Kage777b

Interesting write up. I just had my plane repainted and being that the paint shop is a short walk from my hanger, I asked and the shop allowed me to participate. The process is extremely labor and materials intensive. I too had to wait for a window to arrive….from Great Lakes Aero. Weather cut a few days into the process. In addition, an employee got Covid slowing things up a little more. Materiel prices seemed to go up weekly. I know because I was there. Often times once the the aircraft is stripped, ugly details show themselves that may require waiting additional time for. Some may require new metal, bearings, antennas, etc., etc. Owning, operating and dealing with prospective customers and their oftentimes changing needs and desires requires a very specialized skill set, especially when one has to stop in the middle of a job to tend to prospective business. Steve Searle at Ormond Aircraft where my Mooney was done, manages to fit everyone in professionally and if there’s something that needs or may possibly need to be addressed, he’ll be sure to let you know. It’s also likely that if one isn’t willing to work WITH him also, he’ll kindly advise you of a faster and certainly not as professional paint shop…

Interesting write up. I just had my plane repainted and being that the paint shop is a short walk from my hanger, I asked and the shop allowed me to participate. The process is extremely labor and materials intensive. I too had to wait for a window to arrive….from Great Lakes Aero. Weather cut a few days into the process. In addition, an employee got Covid slowing things up a little more. Materiel prices seemed to go up weekly. I know because I was there. Often times once the the aircraft is stripped, ugly details show themselves that may require waiting additional time for. Some may require new metal, bearings, antennas, etc., etc. Owning, operating and dealing with prospective customers and their oftentimes changing needs and desires requires a very specialized skill set, especially when one has to stop in the middle of a job to tend to prospective business. Steve Searle at Ormond Aircraft where my Mooney was done, manages to fit everyone in professionally and if there’s something that needs or may possibly need to be addressed, he’ll be sure to let you know. It’s also likely that if one isn’t willing to work WITH him also, he’ll kindly advise you of a faster and certainly not as professional paint shop…

Interesting write up. I just had my plane repainted and being that the paint shop is a short walk from my hanger, I asked and the shop allowed me to participate. The process is extremely labor and materials intensive. I too had to wait for a window to arrive….from Great Lakes Aero. Weather cut a few days into the process. In addition, an employee got Covid slowing things up a little more. Materiel prices seemed to go up weekly. I know because I was there. Often times once the the aircraft is stripped, ugly details show themselves that may require waiting additional time for. Some may require new metal, bearings, antennas, etc., etc. Owning, operating and dealing with prospective customers and their oftentimes changing needs and desires requires a very specialized skill set, especially when one has to stop in the middle of a job to tend to prospective business. Steve Searle at Ormond Aircraft where my Mooney was done, manages to fit everyone in professionally and if there’s something that needs or may possibly need to be addressed, he’ll be sure to let you know. It’s also likely that if one isn’t willing to work WITH him also, he’ll kindly advise you of a faster and certainly not as professional paint shop…

Sorry, my bad...just getting ready to brief my crew and my mind’s in a different mode.

Being somewhat familiar with Korean flight training, I’d venture to say there was no intentional aerobatics but the G meter was likely used to monitor hard landings or over stressing and every airline trainer I’ve seen has a Stby. altimeter. Just like the real deal. It’s in a normal AL cockpit flow...JS

Only the door window but I believe the windshield is the original thickness. All windows are light grey tint. I’ll tint the rear windows. Sound proofing , not likely as it’s pretty quiet now and I have have a 1019 lLb usefull load now. It’s a very tight , sweet , corrosion free airframe. Another thing to consider is that many annual items can be addressed on slack time and if the paint shop has an IA, or one nearby, one might consider having the annual sign off.

Thanks for the complement! I went with the .187 thickness. It’s thicker than what came out and fit really nice with very minimal trimming.

Interesting write up. I just had my plane repainted and being that the paint shop is a short walk from my hanger, I asked and the shop allowed me to participate. The process is extremely labor and materials intensive. I too had to wait for a window to arrive….from Great Lakes Aero. Weather cut a few days into the process. In addition, an employee got Covid slowing things up a little more. Materiel prices seemed to go up weekly. I know because I was there. Often times once the the aircraft is stripped, ugly details show themselves that may require waiting additional time for. Some may require new metal, bearings, antennas, etc., etc. Owning, operating and dealing with prospective customers and their oftentimes changing needs and desires requires a very specialized skill set, especially when one has to stop in the middle of a job to tend to prospective business. Steve Searle at Ormond Aircraft where my Mooney was done, manages to fit everyone in professionally and if there’s something that needs or may possibly need to be addressed, he’ll be sure to let you know. It’s also likely that if one isn’t willing to work WITH him also, he’ll kindly advise you of a faster and certainly not as professional paint shop…So, here’s the processes involved in this eight week ordeal….disassembly, masking, stripping, sanding, pressure washing, acid etch, rinse, alodyne, rinse, remove masking, more sanding, remask, prime, paint the base coat twice, clear coat twice, remove mask, remask for stripes, paint stripes, clear coat stripes, remove mask to make next color stripes, repeat as before, do another set of stripes and numbers. Between each paint is a cure time BTW. Detail, unscrew any screw ups. Color sand, buff, final buff, do it some more. Assemble the plane, wash, buff, wash….get it all right then test fly it. I left out a LOT of minor details but you get the point. And realize that the surface area of just the wings is nearly equal to 4 SUV’s. It takes time and patience, but if the end result is outstanding detail and workmanship, the wait and money spent is worth it. Anyone who has plans to have their plane refinished should also plan to understand the process, prospective problems, and definitely expect some delays. 8 weeks on mine and I was seriously involved. Great job OA!