Painting my own plane

[JayMatt]

After plenty of research, I've decided to pain my own aircraft. Anyone on here do that and want to talk about it? Would love to hear about your experience and what you thought of the whole thing. 

Regards,

[N201MKTurbo]

Painting airplanes is strictly forbidden at our airport, so most people do it at night or on the weekends when the airport staff isn’t here.

[JayMatt]

1 minute ago, N201MKTurbo said:

Painting airplanes is strictly forbidden at our airport, so most people do it at night or on the weekends when the airport staff isn’t here.

Not at ours. Even if it was I could move to a private strip and do it there. 

[A64Pilot]

Been years If you can paint you’ll be fine.

There is a lot of disassembly so assistance from an A&P is required, plus there are some steps that should be taken when stripping the paint. It’s a whole lot different than painting a car.

Be real sure the flight controls get balanced too.

A friend stripping the wing of “our” 140. I bought it for him to fly

 

[M20F]

Painting airplanes is easy.  Stripping airplanes not so much. 

[LANCECASPER]

1 hour ago, JayMatt said:

After plenty of research, I've decided to pain my own aircraft. Anyone on here do that and want to talk about it? Would love to hear about your experience and what you thought of the whole thing. 

Regards,

This is best left to the pros. Anyone can paint once it’s all stripped, prepped and repaired, etc, etc, etc. It’s that part that you don’t want to do. Part way through the process you’ll come to the conclusion that they don’t charge nearly enough to do a job like this.

[McMooney]

I'm planning the same, soon as I finish adding all the lasar mods.

[Pinecone]

FYI, to do it right, you should use supplied air respirator when spraying urethane paints.  The catalyst is highly allergenic and have a stupid low exposure limit.

[JayMatt]

56 minutes ago, LANCECASPER said:

This is best left to the pros. Anyone can paint once it’s all stripped, prepped and repaired, etc, etc, etc. It’s that part that you don’t want to do. Part way through the process you’ll come to the conclusion that they don’t charge nearly enough to do a job like this.

I've been stripping piece by piece already. I have not found it to be nearly as hard as everyone makes it out to be. The strippers are pretty good these days. Aluminum taping everything off is a bit of a pain underneath the plane but it's not exactly what I would call hard work, just time consuming.  

My initial do it myself position is the result of not finding quality or reliable workmanship. Without getting on a soap box I figured I was better off doing it myself. That way I know all the little corrosion spots were dealt with properly and nothing was left as good enough. 

I've taken a paint job I like and added my personal touch to it. This will be my end result.

[ArtVandelay]

2 hours ago, M20F said:

Painting airplanes is easy.  Correctly Stripping airplanes not so much. 

FIFY 

Don’t bring out the electric sander and make sure stripper only goes where you need it.

[M20F]

1 minute ago, ArtVandelay said:

FIFY 

Don’t bring out the electric sander and make sure stripper only goes where you need it.

Stripping a plane (or anything for that matter) correctly or incorrectly is not easy.  

[ArtVandelay]

3 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

Painting airplanes is strictly forbidden at our airport, so most people do it at night or on the weekends when the airport staff isn’t here.

Because there’s always some bozo that throws overspray onto other planes, and then there’s the pollution factor (where is all that old paint going? ).

Ill bet most amateurs just dump it.

[N201MKTurbo]

2 minutes ago, ArtVandelay said:

Because there’s always some bozo that throws overspray onto other planes, and then there’s the pollution factor (where is all that old paint going? ).

Ill bet most amateurs just dump it.

Nope, they think we will explode in a giant fireball and burn the whole airport down.

But the things you mention are valid. overspray on your plane and vehicle.

[KB4]

3 hours ago, ArtVandelay said:

Because there’s always some bozo that throws overspray onto other planes

Yup.  
 

Hope you got a good booth with ventilation or good insurance those vapors will travel 3 hangers down and settle on others planes.  Seen it. 

[LANCECASPER]

4 minutes ago, KB4 said:

Yup.  
 

Hope you got a good booth with ventilation or good insurance those vapors will travel 3 hangers down and settle on others planes.  Seen it. 

And don’t even think about doing it outside or you really will find out how many insects are in Galveston @JayMatt

[KB4]

4 hours ago, JayMatt said:

I've been stripping piece by piece already. I have not found it to be nearly as hard as everyone makes it out to be. The strippers are pretty good these days. Aluminum taping everything off is a bit of a pain underneath the plane but it's not exactly what I would call hard work, just time consuming.  

My initial do it myself position is the result of not finding quality or reliable workmanship. Without getting on a soap box I figured I was better off doing it myself. That way I know all the little corrosion spots were dealt with properly and nothing was left as good enough. 

I've taken a paint job I like and added my personal touch to it. This will be my end result.

I like it.  Do the rest of the strip the pay a pro to paint that scheme.  M20 paint takes a beating from the speed, you want something to last. 

[JayMatt]

8 minutes ago, KB4 said:

Yup.  
 

Hope you got a good booth with ventilation or good insurance those vapors will travel 3 hangers down and settle on others planes.  Seen it. 

I have a Hangar with a vacuum setup, didn't think of adding a catch filter to that system, I'll look into it. 

[Guest]

The warbird operation on the field here used an inflatable portable paint booth to do some paint work on a De Havilland Vampire.

Clarence

[KSMooniac]

I'm a big DIY-owner and would not discourage you from doing it!  My only recommendation is to render your desired paint scheme on a J first, not a long-body/long cowl M20.  The proportions are different enough to make some schemes look different and possibly worse than what you're imagining now.  Better to be sure now instead of after 100 hours of masking and painting.

Definitely heed the warnings about overspray drifting into adjacent hangars if you're in a row.  I've heard enough accounts of that over the years...paying to get other planes cleaned or even re-painted will kill your cost savings.

[Cruiser]

I completely stripped and painted my first plane, a Piper Cherokee 140. 
First, build an enclosure that you can control airflow. I started stripping on Christmas Day, I started painting in April. 
 

[cliffy]

You'll need jacks to paint the bottom easily (easier?)

I did mine DIY but I had a friend in the auto body shop spray it even though I've painted numerous cars and a couple other airplanes. 

Nothing beats a good 2 step paint job (clear coat) BUT a single step paint is sooo much easier to do and does look pretty good. 

As noted if you use urethane get a clean air supply hood to use. That stuff can kill you if you inhale it. 

Be very cafeful how well you aluminum tape your windows. Stripper melts them (had a friend do just that on his 182)

Don't strip too large on an area at any one time. You can control where the stripper goes and gets into by doing small areas at a time. 

How you remove the lifted paint is important. DO NOT USE STEEL WOOL to agitate the stripper. It will ruin the Alclad on the aluminum surface.

I watched a guy destroy a 310 that way. Do a lot of research (utube) to learn how. Stripper dripping into hidden places causes problems. 

Used to get away with painting a plane even in Los Angeles by going one panel at a time (at the over lap seams) Worked well. 

A quality job is all in the prep. You will regret trying it in the end but its fun. You will always know where each flaw is also :-)

I've done 3 I'll never do another. 

[McMooney]

I'm really leaning toward a super scuff and paint,  don't like the idea of using chemical strippers on Birdy.

really don't care about the extra 5 to 10lbs the paint will add.

thinking about trying CO2 blasting.

Edited June 22, 2022 by McMooney

[Igor_U]

10 hours ago, M20Doc said:

The warbird operation on the field here used an inflatable portable paint booth to do some paint work on a De Havilland Vampire.

Clarence

How was it?

few years ago volunteers restored the B727 serial 001 (N7001U) and flew it short distance from PAE to museum at BFI

It was painted outdoors with rollers. I would not paint my Mooney that way. 
 

speaking of Vampire: I found out there is one next row at PAE. 
 

[JayMatt]

8 hours ago, cliffy said:

You'll need jacks to paint the bottom easily (easier?)

I did mine DIY but I had a friend in the auto body shop spray it even though I've painted numerous cars and a couple other airplanes. 

Nothing beats a good 2 step paint job (clear coat) BUT a single step paint is sooo much easier to do and does look pretty good. 

As noted if you use urethane get a clean air supply hood to use. That stuff can kill you if you inhale it. 

Be very cafeful how well you aluminum tape your windows. Stripper melts them (had a friend do just that on his 182)

Don't strip too large on an area at any one time. You can control where the stripper goes and gets into by doing small areas at a time. 

How you remove the lifted paint is important. DO NOT USE STEEL WOOL to agitate the stripper. It will ruin the Alclad on the aluminum surface.

I watched a guy destroy a 310 that way. Do a lot of research (utube) to learn how. Stripper dripping into hidden places causes problems. 

Used to get away with painting a plane even in Los Angeles by going one panel at a time (at the over lap seams) Worked well. 

A quality job is all in the prep. You will regret trying it in the end but its fun. You will always know where each flaw is also :-)

I've done 3 I'll never do another. 

Couple questions. What paint did you use? I have a business account with Sherwin Williams and will probably use their high end paint with a clear coat. Haven't really decided yet. May go with the Arcy glo also. The Arcy glo last 5 to 7 years they say before it starts to fade. Jet Glo is supposed to last 10 to 15 but be a more difficult process

Next question... What stripper did you use? These days the strippers are quite advanced and eco friendly. I'm using sunset strip by webbertech. I know Sherwin Williams has their version of eco friendly stripper now too. I've sprayed it on with a gun then wiped all the paint off andto the cowl and stuff and pressure washed it. Super easy to get most of it off. On aluminum it slides right off. I only do small sections at a time and have been knocking out all the hard stuff you don't see first. I almost have everything underneath the airplane done.

Hopefully all the hard stuff is done this week. 

I've been taping the windows really well I think, I hear of people having issue there but I haven't had any so far. Is it a solution creep that gets in the cracks or just poor tape job? If there is anything specific I need to look out for I'd like to know.

One major area of concern I have is with the gas tank inspection plate gaskets. I imagine I need to tape those right? My A&P mention he thought the manual said to tape them but I couldn't fid anything. I was researching if there is something you could put on them like vasoline with a Q-tip or something like that and move on but haven't seen anything solid. 

Honestly I enjoy the work. As of now I wouldn't mind doing it as a side gig. I'm weird like that tho...

[cliffy]

We used top of the line automotive paint  from his  body shop. He had an eye for colors and picked the exact colors

Still looks good 10 years lalter.