New Paint Job at Tejas

[Chris_Tejas]

We are currently still painting some of Mooney's strip and paints as well..We are just finishing up a New Premier 2008 Ovation that was painted at another shop less than a year ago. Airplane has never been dilivered to an owner yet. Paint was peeling, cracking, and just overall bad. Theay had never pulled the controls and balanced them. The rudder and elevators' balance were out of limits. Then we stripped it to find they had sanded 40% of the button head rivets past their limits.. We had to put it back together and Mooney took it back to the factory and replace about 40% of the button head rivets..Big mess.. Just things to look out for when you have your plane painted. I've been doing this a long time and have seen almost everything...

 

 

 

 

[N207LS]

Here is another of my plane before the weekend begins!  Thanks...

Aaron

[Chris_Tejas]

Its looking great Aaron. I really wish I could have it done for you before the Mooney convention in Kerville. But its not going to be quite ready..Mike and I will be attending. I think they want me to do a Paint seminar Q&A session for the attendents. So get your questions ready..Just don't laugh, I'm not the best public speaker..

 

Everyone have a great weekend... 

Chris

[docket]

As soon as I get my fuel tanks straightened out someone here in the Great State of Texas is going to get to paint my Eagle.

[wmrunyon]

Ronnie, welcome aboard and i sincerely appreciate Mooney Factory expertise on this site for input.

 

I will have to say that i need to echo previous posted concerns. My plane was re-painted in 2005 at the factory, and it is unfortunate to say, the paint is virtually peeling off down to metal. It is painful to watch and it will need to be dealt with this fall.

 

I have been told by factory personnel and other paint shops i have talked to, my situation is likely due to poor prep work.

 

My question is: Has the paint facility at Kerrville been upgraded?  Has a contemporary environmentally controlled paint booth been added? The previous facility or “paint booth” was a step up from a barn! You could see daylight thru the walls and on a windy day, i can imagine dust/dirt blowing in.  There was obviously no control for temperature or humidity, much less, outside contaminates. If a proper booth has not been constructed that provides over-pressurized air filtration and temperature/humidity control (like Tejas and others), the factory paint jobs will always be a compromise. The best painters in the world can not do quality work with poor equipment.

 

My paint job looked beautiful ( and still does) but it is literally falling off the plane. It is unfortunate that it has not lasted 4 years and i have to reinvest in this process to preserve my plane. I have learned my lesson to personally research and inspect the facility & personnel who will paint my plane.

 

Bill

[MooneyMitch]

Actual comments on next post, sorry.

[MooneyMitch]

Welcome to MooneySpace forum Ronnie.  We Mooniacs look forward to the return of Mooney Airplane Company and your further participation here.

For those in the Western US region, I can highly recommend ArtCraft Paint in Santa Maria, CA.  Show plane quality process and show plane final results, along with extremely low cost.  Work is light for them now in this industry and they are more than willing to negotiate!  As recently as yesterday, another local Mooney owner received a casual ramp quote for $8K [strip and paint].  In my opinion, that rate is negotiable as well.

Words like "stunning" and "outstanding" have been spoken about the appearance of my paint!  Now, that makes a Mooney owner quite proud, that's for sure.

[RobertoTohme]

Quote: rkallies

 The most recently completed full strip and repaint for a customer that post on this page frequently, left the factory with an invoice for the paint totalling $16,500 out the door.

[rnorat]

I had my 1967 M20C get its first paint job since new in 2006 at Hawk Aircraft Paint shop in Tampa/Vandenburg Airport, FL.  It was around 14K-15K but that included the extensive airworthiness work done by the local A&P shop/Reliable for the corrosion, flight control removal/reinstall, and other maintenance work. The plane is now in Hollister, CA and hangared. It looks great and shines every day!  See Joe D. at Hawk A/C Painting in VDF.

[N207LS]

Here are few few more photos of my work in progress.  Like everything, there is always the unexpected.  Chris and his team found some corrosion on the leading edge of the wings (not visible under the old paint) that will need to be repaired.  The other areas were visible (wing tip lights, antennas, and behind the aerlerons).  Better to find and repair now, than paint over and find out about a couple of years later. 

 

Aaron

 

 

[N207LS]

Cowling and controls being stripped.

Aaron

[MooneyPilot231]

Just a word of caution....My plane was painted a few years back by one of the top paint shops in the N.E. During the next annual inspection they found that paint stripper had found its way onto some the control rods in the tail section. No harm done but the rods did require reprimering as the primer had bubbled. Again, not a big deal but if you have a plane chemically stripped by anyone, take the time to remove all the inspection panels and make sure stripper didn't end up where it doesn't need to be. Can't wait to see pics of the plane....

[N207LS]

Some of the photos of the masking...

Aaron

[TheTruth]

Quote: wmrunyon

Ronnie, welcome aboard and i sincerely appreciate Mooney Factory expertise on this site for input.

 

I will have to say that i need to echo previous posted concerns. My plane was re-painted in 2005 at the factory, and it is unfortunate to say, the paint is virtually peeling off down to metal. It is painful to watch and it will need to be dealt with this fall.

 

I have been told by factory personnel and other paint shops i have talked to, my situation is likely due to poor prep work.

 

My question is: Has the paint facility at Kerrville been upgraded?  Has a contemporary environmentally controlled paint booth been added? The previous facility or “paint booth” was a step up from a barn! You could see daylight thru the walls and on a windy day, i can imagine dust/dirt blowing in.  There was obviously no control for temperature or humidity, much less, outside contaminates. If a proper booth has not been constructed that provides over-pressurized air filtration and temperature/humidity control (like Tejas and others), the factory paint jobs will always be a compromise. The best painters in the world can not do quality work with poor equipment.

 

My paint job looked beautiful ( and still does) but it is literally falling off the plane. It is unfortunate that it has not lasted 4 years and i have to reinvest in this process to preserve my plane. I have learned my lesson to personally research and inspect the facility & personnel who will paint my plane.

 

Bill

[N207LS]

Jim,

I know that they use a lot of elbow grease and essentially a scotch brite pad.  I am not sure of the actual chemical that is used.  I will ask Chris and let you know.  When we spoke about it, he essentially said that treating corrosion is very, very labor intensive. 

Aaron

[Chris_Tejas]

Yes, it takes a lot of elbow grease. Scotch brite and a mild phosphoric acid to remove the oxidation on light surface corrosion. For heavier corrosion, a slightly stronger phosphoric acid mix used with a soft stainless steel wire brush. If its bad enough around an antenna where it has eaten too much aluminum away we can do a small flush patch and cut out the corroded area and patch it with new metal.

[fantom]

Do you normally paint the non GPS antenna's, Chris?

[Chris_Tejas]

Quote: fantom

Do you normally paint the non GPS antenna's, Chris?

[Parker_Woodruff]

I'm going to Tejas next week to pick up a guy dropping off his Symphony there for paint.  I'll have to take a look and see how the Mooney is coming along!

[N207LS]

Sorry for the delay in posting these.  I have been away on vacation without my computer! Here are photos of my cowling which was repaired, as it had some cracking.

Aaron

 

 

[N207LS]

Here are the mask and prime photos...

 

 

[N207LS]

White paint photos...

 

[KSMooniac]

Aaron, your last two posts have tiny pics...can you re-size please?  Cowl pictures are nice and big.

[N207LS]

Some new photos of the cowl priming and the new oil door.  Also the wing tip stripes being layed out.

 

Aaron

[N207LS]

I hope that these come up larger.

Aaron