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Finish Paint as you build?

N82VM

Well Known Member
Has any one done this? Paint as you go
None of my paint will be immediately adjacent to any other surfaces.
Painting all horizontal surfaces (wings and stabilizers) silver. Polish on the fuselage and probably paint the nose. I realize that paint can be subtle and different between batches but since none of will ever be exactly side by side I think it would never be noticeable.

1) I realize it can get scratched during assembly
2) it?s probably going to get stratched after it?s assembled and flying anyway

I?m getting started in the near future finally! Will most likely take 5-6 years. I?ll most likely be waiting on the next piece of the kit (I will not be ordering it all at once) or some other gap in time. Figure I?ll be making good use of my time.

Pros Cons other than what I mentioned above?
 
As one of many opinions:
I always start doing paint after initial assembly and fitting. Here in Alabama you have about a 6 week window of the right temperature range in the Spring and fall. For my current RV-7A project, wings and tail were completely finished last Spring so they got all prep done and were fully epoxy primed before it got too hot. Spent the summer finishing fuselage and canopy. In Fall epoxy primed fuselage and canopy and finish painted the tail and wings. Been doing engine, cowling, firewall forward now. Plan to do final paint prep and finish paint on fuselage and fiberglass in Spring.

Alternative is fly it and paint it but the airplane would be down for probably a couple of months. A friend of mine was having so much fun flying that he could not release it for paint for 9 years.
 
If you have the facilities and intend to do your own paint, yes, painting as you go is sensible.
 
First Time Builder RV-7 Doing It

My empennage, flight control surfaces and QB wings have all been finished, fully painted, and vinyl graphics applied.

An unanticipated benefit for me was the increased motivation to build on created by seeing big shiny painted airplane parts waiting for a place to go. When my enthusiasm wanes, all it takes is one look at those completely finished pieces to get me going again.

I am working on the QB fuselage now.

When that is done, it will be painted along with wingtips, cowl, and smaller fiberglass parts, somewhere early in the process of installing the finishing kit. Miscellaneous smaller parts that have to be trimmed, fitted, etc. after the wings and empennage are attached will have to wait until the very end, but they are small enough that I can paint them myself in my shop.

I plan to have it fully painted before the first flight.

My reasons were that smaller parts were easier to handle in the paint process, I had a painter available locally who was looking for something to do, I already knew my paint scheme, and when the project is completed there will be no need to take a flying airplane out of service for a long time to get painted.

The wings and empennage were painted while I have been working on the fuselage, so there really is no significant delay to my already tortoise-like build time.

I am sure there will be dings and nicks as everything is assembled, but for me that is acceptable.

Jim
 
My only concern with painting as you go over a 6 year period would be color match control. I painted my RV-10 when it was completely finished in my shop before I took it to the airport for first flight. No regrets. My RV-9A is being built in my hanger but I will load everything up when its done and bring it home to paint in my shop. I only want to set my paint booth up once.
 
All valid points. I appreciate all the input! I’m going to finish paint as I go along.
I’m fairly confident in the color matching. Mostly because none of the surfaces will be immediately adjacent to the same color paint. Wings and horizontal stab are far enough apart that a minor shade difference should be undetected. I’m going to paint as I go. Decided on Stewart Systems paint for ease of cleaning up and spraying in confined spaces.
Thanks for the comments.
 
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