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Corona Air Paint pirep


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5 minutes ago, Comet said:

As promised...I picked up my plane from Corona today!  When I was looking for paint shops, I requested quotes from across the country (AZ, CA, TX, MO, FL...no paint shops in NM!). Some places didn’t respond, one place was more than twice the lowest cost quote, one had a multi-page legal document as their proposal, most were one page.  I was also torn between ArtCraft and Corona.  Also, Pia Bergqvidt wrote about having her Mooney painted at ArtCraft (and having seen her plane personally, I know it looks great).

https://www.flyingmag.com/inside-much-needed-paint-job-mooney-m20c/

I liked the Corona quote; which was white with two accent colors.  Also, since I recently had some avionics work done and replacing the interior, I was a bit price conscious about having paint done as well (Corona was about 20% less).  I decided in early February to go with Corona and scheduled for early May.  I wasn’t sure how long it would take to drop it off, so I scheduled a late flight back to ABQ from LAX...it only took less than an hour.  I wanted a paint scheme “different” than other Mooneys.  The manager at Corona did show me a recently painted Mooney with a more typical scheme when I dropped mine off, and it did look nice.  Anyway, my son and I put together a scheme, I showed it to the manager at Corona, he asked a bunch of questions, and said it wouldn’t be a problem.  The quoted down time was 7 weeks.  Corona sent me pictures at several points to let me know the progress.  Nothing like seeing your airplane without paint!  When it got closer, I asked about when I should schedule to come pick it up.  They told me that they were behind schedule and to plan on coming out the next week (considering the experience I had with avionics, not so bad),  picking it up actually went one day past what I planned (Saturday instead of Friday); but they let me know, so I was able to amuse myself in LA.  

I picked it up today (about 8 hours ago, but that included flying home).  I did a detailed inspection.  I only found one piece of tape that was left on (in the nose wheel well).  I didn’t find any connections that weren’t attached.   No major issues with overspray or orange peel.  Initial impressions are that I’m happy with the result.  There were a few “while your at its”...mostly design work for the paint scheme, new cam locks and repair to a dent in one wingtip.  

Of course, I’ll be keeping a close eye on it; I’ll let you know if anything changes.  I’ll be at. Oshkosh with the Caravan if you want to look in person.  Oh, I almost forgot...when I was leaving, I stopped for gas at the gas island.  While there, I got my first compliment on the paint!

Pictures?

 

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Nice palindrome tail number, Comet!

The new paint looks extra clean in the design.  

Extra points for not being a copy, very unique.

 

Somebody posted a video the other day of paint corrections that were being done prior to a glossy and complete wax/finish job...

This was of a fancy paint job that had some things that could have been done better.  It was nice to see that they could be adjusted by the right hands using the right tools and procedures...

Best regards,

-a-

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@Cometit will be interesting to see what kind of speed increases you notice.  I would think the difference from your old paint to new should decrease drag quite a bit.  It looks way faster just sitting on the ramp.

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9 hours ago, kortopates said:

Wow! That's like trading in the old mistress for a much younger model! I hope you find new joy flying her like I expect you will emoji3.png

Or paying for a bunch of cosmetic surgery for the old mistress to make her look younger.  Either way a good deal.  Nice paint job.

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12 hours ago, carusoam said:

Nice palindrome tail number, Comet!

The new paint looks extra clean in the design.  

Extra points for not being a copy, very unique.

 

Somebody posted a video the other day of paint corrections that were being done prior to a glossy and complete wax/finish job...

This was of a fancy paint job that had some things that could have been done better.  It was nice to see that they could be adjusted by the right hands using the right tools and procedures...

Best regards,

-a-

I’ve always liked the palindrome.  Not many people notice it, those that do really like it (there are only 110 palindrome n-numbers in the US).  If I have to point it out, people either aren’t excited about it or don’t get it.

I wanted something different than the usual schemes; the trick was making it not too weird!  I did get a touch up kit, so I’ll look for that video when it comes time...

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4 hours ago, kpaul said:

@Cometit will be interesting to see what kind of speed increases you notice.  I would think the difference from your old paint to new should decrease drag quite a bit.  It looks way faster just sitting on the ramp.

When I did my CPL check ride, when I was doing my pre-flight, the DPE asked about the effect of frost on the wings, which became a discussion on the effect of the poor paint and the added parasite drag.  I need to fly it around here to see if I see much difference, it felt a bit faster yesterday, but I didn’t get as high as I usually do.

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1 hour ago, NotarPilot said:

Or paying for a bunch of cosmetic surgery for the old mistress to make her look younger.  Either way a good deal.  Nice paint job.

Thanks; I’ve used that joke with my wife...she didn’t think it was very funny!

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  • 1 year later...

Got my airplane back from them the other day and at first glance it looked OK.

Once I got it back to my hangar I realized they painted the tail stripes wrong, the trim was in the full nose down position when they painted them and the GPS antennae was damaged.

When I called them about it they tried to play it off as I may be the one wrong so I brought the airplane back to them a few days later to prove it to them.

They finally agreed to repaint them but I would have to wait for several weeks before they could get to it.

After a few more flights I found that both inner gear doors where broken, they where installed incorrectly!

When I brought the airplane back for the stripe re-paint I showed them the doors and they said they must have been that way when I originally brought the airplane in, being that no-one mentioned it to me they agreed to take care of it.

Weeks later when I returned the stripes where painted correctly, they had someone WELD the doors for the repairs, now they had to purchase new doors, and the GPS antennae was painted.

Months went by before I got the new gear doors which where only painted on one side.  After several attempts to contact them with no response I had to get someone else to paint them, I had to buy a new GPS antennae and after looking at the airplane more closely I noticed they had burnt/scratched my new windshield and side window and tried to polish out the runs and other flaws.

In the end this paint job is going to cost me more money than some of the shops and the stress just was not worth it.

 

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15 hours ago, Johnny R said:

Got my airplane back from them the other day and at first glance it looked OK.

Once I got it back to my hangar I realized they painted the tail stripes wrong, the trim was in the full nose down position when they painted them and the GPS antennae was damaged.

When I called them about it they tried to play it off as I may be the one wrong so I brought the airplane back to them a few days later to prove it to them.

They finally agreed to repaint them but I would have to wait for several weeks before they could get to it.

After a few more flights I found that both inner gear doors where broken, they where installed incorrectly!

When I brought the airplane back for the stripe re-paint I showed them the doors and they said they must have been that way when I originally brought the airplane in, being that no-one mentioned it to me they agreed to take care of it.

Weeks later when I returned the stripes where painted correctly, they had someone WELD the doors for the repairs, now they had to purchase new doors, and the GPS antennae was painted.

Months went by before I got the new gear doors which where only painted on one side.  After several attempts to contact them with no response I had to get someone else to paint them, I had to buy a new GPS antennae and after looking at the airplane more closely I noticed they had burnt/scratched my new windshield and side window and tried to polish out the runs and other flaws.

In the end this paint job is going to cost me more money than some of the shops and the stress just was not worth it.

 

Assuming you are talking about Corona?

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