[lucaperazzolli]

Ok, I'm in short final )

My idea was to have all the plane painted and prepared for the last inspection of CAA but this can't happen.

I'll have the inspection on airport on last week of march so I decided to delay some minor options (between the inspection and first flight autorization I'll have a 'sleep' time of two months, so it's time to act) :

- wheel pants
- gear fairings
- COWL PAINTING

After your advices on this thread : http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=54463, I've already applied the standard way 50/50 epoxy/acetone so my cowl is protected against rust.

The question is : can I do the phase one with this cowl adding only some heat protector film, then sandle, primer and painting ? Or have you other suggestions ?

Thanks in advance, as a rule.

 

[jjconstant]

Phase One in primer

is exactly what I'm doing. No paint, inside of cowl has 50/50 epoxy/acetone mix brushed on, Van's silver heat shield is on, exterior of cowling is still in primer. No wheel pants or gear leg fairings yet. I want to get the plane rigged EXACTLY straight, at a known speed, and I want to get better at getting the cowl on and off without dinging anything. I figured I wanted to avoid a disincentive to take the cowl off between each flight the first few flights. If I had a pretty paint job, I know that I would cringe at the thought of dinging it up. So, no paint. Yet. Also helps me save up my money for a good one

Jeremy Constant
Phase 1

 

[L.Adamson]

is exactly what I'm doing. No paint, inside of cowl has 50/50 epoxy/acetone mix brushed on, Van's silver heat shield is on, exterior of cowling is still in primer. No wheel pants or gear leg fairings yet. I want to get the plane rigged EXACTLY straight, at a known speed, and I want to get better at getting the cowl on and off without dinging anything. I figured I wanted to avoid a disincentive to take the cowl off between each flight the first few flights. If I had a pretty paint job, I know that I would cringe at the thought of dinging it up. So, no paint. Yet. Also helps me save up my money for a good one

Just for the record, I have yet to see an RV (at least around here) that's got all dinged up because it was painted first. Good paint is very scratch resistant & has some elasticity to it. When those 25 or 40 hrs are flown off, you'll be removing a bunch of parts anyway for the life of the plane. Conditional inspections, brakes, oil changes, etc.

Since my RV6A didn't have an offset vertical stab, as most new designs have, I did have to add a trim tab later. Even had to flatten a portion of the left aileron because of a heavy wing (the trailing edge was a hair thicker than the right). But neither of these operations had any effect on paint.

I'm in favor of painting first, because it's a royal pain to do later. It's also a royal pain to do now! So of course it's up to each builder. But I've seen some that go years & years without............or ever.

L.Adamson --- RV6A

 

[MrNomad]

Paint first, fly second!

I'm in favor of painting first, because it's a royal pain to do later. L.Adamson --- RV6A

Exactly! After we run the engine we rebuilt, we will take it off and bolt it a stand welded to a strong dolly. Then the fuse goes back on the rotisserie so it can be rolled while I paint it w/o squirting UPSIDE down!

Using Dupont materials, we can paint the airplane for $1500. Because it's in sections that we can easily rotate, painting is easier and the end result much better.

 

[Captain Avgas]

The advantage of a spray booth/oven

This is the way I see it.

If the plane is to be painted after it flies it means that (unless the plane is disassembled to remove the wings after flying....a terrible task) it will have to be flown to the painter (which may or may not be you). That means you have to have the plane painted at an airport. This will invariably be done in a hangar with no professional spray booth. That means there will be no sophisticated dust extraction system, appropriate lighting, or baking facilities. That will result in a less than optimum result in terms of both cosmetic finish and durability. In other words you can be assured of NOT getting an automotive quality finish.

The alternative is to take the component parts before first flight (fuselage, wings etc) by road to an off-airfield professional spray booth/oven where the parts can be individually set up for optimum spray angles and the parts painted and baked in a controlled environment with excellent lighting.

So I think the choices are reasonably clear. On the one hand (paint first) and you can use a pro booth to get a better baked paint job....and on the other hand (fly first) you get the option to fly the plane and perhaps modify minor details on the airframe before you paint.

The decision as to which way you go might be influenced by several factors. For instance if you feel very comfortable about the quality of the build and the alignment of all components on the airframe then you might feel more comfortable about painting first in a controlled booth and getting a first class finish.

On the other hand if you are not a professional painter and you plan to paint the aircraft yourself then not using a proper paint oven may be the least of your problems. In that case it may make more sense to fly it first and paint it later in a hangar.

In the end there's no right way....just different pros and cons. It just depends on the emphasis that you place on a high quality paint job.

 

[flyvans.com]

luca,
we just had our 7a painted at a regular automotive painter, in parts.
we're moving to the airport tomorrow
looking forward to assembling the wings for good
painting this way was relatively easy.
make sure you account for split lines/parts in your paint design. other than the fuselage we optimized the design for paint (e.g. single color ailerons and flaps).

rgds, bernie

p.s. looks like we'll get airborne around the same timeframe. where are you based? we're at birrfeld LSZF. cu in the air someday