It's the details that make a quality paint job
What's most interesting about watching an aircraft get painted is not the painting process itself, but everything related to it. When you order up a paint job, your airplane will likely be out of commission for four or more weeks, yet it may spend only a few hours actually being hosed down with paint by workmen who look like they might be dressed for some sci-fi- themed Halloween party.
Those guys in the space suits are real craftsmen with a spray gun, but all their handiwork is for naught unless the prep crews do their work properly. It's the preparation that can take weeks.
In its pre-Better-Than-New condition, our sweepstakes airplane was fairly typical of a 1978 172. It had the usual case of hangar rash. The left elevator surface was so badly bent and torn that we eventually reskinned it. A couple of cracked plastic fairings were held together with 100-mph tape until we could get them replaced. In fact, all the fairings needed replacing. Several of the aileron corrugations were crushed and the bottom of the left wing tip had two serious wrinkles in it. Had someone pulled the airplane through a gate and dragged the wing over a fencepost?
The obvious damage is only the beginning. A little light sanding on a primed airplane causes all sorts of small dents and dings to appear. It's here that the difference between a good paint job and a great one emerges. A quality shop will take the time to hammer out and fill the small dents and then reprime the areas, leaving a smooth finish for the paint. It was that sort of attention to detail that turned N737QN into N172B, our Better Than New 172 sweepstakes airplane. The airplane will be given away in mid-January to a new or renewing AOPA member as part of the association's annual membership sweepstakes. Those who renew or join in 1994 are automatically entered to win. The sweepstakes closes December 31; as Ed McMahon says, "Send it in."
Paint shops live and die by their reputations and, therefore, the good ones will go out of their way to make a customer happy. Shop around to avoid paying too much for a paint job, but remember that paint is an investment in an airplane. It's not the place to skimp. Amortize the difference in price between a cheap paint job's 8- or 10-year life and a quality one's 15- or 20-year life, and the disparity can be minimal indeed. Expect to pay $4,500 to $6,000 to have a Skyhawk-class airplane painted, more for a larger aircraft. Putting in new windows, replacing fairings, and significant skin repairs can add substantially to the price.
Perfect Finish Aircraft Refinishing, the company we chose to paint our sweeps airplane, charges $5,900 to paint a 172. The price includes a high quality paint job and a lot of extras. Some shops charge a lower flat fee and then offer additional services at an added charge. Included in Perfect Finish's price, for example, is the reinstallation of all inspection panels with stainless steel screws. The cowling fasteners are also stainless with nylon cup rings to prevent scratching when the cowling is removed. The rebalanced control surfaces are put back on with new bolts, nuts, and bushings. Placards are painted on, not replaced with stickers or stick-on letters.
Most all the aircraft-grade paints in use today will provide a glossy and durable finish. Paint shops have chosen the product lines they use for a variety of reasons. What's important for a customer to consider is the quality of the shop's work. Don't ask a shop to use a different paint system on your aircraft than it normally uses. The shop personnel should be comfortable with the brand they use. Asking them to apply something else only invites trouble.
Perfect Finish uses Jet Glo and Acry Glo by Pratt & Lambert. Jet Glo is a very hard polyester urethane paint used on many business jets. It comes in a dizzying array of colors. Acry Glo is an acrylic urethane that can be custom mixed to any color for use as a trim paint on all aircraft and as a base coat on lighter aircraft. It's not quite as hard as the Jet Glo, but is plenty durable as a base coat for slower piston aircraft.
We ended up with both on N172B. The base color of Snow White is a standard Jet Glo color. The trim is Acry Glo because both the April Green and Platinum are metallics, a feature only available in Acry Glo. The Acry Glo metallics require a clear coat be put on top to provide additional gloss. The end result is quite stunning, particularly on a sunny day when the metallics really show off their sparkle. Many people who have seen the airplane remark that they "don't usually like green, but..." and then they want to jot down the name of the color to consider for their own airplane.
Choosing a color is just one of the many decisions an owner must make before ever reaching the shop. Paint scheme and N-number style also must be considered. Perfect Finish makes the decisions a little easier with its own computer system, which allows you to see on the screen or in a printout from a color printer just what your airplane will look like in the chosen colors and scheme. Your own designs are great for personalizing an airplane, but replicating a factory scheme will more likely increase the resale value. We chose a custom but fairly conservative scheme for N172B. The registration numbers are green Helvetica bold with a platinum drop shadow.
With the tough decisions made and the deposit check written, the real work gets underway.
Joe Conrad, president of Perfect Finish, which is located at Hamilton-Fairfield Airport near Cincinnati, likes to begin a paint job by walking around the airplane with clipboard in hand and owner in tow. He points out and notes any areas that need special attention. His experienced eye will undoubtedly find dings, dents, and corrosion you missed. Like most shops, Conrad includes a certain number of hours of repair work in his flat fee. Repairs that exceed six hours, in his case, will be charged at the shop rate.
Once in the shop, just about everything not riveted down is removed: control surfaces, flaps, fairings, wheel covers, wing tips. The windows and any remaining fiberglass and plastic parts are then masked off with special tapes and foils. Perfect Finish also tapes out about one-half inch from the windows, preferring to hand sand those areas rather than risk getting damaging chemical strippers on the plexiglass.
Perfect Finish applies the stripper with a spray gun and, after the paint bubbles up, removes the gunk with a pressure wash. The residue from the stripping process is what has gotten many paint shops in trouble with the Environmental Protection Agency. It contains solids from the old paint and the underlying chromate primers along with flecks of aluminum from the skin — all potential hazards, according to the EPA. The methylene chloride stripper itself is also considered a hazardous waste. Perfect Finish dries the solids and sends them to a waste management company for disposal, usually by incineration. A $25,000 treatment system must filter the water used in the process and rebalance the pH. The water is then permitted to be dumped into the public sewer system. Some shops have not been willing or able to invest in such treatment systems and have either gone out of business or come under scrutiny from the EPA. A company operating outside the law may be able to offer a too-good-to-be-true price on paint jobs, but its warranty will be worthless if the government moves in and closes it down.
Fiberglass cowlings, wheel covers, and other parts that won't stand up to the strippers must be sanded by hand. We replaced all the plastic fairings with new fiberglass ones from Stene Aviation in Polson, Montana. The original plastic often cracks and is difficult to repair. The fiberglass is more durable and repairs easily. A full set of fairings for a 172 runs about $900. Wheel pants are another $165 each.
Once the airplane is stripped, Perfect Finish removes the inspection panels and paints them separately so that the paint goes all the way to the lip of the opening and so that the surface isn't cracked the moment the inspection panel is opened the first time.
After stripping, the aluminum is then cleaned with an alkaline cleaner that goes deep into the surface pores and removes the solvents. An acid-etch cleaner further opens the aluminum pores and stops any corrosion. Next, the alodine conversion coating acts as a corrosion barrier and prepares the aluminum to receive the primer.
Most small shops such as Perfect Finish still use zinc chromate primers that etch into the pores of the aluminum. Larger facilities have been forced by environmental regulations to switch to epoxy-based primers. The chromates can be damaging to the environment, but are acceptable on a small scale.
As noted earlier, a light sanding of the primer reveals any dents or corrosion that needs repairing.
Finally, the base color is applied, usually two coats. Perfect Finish does its painting in a down-draft paint booth. Vents below the airplane pull air from the overhead ventilation system down to the floor and out of the room, removing dust and particles that might otherwise settle on the wet paint, causing a rough surface.
After the base coat dries, the surfaces not receiving the trim colors are masked off and the second color is applied. If a third color is necessary, as in N172B, additional masking is required to keep that color off the other two and for the painting of the registration numbers.
Meanwhile, the control surfaces, fairings, wheel pants, and other fiberglass parts are painted separately. The control surfaces should be painted while suspended from their hinge points to keep the weight of the paint properly distributed across the skin. The FAA considers aircraft painting as cosmetic, and, therefore, a painter need not be certified. But all the airframe manufacturers require in their operating manuals that the control surfaces be rebalanced before they are reinstalled, a step that requires an A&P certificate.
Once the masking is removed and all the pieces are back on the airplane, most shops spend another day or so detailing the airplane. There's always a little overspray that needs removing, landing gear to be detailed, and other small items to be primped before the owner arrives.
Few things in life are as frustrating as seeing a pretty paint job marred within a few weeks by stone chips and rain and ice erosion. To help prevent that, we had a clear polyurethane protective tape applied to the leading edges of the wing and tail surfaces and to the struts. The tape is manufactured by 3M and distributed in the aviation market by several companies, including Hallmark Aviation of Dallas, Georgia. Hallmark calls the product "The Leading Edge."
The tape can be applied by an owner. It's a simple installation, but can take the better part of a day to apply properly. Hallmark cuts the tape to the width necessary for your particular model of aircraft. Then it's just a matter of stretching the tape into place. A solution of water and dish washing soap is sprayed on the surface first to allow proper positioning of the tape. Once the water dries, the tape is on for good. A kit for strutted airplanes sells for $330 from Hallmark. Other airplanes can be protected for $300.
As noted earlier, a good paint job really ought to last a couple of decades, even longer on a hangared airplane. To keep it looking good, Pratt & Lambert recommends waiting 30 days after painting and then washing the airplane often and in the shade with cool water and a mild car wash soap. The surface should be rinsed well after washing and then dried with a chamois. A good quality automotive polish or wax will maintain the shine. Avoid using products that claim to clean, polish, and wax all in one step. They contain abrasive cleaning agents that can scratch the surface and dull the finish.
To prevent scratches, remove snow and ice with a brush rather than a scraper. Rinse off bird droppings, avgas, hydraulic and brake fluid, and oil as soon as possible.
With proper care, a new paint job will turn heads on the ramp for years to come. And besides, it's important for the person who's going to win our Better Than New 172 to know these things. I retain visitation rights to the airplane and I'll be watching.
Hallmark Aviation, 1408 Powder Drive, Dallas, Georgia 30132; 404/443-9825.
Pratt & Lambert, Industrial Coatings Division, Post Office Box 2153, Wichita, Kansas 67201; 316/733-1361, fax 316/733-4420. ( Alpha Coatings, Incorporated, Post Office Box 131, Washington, Missouri 63090; 314/390- 3903, fax 314/390-3906.)
Stene Aviation, Incorporated, Post Office Box 559, Polson, Montana 59860; 800/597-1911.
