Paint my Mooney M20C/E

[Alfredo]

Well .......... I decide to paint my Mooney (Carolina) after trying to do some touch up by my self ( my wife did she’s good ) but didn’t work because it had a lots of little thing to do.......... After check 3 shopping paintings I decide Aircraft Paint in Bartow and they are doing great job.......... Here is some pictures to check.

Edited July 30, 2021 by Alfredo

[Danb]

Nice carol looks great

[ArtVandelay]

Interesting, they painted my plane (by a previous owner), it was horrific. Didn’t remove control surfaces or strip the paint, didn’t even put the flaps down. They used to be called Florida Aircraft Painting of Bartow back in 09, maybe under new management.

[carusoam]

For the last decade…

ArtCraft has been the place to take a Mooney Forever-plane to get dressed properly… 

Several MSers have gone there…

Some have gone twice… for two different Mooneys… @MooneyMitch

One NJ Mooniac went all the way to California to get his plane painted there… @pjsny78  (aka Patrick)

@mooneygirl probably got hers painted there as well… iirc.

Some forever-planes get names…   

Best regards,

-a-

https://mooneyspace.com/search/?q=ArtCraft&quick=1

[MooneyMitch]

Yes, Anthony, your memory is perfectly correct and perfectly accurate. .

The remaining 3 Mooney’s you note, painted  by Artcraft are still that...... quite properly dressed.  Quality painting from ArtCraft, indeed.! 

 

[201Mooniac]

I also had ArtCraft paint my Mooney, 12 years ago now and she still looks like new.  Highly recommended.

[mike_elliott]

another fantastic shop is plane schemers in Gadson Al. Not your low end job at all, they will fit you in between the Gulfstreams and other kero burners they do. I havent found too many better paint jobs on Mooneys. 

[MooneyMitch]

1 hour ago, mike_elliott said:

another fantastic shop is plane schemers in Gadson Al. Not your low end job at all, they will fit you in between the Gulfstreams and other kero burners they do. I havent found too many better paint jobs on Mooneys. 

So helpful to know of quality paint shops for us to chose from. 

[Mooneymite]

2 hours ago, mike_elliott said:

another fantastic shop is plane schemers in Gadson Al. Not your low end job at all, they will fit you in between the Gulfstreams and other kero burners they do. I havent found too many better paint jobs on Mooneys. 

Mike, they do excellent work.  We have a couple of planes locally that they did.  Incredible work, for sure.

However, they are pricey.  My Mooney needs paint, but does it really make sense to put a $20K+ paint job on a plane that might wholesale for $40K?

OTOH, even a "cheap paint job is $12K+.  The Walmart rattle cans are looking better and better.  

 

[Johnny R]

Got my airplane back from Corona Air Paint 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 and frustration than some of the other shops, the stress just was not worth it.

[carusoam]

Yikes! Sorry to hear your pirep of Corona Air Paint, Johnny.

I’m glad you took the time to detail the issues you came accross.

One thing was Mooney specific…

Another was retractable plane specific…

Others… were airplane specific…

So much is in the hands of the guys doing the job that day…

Pireps are everything!  

 

Best regards,

-a-

[Igor_U]

5 hours ago, Johnny R said:

 

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

 

Sorry to hear about your experience with Corona paint. When I painted me plane (2007), they were considered a premium paint shop on west coast (as were Artcraft) and I’ve received a great input from them like canting N-number forward to match a Mooney tail and such. 
ultimately, i went with shop in Yerington, NV and was happy with their work. I heard they were still doing good job but busy and one would need to schedule the work months in advance. 

[Johnny R]

Just because a shop had a good reputation a few years ago does not say anything about what they are doing today.  A lot changes behind the hangar doors, shop Forman, stripper, paint, and OWNERS, (Corona Air Paints good reviews come from years ago).  So get current referrals and if the price is considerable less than others there is a reason, I learned all of this the hard way.

 

[MooneyMitch]

11 hours ago, Johnny R said:

Just because a shop had a good reputation a few years ago does not say anything about what they are doing today.  A lot changes behind the hangar doors, shop Forman, stripper, paint, and OWNERS, (Corona Air Paints good reviews come from years ago).  So get current referrals and if the price is considerable less than others there is a reason, I learned all of this the hard way.

 

Agree !  Sorry for your discovery.

[Marc_B]

Just curious…is there a book out there or a website showing all the factory paint schemes for the Mooneys through the years?  It would be interesting to see what colors and schemes Mooney offered.

marc.

[carusoam]

On 8/2/2021 at 12:30 PM, Marc_B said:

Just curious…is there a book out there or a website showing all the factory paint schemes for the Mooneys through the years?  It would be interesting to see what colors and schemes Mooney offered.

marc.

There is a thread around here…

Where one MSer has collected many of the brochures that Mooney ever printed…

Another resource is the MAPA magazine that has a cover shot every month… many in original livery….

Best regards,

-a-