G

Geoff

I'm looking for some paint shop recommendations/reviews in Northern California -- specifically within a 100 miles or so of San Francisco.

Does anyone know anything about American Aircraft Painting in Healdsburg? How about T&P Aero Refinishers in Salinas? Anywhere else?

I don't mind going farther (like to Flying Kolors in Riverside), but I figured I'd check out the more "local" places first.

Thanks.
 
Paint Shops

A friend had a bad experience with American Aircraft Painting... Missed the completion date by months, although the work was OK.... may be an anomaly

There is a paint shop at Lincoln Airport (KLHN) does really nice
work but expensive...

Also Cardan Aircraft painting in Red Bluff.. does good work

After looking around in CA I ended up flying my plane to Grady's in TX. Great paint job, better paint, and even with the air fare and motels it was a lot cheaper than CA,

Plus I enjoyed the flight down and back
 
T&P

Some of the nicest paint jobs I seen have been done by T&P. A plane that I fly now was painted by T&P. If you like to see, it is located at KRHV. They are not the cheapest but they do not cut corners.
Aaron
 
I can't remember the name of the place, but a bunch our chapter members have had theirs done at a place in Salinas. I'm sorry I can't think of it right now, but I can get you a name and number if you are interested.
 
Paint Shop

Just got 10 out of T&P in Salinas and it came out excellent. They were great to work with. I took plane apart and back together after painted. They were there to help when I needed a extra hand. Would highly recommend.
 
Hi Geoff,

I'm in SF also and considered lots of California paint shops. However, it was cheaper (by far) to fly my plane down to GLO. I got a spiffy checkered paint job for less than one color with an accent stripe in CA. I didn't even feel antsy not being there when the control surfaces go back on (though I did check work carefully) because they do a huge number of RVs.

127522176_e615bf8295.jpg
 
T&P

RV7Factory said:
I can't remember the name of the place, but a bunch our chapter members have had theirs done at a place in Salinas. I'm sorry I can't think of it right now, but I can get you a name and number if you are interested.
Click to expand...

The outfit in Salinas is T&P which is owned by Juan ((831) 422-6158). His work is excellent. Come by Livermore and I will show you some of the planes he has done. A friend just got a quote for a -9 for $8,500. I got mine in Yerington, Nevada but do not recommend them.
 
Have Gun will Travel

I had mine done by ?Have gun will Travel?. The will travel to you but they are based out of Red Bluff so it would be pretty much local for all practical purposes. They were one of the original founders of CarDan, which was mentioned in a previous post. They use PPG Delta (hope I got that right).

I had estimates from two Texas paint shops as well ?Have Gun Will Travel? and everybody came within $300 of each other. No surprises, fantastic people and they were on time and on budget. Here is a link to a few pics of my project.



http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLa...e=fromshare&Ux=0&UV=456953115571_746058475207
 
Cardan

638RS said:
Cardan Aircraft painting in Red Bluff.. does good work
Click to expand...

Cardan is giving me a ballpark quote that is significantly (like 30%) less than everyone else I have called. They're using DuPont Imron 5000 instead of the JetGlo that is used by the other shops I called, but the other aspects of the quotes are more or less the same.

The other paint shops are all within a $1000 of each other for the basic quote, so something seems funny to me when one is significantly less. I guess I'll have to fly up there and check out their facilities.
 
Cardan is giving me a ballpark quote that is significantly (like 30%) less than everyone else I have called
Click to expand...

There are few Cardan paint jobs at my airport (KCIC) and the guys that used them swear by them. All of the paint jobs I have seen by Cardan look to be high quality but they always adorne high end spam cans like Bonanzas.

The odd thing is that thier reputation (here at KCIC) is that they are high quality and high priced. I wonder if they are trying to get in the RV market. Let us know what you find. Good luck.
 
I had my Debonair painted by Cardan a couple years ago before they sold the business and I am very pleased with the paint job. However, within the past year I have seen a couple planes with Cardan paint jobs and I don't think I would have them paint my RV7 I am building. The reason is that there is way too much orange peal for my taste. I may be quite picky with paint, but in my opinion the paint better look like glass or I will find a different shop. This is just my opinion so take it as such please.
 
Update for 2024: I can't find any information on these painters, so can only assume they are no longer in business:
  • Nor Cal Aircraft Refinishing in Orland, CA (previous address is now an Amazon warehouse)
  • Have Gun Will Travel in Red Bluff, CA
I've requested quotes from CarDan, T&P, Corona Air Paint, Art Craft Paint, as well as GLO in TX but that's at least 9 hrs of flight each way, commercial back and forth, etc.
 
Speaking of personal experience, Artcraft in Santa Maria is a very capable shop and reputable but it is farther than 100 Mille distance that you are looking for. Karcon is in KLHM but their quality is very poor. I have heard nothing but good about T&P but they never returned my call of multiple calls so they might be super busy.
 
Art Craft in Santa Maria painted mine in 2018. Excellent job & Still looks new, after 1300 hours flite time. Flew mine from new home in Georgia KPXE because I saw several planes they painted at Cable Airport KCCB in SoCal while I was building. They also had BEST price AND schedule. I removed flite surfaces and replaced, which I liked.
 
T&P Aero refinishers in Salinas KSNS are consider one of the best in the country. Long time owners and operators that take pride in their craftsmanship.

Homepage

This the home page
tpaerorefinishers.com

They had just finished this RV when I dropped off my plane for strip and repaint.

IMG_3234.jpeg

IMG_3236.jpeg
 
My RV-10 is in the T&P paint booth right now, so can't comment on the end result for another week or so. But their price was better than the current southern states favorites, they have a great reputation, and their order book is about 12 months long.

My one negative for them is communications. It can be hard to reach them by phone or email, probably because they don't have anyone focused on that part of their business. They are family owned, and mostly focused on doing the work, not answering the phone. But a little persistence pays off, and once you have given them a deposit, Raul (the owner) will give you his cell number, which generally gets you a return call within a day.

I removed the control surfaces when I dropped my RV off, and will re-assemble them when I pick it up. He asked me to leave the cowl, doors, and wheel fairings on so they could check fit & finish and do any fiberglass work necessary for a show plane quality finish. I'm not sure if they will re-install those, or if I will need to do that when I pick my plane up, but he suggested I plan on 2 days to re-assemble at pick up, so I suspect I will be reinstalling those items as well.

I will add another post to this thread with my rating once I have picked up my RV-10, along with a pic of my newly painted plane.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.