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Paint before FAA inspection?

lemerc

I'm New Here
Does the FAA allow complete painting of a homebuilt before the airworthiness inspection? Obviously, painting the wings, control surfaces, fairings, etc. would be much easier before final assembly. Any advantages of waiting until after the inspection before painting that I might be missing? :confused:
 
Here in Australia painting is actually encouraged by our certifying agency to be completed before the final inspection. This means that you only have to weigh the aircraft once, there is then certainty over the final empty weight of the aircraft and it also enables them to grill you and make sure all your control surfaces are final balanced. For you in addition to this the benifit is that it reduces the number of times you have to pull the aircraft apart, and allows you to do a better job of painting the aircraft, especially in hard to reach areas. I painted before final assembly and would absolutely do it again that way next time.
Tom.
RV-7
 
Paint

Whatever works for your schedule and budget.
Paint is not a factor for issuance of an airworthiness certificate as long as you have the required n number and other marking.
 
I painted mine before flight.

Many folks don't have the skills/facilities to paint while building and choose to fly to a painter after phase 1 (unless your Vlad). As long as you have got all your clearances and fits good, painting prior to assembly will save you having it disassembled later,re-weighing, and eliminate the dirt,oil and grime that will get in the nooks and crannies. I painted my -4 myself while building, and saved all the headaches of doing it later or taking it somewhere. Many have used auto painters and took it to their shops for paint if not able to DIY.
 
Paint will have no effect on the airworthiness of your aircraft. My - 6 was inspected in bare aluminum, and my -7 vinyl wrapped. Obviously weight and balance should be in order, and as previously stated, the inspector will be mainly concerned with placards and markings. As far as they are concerned the more the merrier. In some cases I used temporary placards for the inspection and then "fine tuned" them later for aesthetics. Many choose to flight test prior to paint since there always seems that something that will need tweaking such as fairings and cowlings. Once you are satisfied that everything is where you want it, then go for paint.
 
Many folks don't have the skills/facilities to paint while building and choose to fly to a painter after phase 1 (unless your Vlad). As long as you have got all your clearances and fits good, painting prior to assembly will save you having it disassembled later,re-weighing, and eliminate the dirt,oil and grime that will get in the nooks and crannies. I painted my -4 myself while building, and saved all the headaches of doing it later or taking it somewhere. Many have used auto painters and took it to their shops for paint if not able to DIY.
Technically vlad is after phase 1
 
Paint will have no effect on the airworthiness of your aircraft. My - 6 was inspected in bare aluminum, and my -7 vinyl wrapped. Obviously weight and balance should be in order, and as previously stated, the inspector will be mainly concerned with placards and markings. As far as they are concerned the more the merrier. In some cases I used temporary placards for the inspection and then "fine tuned" them later for aesthetics. Many choose to flight test prior to paint since there always seems that something that will need tweaking such as fairings and cowlings. Once you are satisfied that everything is where you want it, then go for paint.

And one nice touch is to present the inspector with two W&B forms - one with fairings on, and one in first flight configuration without wheel fairings.

Weigh the plane with the fairings and simply calculate the no fairings option.
 
I am painting before final assembly, I did this with old plane and it worked out well, so I am following the same steps. The plane is scheduled to go for paint in about three weeks.
 
I flew for a year before paint. It took only one full day for disassembly at the paint shop and about 2.5 days for reassembly. Probably less hassle than carting parts back and forth unless you have a paint shop next door.
 
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