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Paint or fly first

D

drjjbrown

Member
I am just finishing up my 9-A and getting ready to move it from the garage to a hanger to put the wings back on. I have not finished the wing tips or intersection fairings and there is still some fiberglass to sand.

I have not come to a decision about painting. I am going to go with a professional job but have not priced it yet. I am sure it's going to be more than I think it is. The main question is should I fly the airplane first or paint before assembly.

The way I see it, painting first makes for easier transportation and prep, it can be done in an autobody shop and likely less expensive. But there may be spots that don't appear until I assemble it or I might damage the paint during assembly. If I fly first, I have go to a dedicated airplane paint shop and there is going to be significant down time. I am not going to want to take the wings and empannage off again.

So this post is sort of a survey. Paint first or fly first. What did you do or plan to and why?
 
drjjbrown said:
I am just finishing up my 9-A and getting ready to move it from the garage to a hanger to put the wings back on. I have not finished the wing tips or intersection fairings and there is still some fiberglass to sand.

I have not come to a decision about painting. I am going to go with a professional job but have not priced it yet. I am sure it's going to be more than I think it is. The main question is should I fly the airplane first or paint before assembly.

The way I see it, painting first makes for easier transportation and prep, it can be done in an autobody shop and likely less expensive. But there may be spots that don't appear until I assemble it or I might damage the paint during assembly. If I fly first, I have go to a dedicated airplane paint shop and there is going to be significant down time. I am not going to want to take the wings and empannage off again.

So this post is sort of a survey. Paint first or fly first. What did you do or plan to and why?
Click to expand...

I vote for painting before flying. RV flying is very addictive and if you are busy at work you don't have time to paint. Do it now. :)
 
It depends

If you are planning to paint it yourself, it depends somewhat on whether you have better painting "facilities" in your home shop or at your hangar (may be a moot point if these are the same place). I painted mine myself - and I had much better facilities at home than I did at the hangar I was going to for final assembly, so I painted mine in pieces before I moved it. Painting it in pieces also allows you to "eat the elephant" in smaller bites than having to deal with painting an assembled plane. My experience was good, no paint issues during moves or assembly. You just have to be careful. http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=113595

If you are planning to have a professional paint it, I would just assemble and fly it - and then fly to an aircraft painter when you are ready.
 
I flew before painting and I guess I'm glad I did. I made some minor changes during the first 6 or 8 months of flying. Minor but I probably would have dinged up the paint somewhere.

I had just finished the build and, frankly, didn't want to postpone the flying any more than I had to.

Alternatively, my airplane has been in the paint shop for more than two months now and I haven't been able to fly. Vlad is right, flying it IS addictive and I'm going bonkers waiting to get it back.

Overall, I think I'm glad I flew before paint. It was great fun before I sent it to the paint shop.
 
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I plan to fly first and use the first condition inspection to schedule the paint. Or maybe the second or third condition inspection. :D
 
Paint it now, you will never be in a position again where you are willing to take the plane out of service for a few months, as Vlad said it gets very addictive

Cheers
 
Paint first.

I did my own paint job at the hanger. I didn't do leg fairings or wheel pants until about two years after and that didn't really impact or affect my initial paint.

I would NOT want to paint wings while they are on the airplane and there is no way I want to remove them from my 6. Maybe the newer wing designs are better in this regard but I still wouldn't want to do it.

Personally, if I hadn't painted first, I would never get to it, and I wanted to be able to say I did the paint.

Jim
 
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If you fly first, think of all the oil on the bottom of the fuselage that would be waiting to ruin that perfect spray job you just did. I painted first and wouldn't do it any other way. Think about the added work by painting after flying, unless you are writing a check.
 
Paint or fly first?

I flew my 7-A for a year before flying with the thought that I might have to change things. With hindsight, I would paint first. The Van's designs are so well proven you won't have to change anything beyond a small aileron pinch
Jay
 
Paint First

I think I had a better feeling of completion on first flight because it was painted therefore looked done.
Also I wanted it painted in pieces to do it on a rotisseries. I had one for fuselage and separate ones for wing. Made painting easy as John just walked back and forth spraying while I turned the rotisseries handle.
 
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My fervor to fly the bird surpassed my desire to have it painted beforehand. ... also far surpassed my willingness to paint it myself. After nearly six years of build time, I just wanted to fly the doggone thing! No more waiting and messing around!
I flew for three years before getting it painted, and polished it for looks during that time. I have no regrets. Yes, it would have been less expensive to paint it in pieces during the build, but my eventual professional paint job far surpasses anything I could have done, and she was only at the painters' this winter for 5 weeks - in the dead of winter when my flying is limited by wx anyway. Plus the three years of flying gave me time to save up the bucks for the professional paint.
 
Of course, either way works - as evidenced by the strong recommendations you get from both sides. I won't advise you which to do, becasue it depends so much on your particular situation. Since you're talking about a professional job, think about transporting the various components to the paint shop and back. What's invovled? What can get damaged? Transporting it on its own wings (once it is flying) is a pretty simple thing to do - so long as it is an aircraft paint shop located at an airport!

If you're going to paint it yourself, and you can do it at home, well then - it pretty much has to be before you fly - or you'll be taking it apart to get it home - more chance for damage. Can you paint it in your hanagr? If it is a communal hanagr, that is pretty tough - and even a T-Hangar can lead to disaster if the walls don't go to the roof, and you get overspray on other people's airplane's.

So...those are things to consider.
 
I agree with everything Paul said. Of all the airplanes that Ann & I have built, the RV-6 is the only one I flew before painting. I would never do that again.

1/ It's a lot of work to get the airplane clean enough after it's flown. 2/ It's agony to take the airplane down from flying status for weeks of painting. 3/ It's much easier to paint parts than an airplane. 4/ When flying the unpainted airplane, I continually looked out at the wings and said, "Is this airplane finished?"

Of course, if you are going to have the airplane professionally painted, your choices are limited.
 
I'm glad I tested it first before painting. I did a lot of reworking of fiberglass parts to improve cooling. Also, especially during the test period, the cowling and possibly gear leg fairings and wheel pants if you're chasing shimmy issues, are going to be coming on and off a lot and it is a skill that improves with practise. I would have really dinged up my paint until I figured out the best way to remove and reinstall the fiberglass bits.

You may be better at it than me...
 
You guys are great and thanks for the advice. So far the survey is:

Paint first: 8
Fly first: 4
Abstain:1

I am a first time builder. I am probably giving myself a lower grade than I deserve, but a few imperfections in the skins are there (which it seems only I can see) which would be nice to cover up with a little prep and paint.

I am going to keep the survey open but the results are interesting and so far the advice is all great. Even the issue about timing based on weather (Oregon has perfect weather for flying all year of course). If you fly down to minimums that is.
 
drjjbrown said:
You guys are great and thanks for the advice. So far the survey is:

Paint first: 8
Fly first: 4
Abstain:1
Click to expand...

If this is a survey then chalk up one more for flying first. With the number of mods and tweaks I made in the first year or so of flying, I would think a nice paint job would have been scratched to pieces.

Almost 2 years flying though and still not painted, so the paint first argument does have merit. Pros and cons to both.
 
one more silly idea

well Doc,
here's a thought.
put one good coat of primer/topcoat on as you build.
that covers all the 'hard to get at places. You'll see pinholes, orange peel, dirt, dings etc. in the big surfaces.

then fly it, scratch it, modify it as needed.

then treat it like everyone else does with a 'slightly used' aircraft.

cut-polish, touch-up, sand and/or repaint the parts that you want to see 'shiny' and pretty.
Design a graphic scheme, and add a vinyl wrap; this could cover 1 to 100% of the surface. Most are about 30 - 50%, and you are covering or really distracting from the wide expanses of paint that may or may not be perfect. bonus; the colours can complement the interior you chose, or found in the bargain section of VAF!
 
When to paint

Previous posts have summed it up well and it depends on resources available. Best way is probably fly first and after all adjusting and fiddling is done pay a real shop for a real paint job. Near me are 2 auto paint shops willing & able to paint to my specs so my way will be paint first then assemble and fly with the understanding a scratch or chip is more likely. I will be using a single stage paint and scheme will not be overly complex so touch ups if needed are fairly simple. Also my builders insurance covers road trip.

Don Broussard

RV 9 Rebuild in Progress
 
Flew first and...

...glad I did. Although in the first 30 hours or so I didn't have any fuel tank leaks, I have since developed weeping rivets in 3 rivets in the right fuel tank on the bottom. Had I painted first I would have probably messed up the paint trying to fix the leaks. That is why I waited.
 
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