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Painting Cost?

Webb

Webb

Well Known Member
Sponsor
As I come down towards the finish line, what should I budget for a paint job?
All fiberglass work finished, and the entire outside has been scotchbrited and alodined. For the most part, it's wipe it down for a clean surface and shoot it. I thought about doing it myself but the pro guys have 500 dollar guns and lots of practice. I can put in a dandy rivet but I'm not exactly thrilled about getting good at painting by practicing on my own. Picaso I'm not. Rattle can of spray zinc chromate hidden on the inside is a different story. Could probably paint the whole plane with a rattle can and get a decent finish if it was just primer (lol).

Will be using 3 color. White wings, colored tips, fuse mostly white with maroon and gray strips with mostly maroon on the the vertical stab.

Also a second thought. Have talked with a body shop and could have them shoot it in parts in their booth. Wings, tips, empanage, control surfaces could be shot now leaving only the fuselage.

Last question - what brand of paint? (probably more opinions here than Planters has nuts).

Webb
RV7A
N32WW
 
Don't have any real cost answers for you, but here's some info:

A local GlaStar builder took his plane to a body shop 2 weeks ago. Painter wanted it in components, so he took one wing, then the other, etc. Builder did a lot of the prep work. Was told it would come in at around $4K, but he hadn't gotten the bill as of last weekend. Looks good.

Our builder's group had an AFS talk last month. Then this month, one of the guys sprayed AFS' primer on some of his parts while we all watched. AFS paint is a water borne paint, so the "spray booth" was lined with plastic on 3 sides, open on one of the largest sides, and they had an exhaust fan and fluorescent lights inside the "booth". This was the first time the guy had used the stuff and he was no more an expert at painting than anyone else. Came out perfect, much better than I get with zinc chromate. Clean up was with water--no expense for solvents. I think AFS' cost estimate came in a little under $2K for a plane the size of an RV. AFS says that since their paint goes on differently from solvent based, you can get as good a job yourself as a pro who is used to solvent based paint. Of course, the AFS guy hasn't seen my painting yet...:)
 
I'm going stewart systems, AFS. I went to Cashmere and was shown the product, how it is applied and was very impressed. I bought the product, about 1000 dollars, included acid etch, cleaner, primer, and base coat for the 7A. http://www.aircraftfinishing.com/
 
Professional painter, alodine, base coat, clear coat, and buffing.....somewhere around $7,500 to $9,500. I've seen cheaper and I've seen more, but you generally get what you pay for.
 
Be careful with body shop paint jobs.

Webb said:
Also a second thought. Have talked with a body shop and could have them shoot it in parts in their booth. Wings, tips, empanage, control surfaces could be shot now leaving only the fuselage.
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A big caution about body shops. They do great work, but they generally aren't concerned about weight and usually put on too much paint. I know of 2 RV-10s that were built side by side exactly alike except that one was painted by a body shop and the other by an aircraft painter. The one painted by the body shop weighed 22 lbs. more than the one painted by the aircraft painter. That's 22 lbs. DIFFERENCE, just in paint.
 
Mel - true on the weight but with a CS prop up front, it might be welcome - don't know. Perhaps a clear understanding up front would be the ticket. My guess is to discuss what you are trying to accomplish. No clear coat but a high quality gloss finish. One thing about it, we are talking just under 4 gallons to look good. Don't know.

If I painted, it would probably weigh 30 pounds more (lol). I tend to overbuild EVERYTHING.
 
I really lucked out here. I found a body shop that had painted some aircraft components and CARED about weight. He did all the AL prep (I did the fiberglass) before the plane was assembled and charged $1750 plus materials for a total of around $2800. Paint is very thin/light and perfect. That was one color only and we used vinyl for the second and third colors, something you might consider. I did vinyl on the wingtips--difficult but possible. Saved a ton of money (which I of course spent elsewhere.)

Bob Kelly
 
How much paint?

allbee said:
I'm going stewart systems, AFS. I went to Cashmere and was shown the product, how it is applied and was very impressed. I bought the product, about 1000 dollars, included acid etch, cleaner, primer, and base coat for the 7A. http://www.aircraftfinishing.com/
Click to expand...

How much paint are you estimating it will take for an RV? I am about to order paint from Stewart Systems and I am not sure how much I need.
 
My local EAA Chapter is painting 4 RV's (7's and 8) using Sherwin Williams Jet Glo and Acro glo. We got a volume discount from a local distributor and are spending $1500 to $2000 per plane depending on number of colors and paint type.

This is a 3 step covering. Starts with a wash primer, then an epoxy primer followed by the the top coat(s).

Does a great job.

The Chapter is gaining lots of experience and it does help that we have a professional painter in the Chapter that guides us thumb painters.

We found it to be a great Chapter project.

My 7A should be next in the paint booth this May. I'll be doing a solid red with some vinyl highlights and I expect it to cost around $2000. Red is an expensive color.

Jekyll
 
Red is an expensive color.

Jekyll
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yeah, no kidding. I paid $158 a quart for red, plus the stabilizer.

I just finished painting my RV-6A. White with red trim and black stripe. Base coat / clear coat system. Used about 1.6 gal white, .5 gal red, 1 qt black, 1.8 gal clear give or take. I used about half the black on test panels getting my gun and skills dialed in. I had some old clear that I used on the test panels. This does not include the epoxy primer, the high build primer for the fiberglass, or the stripper to take off the old paint (worst job ever).

All in all I would guess I've got about $3k in paint. Add another grand+ for masking supplies, paint gun, filter, shoot suit, paint booth, lights, borrowed the full flow respirator, etc. Still, probably half what a shop would have charged, but also took 3 months.
1001539xo9.jpg
 
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how about a 100 dollar paint job?

I recently came across a growing movement in hot-rod (auto) circles, with folks applying paint to their cars using rollers. Seems to be very cheap, needs no equipment, and is safer that spraying too.

The results do not seem that bad at all, considering the price.

Here's the forum where it all started:

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=2331682&page=0&fpart=1&vc=1

(warning, it will take days to read through it all)

Here's a Hot-Rod (magazine) article about it:

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/body/hrdp_0707_1962_ford_falcon_budget_paint_job/index.html

And here's another well done job:

http://www.rickwrench.com/index79master.htm?http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html

Do you all think it could work on an RV?
 
aviator1978 said:
I recently came across a growing movement in hot-rod (auto) circles, with folks applying paint to their cars using rollers. Seems to be very cheap, needs no equipment, and is safer that spraying too.

The results do not seem that bad at all, considering the price.

Here's the forum where it all started:

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=2331682&page=0&fpart=1&vc=1

(warning, it will take days to read through it all)

Here's a Hot-Rod (magazine) article about it:

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/body/hrdp_0707_1962_ford_falcon_budget_paint_job/index.html

And here's another well done job:

http://www.rickwrench.com/index79master.htm?http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html

Do you all think it could work on an RV?
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at first glace you think no way,,,but with enough sand paint sand paint polish and so on i guess it could be done . i would be concerned about weight. ive been told painting a plane is like painting 4 cars.
the corvair looke pretty good. and ive seen rvs that looked ALOT worse. just dont try this with metallics.
 
Hey Painter John,

Any chance of telling me where I can get a big version of your avatar to use as a screen saver??
 
Imron too...

amilder said:
It's not as inexpensive as Rustoleum, but I have seen instructions for AFS/Stewart Systems roller application here
http://www.kcdawnpatrol.org/rolling.htm

Not have to spray is an attractive option to me. Might be worth the trade-off for more work. Wonder about weight?
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Boats are painted with Imron and rollers to comply with air quality and safety standards in Los Angeles. A different reducer is used.

... but they are not as concerned about weight....:)

gil A
 
szicree said:
Hey Painter John,

Any chance of telling me where I can get a big version of your avatar to use as a screen saver??
Click to expand...

yeah i can email you that picture.. its of a T6 i painted a few years ago, and his buddy
LTA555 aka The Triple Nickle
 
Imron Paint not that expensive

Just finished painting my rv8. It is not perfect, but has no runs, an extremely high gloss and very very little orange peel. First Imron I ever shot.

Having have read the forums for a few years and thought I owed a pertinent contribution with no intention to argue or debate anyone, only relating my experiences.

Imron Matterhorn White and Snow White are real cheap. Colors are more expensive. This is what I used.

1 gal Imron #700 snow white $110
1 qt Imron #700 Red $165
1 gal Colar white Primer @150
1 gal corlar reducer $50
1 gal corlar activator @$80
1 gal imron #700 activator @$80
1 gal Imron reducer $50
1 #3 zahn cup $80 for consistency
1 harbor freight HVLP gun $39.95
masking tape & paper @$50
2 gal cheap laquer thinner $30 for cleanup
320 grit wetordry sandpaper $150
sanding block $5
3m fresh air mask $85
fresh air regulator H.F. $15
100 white latex gloves $10
Total a little less than $1150.00

My only painting experience was painting a few old cars as a kid about 50 years ago.

The Imron was extremely easy to shoot. My workmanship will not win the grand prize at Osh but will make 95% of us extremely happy especially when you compare the cost of a professional doing it. Imron flows out with a brilliant gloss..NO basecoat. NO clearcoat. NO buffing..a whole lot easier.

Emailed Dupont and they replied back the next day with their recommendation of Corlar primer and #700 Imron. Company been there over 100 Years.

All the surfaces were scuffed with 320 paper.

Piped the intake to my compressor to the outside of the shop for fresh breathing air..works fine! (You breathe less oil than following a diesel truck.)

Harbor freight hvlp gun works as good as needed. Comes complete with a regulator..You and I will never know the difference from a $500 Sata, binks, graco etc.

I used a little more pressure than the 29# recommendation for HVLP.. I found 40# atomized the paint much better. Pressure at the gun, not the nozzle. Viscosity..Dupont says 9 to 13 seconds in the Zahn cup...dont be cheap buy the cup..You have no other way to guage the viscosity and keep it consistent.

You wont believe this till you try it..Painted the parts where the plane was built. No plastic on floor or walls and very very very little overspray..HVLP puts 99% of the paint on the plane not in the air. Install a box fan in a window in one door and open the other. I live in the country where the air is clean.

Put wings and control surfaces between some sawhorses so they were balanced and able to be rotated and painted them flat.. no runs. Use temporary weights to make them balance.

Before I painted I blew down the shop with 100# of air to all the walls shelves and anywhere I found dust, then shop vac all the floor. wiped the parts with laquer thinner then a tack rag just before painting final color.

Buy the green 3m masking tape at your friendly NAPA store. The blue S**t from Lowes is not worth carring home. NAPA sells White latex gloves which withstand MEK and laquer thinner.. Use them when mixing Imron

Dont try to use newspaper for masking, use only, probably dark green, from an automotive paint supplier.

Practice on something smooth..Put a couple of filters on your air supply.. put your respirator and go paint.

N678LL painted
#82233
Larry Lane
 
I'm using PPG DP primer on the fiberglass parts to fill the exterior pinholes, seems to work well. I sealed the cowl inside with acetone thinned epoxy as per Van-the-man, then a coat of DP primer. I wonder what high build, sandable primer to use before Deltron or Imron color coat?
I read that article on Rustoleum. It was great. I started painting with it, trailer, generator cart, like that. I'm not quite nervy enough to try it on the RV-8 tho-:eek:
 
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