Spray Painting the Fuselage and Belly

[PaulvS]

This is about how to spray paint the fuselage and the belly and what painting sequence to follow so as to try and avoid orange peel and dry spots by maintaining a wet edge.

For comparison, if painting a car then the painter might start at the front quarter and spray up and over the hood and down the other quarter. Then move up the pillars and spray the roof from left to right. Next would be the doors on the one side and then the other. Finally the rear would be painted from the one quarter and over the trunk and back to the other rear quarter. This sequence keeps a wet edge open so that fresh paint is sprayed onto an overlap surface that is still wet and helps the overspray to blend in.

The fuselage looks more complicated to paint than a car because of the belly. Some painters put the fuselage on a rotisserie but if that is not feasible (engine is already mounted) then what is the best sequence to spray the belly along with the other fuselage panels? Any insights and tips would be appreciated!

 

[Bandera]

Here is what I do. Your mileage may vary.

I start on the left side at the middle of the wing. I paint forward to the fire wall. The cowlings are removed. Then I switch to the right side and paint from the firewall to the middle of the wing. As I’m painting on the sides I spray just under the bottom corner a little bit. Now I switch back to the left side and paint from the middle of the wing to a spot that is easy to remember where I stopped. Usually the aft edge of the rear window. Switch back to the right side and paint from the middle of the wing to the leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer. Now back to the left and pick up where I left off and finish that side. One last trip to the right and finish out that side. The vertical is painted but the horizontal is covered and painted at another time. Now that the top and sides are done I jump on a creeper and paint the belly starting at the firewall and work my way aft.

This kind of seems like a lot of moving around but it really isn’t. 10 to 15 minutes is all this takes.

 

[Kyle Boatright]

What's best? Heck if I know. ;-)

What worked for me was to mask the fuselage and spray the top and sides in one session, then the belly a day or two later. Say you take that approach. You mask the belly to the skin lines (actually leave the last inch of the next skin unmasked). You spray the top and sides of the airplane, plus that 1" section of the belly skins you left unmasked. As I recall, best practice is to spray the sides first, then the top of the fuselage towards the end of each coat to minimize overspray problems. A day or two later, reverse the masking, but leave that 1" section that has some paint on it visible. You sand that area (knocking down any tape/paint ridges) to give good adhesion, and then spray the belly. With the belly coat, you're spraying right up to a skin line, so the transition will not create a noticeable paint line.