I'm planning on painting the airplane a plain and simple white. Besides being easy to match, it's cheaper too. (But cost isn't really the driving factor)
After painting I'm planning on adding color through the use of vinyl stripes and ribbons. The idea is that I can change the look of the aircraft for a few hundred dollars anytime I want. So if today's modern look changes, I can order new decals and change with the times.
I'm also banking that white will always be a primary aircraft color and that's probably a pretty good bet since a white base has never gone out of style.
That's the approach I've taken. Here's a photo of my plane being moved. I've not yet finished applying the blue vinyl stripe that extends aft and up from the baggage door.
I bought a vinyl cutter (25" wide) for about 4350 from US Cutter, and 4 rolls of 12-year, 2mil vinyl (Orocal 951, I bought red, grey, and blue) from Fellers.com for about $70 per roll.
Some experience to share, if you are considering going this route:
- Inkscape is a free, open source program that will allow you to design your vinyl scheme without the expense of investing in something like Adobe Illustrator. Inkscape works pretty darned well, especially for $0.
- Don't waste your money on the Flexi cutting program. The SignBlazer Elements program that's included (free) with the MH-721 vinyl cutter works fine, and is more reliable (IMO) than Flexi.
- Orocal premium vinyl (single color rolls) can be easily purchased from US Cutter or Fellers, and both can have it drop shipped to you. That gives you access to the entire Orocal palate, not just what happens to be in stock at the retailer.
- US Cutter's starter kit is handy. The application fluid works great.
- Fellers sells a great teflon squeegee for about $15. Sounds like a lot for a squeegee, but it is worth it.
- Transparent application tape, at least 20" wide, is a good investment.
- You can use the vinyl cutter machine as a plotter with the included plotter pen to plot the design on freezer paper (translucent), and use that as a guide to line up the vinyl pieces during application.
- There are lots of good vinyl application videos on You Tube.
- Seams/repairs are hard to see if you use vinyl in dark colors. Seams/repairs are easy to spot if you use light colored vinyl (like the yellow Pulsar at OSH this year).