When to paint

[maximillion]

Hi all,

I see a great number of you first fly your rv unpainted for a certain period. What is the main reason for this? Is it just to let everything settle down? Does is allow for a much better paint later on?

Thanks
Cheers

[Bob_pipedream]

Laziness and impatience...

[Ironflight]

Originally Posted by Bob_pipedream

Laziness and impatience...

That's a fairly insulting post to a large number of RV'ators "Bob" - you might reconsider your opinion if you'd met a few people.

A better answer is that everyone has different situations regarding what they can do, and what they need out of an airplane. Some event want to save the weight of paint, and go "Chino" forever!

Personally, I like to build, but don't enjoy painting. It is far easier to fly an airplane to a paint shop than it is to drive the pieces where they need to go, so finishing it up and then aviating it to where it needs to go makes sense.

Remember that most production planes are painted after they are assembled and test flown. It has worked that way for longer than most of us has been alive.

[Camillo]

Unless you can paint the airplane without taking away your wings, it is OK - I believe - to paint after phase I.

The idea of taking out my wings (already squared the airplane with only 4 normal bolts...and removing them was hard) made me decide to have it painted NOW, before final wing installation.

For the same reason, I am now testing for leaks my wings.
Note that I have an -A. Maybe for a neat RV (i.e.: no -A) this would be different.

[1Oldguy]

Impatience in my mind is the simple reason not to paint before first flight. Wanting or needing to go to a paint shop miles away is understandably a good reason to fly then paint. The best reason NOT to fly first is oil, oil gets in seams and around rivets and is next to impossible to get rid of completely. So the chances of your high dollar paint job looking not so good on the belly of your plane in a few week or months are pretty good. Maybe not but why take the chance of having a little oil spoil all that hard work to put a good paint job on your plane. It's hard to wait or take your new finished baby apart to paint when it's a flyable airplane but worth the effort in the long run. I'll tell you the real hard part is waiting on the paperwork to come back from the "feds" so you can get the final inspection done. I'm there and running to the mail box everyday, like a kid looking for that decoder ring from Captian Midnight.....

[L.Adamson]

Originally Posted by Ironflight

That's a fairly insulting post to a large number of RV'ators "Bob" - you might reconsider your opinion if you'd met a few people.

A better answer is that everyone has different situations regarding what they can do, and what they need out of an airplane. Some event want to save the weight of paint, and go "Chino" forever!

I like Bob's answer ...............unless of course, it's in the plans & finances to immediately fly to some other airport for a paint job, after a few hours.

Painting is a lot of work, for the builder or someone else. An RV isn't done until it's painted, or has a top notch polish job to go with a few painted fiberglass areas. IMO, everything else is just an excuse.

L.Adamson -- RV6A (painted... before the airport)

[hydroguy2]

aah! A subject I have recent experience with, but I chose option B: paint prior to flight.

here's a couple of things that would favor painting later.

1. I'd be flying, phase 1 would be over.
2. I wouldn't be as worried during final assembly.
3. I had a fuel leak and my heart sank thinking of pulling the fuel tank for repair, but turned out I had a loose fitting. whew!
4. True statement......"hey buddy, would you mind getting your cowboy shirted big belly and coffee cup away from that fuselage?".... "yes it is a nice panel but that paint your leaning on is only 2 days old."
5. I'd be FLYING

Painting parts first, would I do it again? Yes. I want a good quality paint job, but could not afford the money or time to take it to Grady or someone like that. I could afford the money/time locally to work with a friend in his shop/booth. There are a couple planes around here not painted, I wanted to be different.....BUT I'm not flying. yet

FSDO inspection today

[Rick_A]

1. Phase 1 inspections - during the first 20 hours, you will be checking under the cowl many times. It's a lot easier to remove the cowl if you don't have to worry about scratching the paint.

You'll also be checking wheels, brakes and under fairing often during phase I. All a lot easier if you don't have to be concerned with scratching the paint.

2. Gives you a window of opportunity to makes changes or modifications to the plane. Example - I didn't installed my leading edge landing lights for months after the plane was flying.

3. Let's you continue to make improvements to fit and finish before painting. Even though I had well over 2500 hrs of build time into my quick build kit before the first flight. I spent another 100 - 200 hours working on improvements before I put my plane in the paint shop; things that I could not have done (or would have been more difficult) if it had been painted.

[Rick6a]

Originally Posted by maximillion

Hi all,

I see a great number of you first fly your rv unpainted for a certain period. What is the main reason for this? Is it just to let everything settle down? Does is allow for a much better paint later on?

Thanks
Cheers

Paint first or fly first? There are good reasons for either decision and a lot of information is contained within the archives. Here's a good start with reasonable arguments offered by both sides:

http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...ight=paint+fly

Certainly as at least one post has shown, some builders will always be outspoken, even inflexible about the position they personally subscribe to. The new builder is better served when he or she can consider all the options and then make an informed decision based upon their own particular circumstances.

[L.Adamson]

Originally Posted by Rick_A

1. Phase 1 inspections - during the first 20 hours, you will be checking under the cowl many times. It's a lot easier to remove the cowl if you don't have to worry about scratching the paint.

You'll also be checking wheels, brakes and under fairing often during phase I. All a lot easier if you don't have to be concerned with scratching the paint.

Except......... a high end automotive or aircraft paint, does NOT scratch easily. And for what ever reason, we'll all end up with scratches sometime.

L.Adamson --- RV6A