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Top Paint shops in USA


ArtCraft

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Congrats for making the list!


With all due respect, the list of Top Paint Shops is in alphabetical order, and Artcraft is second on the list. That doesn't mean you're the second best shop in the country.


You could be, based on the repeated excellent comments you've received here on MooneySpace, however.

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I took my M20J back to Artcraft for some detail updating.  They added airbrushing to one of the stripes (silver), and shadowed some of the gold trim.  No photos posted yet, as I think you have to see the effect in bright sunlight.  I will be flying to MAPA, and you can see the diffrence the airbrushing makes then. 

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I can vouch for ArtCraft in Santa Maria.  Highly competitive pricing and my Mooney paint continues to be just as beautiful as the day it was completed in March of 2009. They DO pay attention to detail!


Jolie's beautiful paint job by ArtCraft to be out on the street very soon!  We'll be taking it to MAPA this year!!

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In case you don't take Aviation Consumer


Arizona Aeropainting, Elroy, AZ


Artcraft, Santa Maria, CA


Dial Eastern States Aircraft Painting, Cadiz, Ohio


Ed's Aircraft Refinishing, Brookhaven. NY


Hagerstown Aircraft Services, Hagerstown, MD


Kracon Aircraft Refinishing, Lincoln, CA


KD Aviation, Robbinsville, NJ & Newburgh, NY


Lancaster Aero Refinishiers, Smoketown, PA


Master Aircraft Services, Wikenburg, AZ


Murmer Aircraft Services, Arcola, TX


Prestige Aircraft, Swanton, Vermint


Straube's Aircraft Services, AZ, Utah & HI


Sturgis Aviation, Sturgis Michigan


T and P Aero Finishers Salonas CA


Tejasaero, San Marcos, TX


Three in the Green, Pottsville, PA


Wiregrass Aircraft, Florala, AL


Don

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I was happy to see the favorable comments about ArtCraft.  But it was strange because they didn't really say what the positives were, only that they had received a lot of them. Instead they focused on the one mildly negative comment.


As many of you know, we don't have any affiliation with ArtCraft, but have had both our planes painted there.  We can recommend this shop with 100% confidence. 


I believe they have painted upwards of 20 Mooneys in the past 18 months.  Antonio does the body/mechanical work, and Tony is the artist/scheme designer/paint lead.  Of course, I would be remiss not to mention Teresa, the owner and Erika the office manager.  They make the experience full of smiles and laughter.  Those girls know how to have fun. [We went to Las Vegas with them last year!].


Here are two photos of my Maggie. She is not completed in these photos.  I am so thrilled and too, am bringing her to Kerrville for MAPA in October.


 


PHOTOS would not attach. I put them in my Gallery instead: MooneyGirl

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My airplane was painted by Kracon. The work was fantastic (though expensive) and has held up very well over the past six years. When the job was in progress, I was emailed photos almost every day. When we got the plane back, my wife found a minor, almost undetectable flaw, and they apologized and said they'd fix it whenever I could get there. I didn't find time to go back for maybe three or four years, but they fixed the flaw and every noticeable scratch that accrued and took no payment. I am very satisfied, and I'm not surprised they also made the list of top shops.

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My paint job was done by Tejas Aero in 2008. I was, and remain thrilled with their work.


Granted, I've only one example and little comparison, but: having perused more than a few 'shiny' planes, which upon closer inspection look like they were finished with Benjamin Moore and a spatula: I am VERY impressed with what they did for my previously factory white plane.  Highly modified variant of the BMW factory scheme; if you don't care for orange, you'll HATE it.  To each his own.

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What I love to see is the men, because I have never seen a female Mooney pilot do it, crawl under the plane to look in the wheel wells.  Apparently there is a lot to be told about the quality of your paint job, by the condition of your wheel wells and gear.  In our case Mitch usually comes back up for air with a scratch on the head from the gear doors.

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Lancaster Aero did mine in 2009.  I think they did a great job on it, but have one bubble around a rivet I need to have fixed; that was my only issue.  They had just switched to PPG paints I believe because they said they had adhesion issues prior to that which might be why the less favorable N4352H had.  I get nice comments on the paint everywhere I fly 45T. 


The best in my opinion here towards the East coast is Dial Eastern States Aircraft Paint Inc (DESAPI).  They painted my '63 for me around 2001-2002 and it is still one of the best quality jobs I've seen.  We also sold a few aircraft that had also been painted by them and I swear one was 12 year old paint on a Warrior that looked like it just came out of the paint shop.  They too are very pricey though.  I guess you get what you pay for.  And I'm very glad for ArtCraft; wonderful people, very nice meeting them at OSH and sounds like just about all rave reviews from our Mooney forum.

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