A kit at SNF) I intended to paint first. Now however, I am afraid another 3 to 4 months to paint will mean I MIGHT not ever fly. Who knows at my age!!!

I have every hope of flying this summer. Painting will have to wait!

I am admittedly a few years younger than you (22 younger) but when I wanted to paint it myself. Having painted a few airplanes completely I can tell you when you at least get the prime and overall color on a component at a time, it will be a more complete protection and you can paint each piece in a positional jig of your choosing.

If you are going to pay someone else it will be less expensive being painted assembled, but the piece by piece is better IMHO.

Best wishes and....

[carl nank]

You are right Tom. The piece by piece method is a better way to go.

I will remove parts to paint but, I am not looking forward to crawling under wings and fuselage to spray up. I however have never been one to shirk a tough job even though it is a tough job getting up from the floor anymore. I really enjoy doing my own work even though it may not be quite as good as a professional. I am glad the painter above has the drive to not call a job finished when there are fish-eyes or other problems. I like that kind of person!

I did a frame off restore on a 65 Corvett in 1985. The only thing we sort of farmed out was the motor. My Son had a friend whose Dad had a motor overhaul business and they allowed him to be involved in the process. He learned a lot.

I sprayed 25 coats of lacquer on it and it was a beautiful job. Hopefully my plane will come out as well.

[L.Adamson]

Originally Posted by sprucemoose

The Plexus problem brings up a discussion point. As many of you know, I have been a vocal advocate of not painting your RV prior to flying it. During my flight test period, I found several little places where things rubbed, fiberglass cracked, etc. It took some work to repair and strengthen the effected areas, but if these areas were already painted, it would require much, much more work to repaint and blend in the repaired areas. So, I think you are better off waiting until your flight test period is flown off, then painting.

I see you're a EAA chapter president...

Well; when I discussed this thread yesterday, with our local EAA president who has built two 9A's.......................he said "why"? In other words, why would you not want to paint first? His 9 still looks as good as the day it was painted, and has around 230 hrs on it now. Mine has the same paint (Sherwin Williams Genesis) which as been on for two years; and still looks as shinny. I'm at 70 hrs. This paint is tough as nails, impervious to chemicals and yet flexible.

He made a slight adjustment with his horizontal stab which didn't effect the fairing, and I lightly squeezed an aileron for a heavy wing, but it didn't effect the paint job or looks. I did have to add a rudder trim tab since my vertical stab has no built in offset; but it's not a big deal to paint. My wheel pants and fairings are not painted either. I sure wish they were! It's a pain to remove them, when I'd rather fly! I think that's the reason that so many go for years without paint, if they didn't do it in the first place. It's just more fun to fly, and a genuine pain to have to rip it apart and have a month or two of downtime. Just do it now!

IMO.............. they "ain't" done, until they're painted!

L.Adamson ---- RV6A

[sprucemoose]

Originally Posted by L.Adamson

they "ain't" done, until they're painted!

Airplanes are like houses. They ain't done until you sell them.

Here's a list of the things that I can think of off the top of my head, that I had to do after the first flight, that would have played havoc on an already painted plane.

1. Rudder trim tab
2. Cracked upper gear fairings
3. Re-worked lower gear fairings and glassed to wheel pants
4. Front of tip-up canopy- left the gap a little too small, caught the skin, cracked the fglass fillet all to ****.
5. Both fuel tanks removed for fuel pickup SB
6. Alternator rubbing small hole in cowl (common problem.)
7. Seeping rivet on one tank.

That's all I can think of right now, but I'm sure there is something else. You may be lucky and your list may be shorter than mine, but there will be issues like this to deal with, and having an unpainted plane makes dealing with them easier.

[L.Adamson]

Originally Posted by sprucemoose

Airplanes are like houses. They ain't done until you sell them.

Here's a list of the things that I can think of off the top of my head, that I had to do after the first flight, that would have played havoc on an already painted plane.

1. Rudder trim tab
2. Cracked upper gear fairings
3. Re-worked lower gear fairings and glassed to wheel pants
4. Front of tip-up canopy- left the gap a little too small, caught the skin, cracked the fglass fillet all to ****.
5. Both fuel tanks removed for fuel pickup SB
6. Alternator rubbing small hole in cowl (common problem.)
7. Seeping rivet on one tank.

That's all I can think of right now, but I'm sure there is something else. You may be lucky and your list may be shorter than mine, but there will be issues like this to deal with, and having an unpainted plane makes dealing with them easier.

Yes, my list is a whole lot shorter. Only the rudder tab would apply. The tank SB was done before painting, and final assembly. And of course most builders would be aware of the SB by now. I used a tight belt for the alternator, and my hand can fit between it and the cowl. It's a 60 amp. Wheel pants and fairings can be done or re-worked anytime. They do get beat up! The 9A I spoke of, has had an in-flight flat and nose pants damage from a tow bar; but that can happen before or after paint. They were simply re-glassed and repainted.

Would probably be wise to sit in the plane and make airplanes sounds quite often, until the canopy and fit works well. I know that I did. But it's a slider.

L.Adamson --- RV6A

[sprucemoose]

Larry makes some good points. This is a good topic for debate. I don't claim that my way is the only way, just want to give some food for thought for those thinking about painint.

In the mean time, new pics have been posted:

http://www.euroairaviation.com/jeff-rv-6.html

It's getting close! God willing and wx cooperates, I'll be bringing her home on Thursday.

[flickroll]

Jeff -

I'll be having my -8 painted next winter. At this point in my life, having completely restored a Citabria including new wing spars, wiring, etc. plus recover and paint, and having built an award winning Christen Eagle II, I am no longer in the 'painting business'. Yes, if the plane is disassembled IMO you will get a better overall job. However, in order to keep harmony at my house - wife was understanding (sort of) when I took over the garage for the Citabria and Eagle painting. The Eagle took a year and a half to cover and paint and I don't want to push my luck at home. Also, because of the toxicity of the chemicals and paint used during a paint job, I have absolutely no desire to paint another one.

So I have started looking around at paint shops and had pretty much decided to use Glo near Dallas, TX. However Euroair now has my interest as well. Question - what major airport are they near, and will they provide shuttle service to/from so that I can use commercial airline service after I drop the -8 off, and then again fior the return to pick it up? Thanks