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Custom Paint Job: Where and how much?


bdjohn4

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Have a '69 E-model that I'd like to get painted. I thought I'd do it right after a tank reseal down at KFXE (Ft Lauderdale Exec). I thought it would be easier to just get the plane towed from the tank reseal shop to the paint shop.   I just got off the phone with the paint shop and am shocked at having been quoted $23,000 or more for a custom paint job that has a few stripes but isn't all that tremendously complicated.

I am based in central North Carolina.

 

Any recommendations for reputable East Coast shops that cost a lot less than $23,000?  And how much are others spending on a full paintjob? Bartow FL's shop quoted me a lot less, but that was without all the details.

Thanks in advance.

JML

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Hawk Aircraft Painting at VDF (Tampa Exec).

 

Should run you somewhere around $9000 depending on the details.  Here's mine completed in October.  Sorry for the weak iPhone quality.

 
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23K is crazy....they don't want to paint your Mooney IMO.  Parker and fantom have both used Hawk down there and seem to be very happy, so I would try there first.  You might even be able to get someone to ferry your plane to VDF so you don't have to make an extra trip down there.

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AircraftPainting.com is now BOSS Aircraft Refinishers and they are located in (KRUQ) Rowan County Airport, 3680 Airport Loop Rd., Salisbury, NC 28147. 704.310.1421 For $23000 you can get the paint, interior and some panel work done in one stop! That's ridiculous, the highest quote I ever got was $17000, for a twin! These guys did a great job on my J.

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Hawk Painting at VRB, IMHO, can't be beat for value and quality. Joe knows Mooney's well, is an owner who still handles the painting himself after 30 years of experience, doesn't 'hawk' (pun intended) his services here or anywhere, and always seems to have more business than he can handle.

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...I am based in central North Carolina.

 

Any recommendations for reputable East Coast shops that cost a lot less than $23,000?  

 

You may want to give Jim a call at Russell Aircraft Refinishing, 302-349-5920.  You'll be happy you did. They are at D74 in Greenwood, DE.  Not far from you. Jim also comes highly recommended from a couple local MSCs he does work for. From personal experience, he is an honest and fair gentleman, and a true professional at what he does. It was a pleasure to do business with him. You also may want to call Craig at Scheme Designers, Inc. to help you with the scheme details. It's the only way to paint an airplane and achieve the professional results you want, imo.

 

gallery_7035_13684_31941.jpg

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I have seen this kind of pricing in many industries. It is the "I don't want your business but if your stupid enough to agree I'll take your money price" Why can't people just be honest and tell you they don't want the work.

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Airplane painting prices, practices and quality vary greatly.   Since you have an airplane you can fly it to the painter, an advantage. 

 

Some very critical owners camp out in a local motel for the week or two it takes to paint, just to act as Quality Control and 'help' with the decisions.

 

As for another view on pricing, you might check out auto painting on a classic car.  $20K is not unusual for a full strip and repaint to better than factory new. 

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I think doing a full job on a custom car might be more labor intensive than a typical Mooney or other GA plane.  The vast majority of a plane is painted assembled (generally) and won't require hours and hours of sanding and filling followed by wet-sanding and buffing to get a typical new-car surface.  Cars, especially if doing a full paint/color change, require painting in nooks and crannies like door jambs, engine compartments, trunks, etc. that require some significant disassembly to be done well.  Most shops do not remove all of the control surfaces, landing gear, gear doors, etc.  The main cost driver for planes IMO is the shop size required (vs an auto shop), the volume of materials required for all of that surface area, and use/disposal of the stripping materials.

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You may want to give Jim a call at Russell Aircraft Refinishing, 302-349-5920.  You'll be happy you did. They are at D74 in Greenwood, DE.  Not far from you. Jim also comes highly recommended from a couple local MSCs he does work for. From personal experience, he is an honest and fair gentleman. It was a pleasure to do business with him.

 

+1 on Russell Aircraft Refinishing.  He did a great job on my J a couple years ago.

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If you subscribe or know somebody who subscribes to Aviation Consumer so you can get to the online reports, a couple or so years ago they made a survey on paint shops and I recall  there were a couple of very good ones on the east coast.  There are pros and cons regarding flying to a distant place for a paint job (for example for warranty issues) but there maybe no other choice since good shops are few and all over the country.  Good shops also have a very long lead time, some as much as one year.    

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I had a great experience with Sturgis Aviation, in Sturgis, MI (KRIS).  I had to wait a few weeks for my slot, but was promised that the plane would only be out of service for 3 weeks.  If I recall I was quoted $14,000 to strip and paint, as well as re-skin both ailerons, because of hail damage, install all stainless screws, & new static wicks.  The job was done on time and on budget.  The owner, Danny King was very pleasant  and more importantly, he did what he said he would do, on the timetable that he promised. They also ferried me back home in their C182.  I wish all transactions went this well. The paint is now 4 years old and still looks great.  The only touch-up that I have had to do was a single rivet.  I can email before and after pix if you like.

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Well, still waiting for one more quote, but so far all have been roughly  half of the outrageous $23k quoted initially. I just did four speed mods and is part of the reason for the need for a paintjob. We put on the Smooth Belly (not as diffcult to install as expected... pretty straight forward actually, just a little time consuming. Also installed a marker beacon antenna hidden within the belly), Flap Gap seals (quick), Dorsal fin mod (with a new 406MHz ELT and whip antenna hidden inside) , and of course the Horizontal Stab gap seal mod (this was actually the most difficult to fit). Also updated the antennas to a new Modern Mooney style one for the rear and a really gorgeous Comant VHF/GPS combo antenna up front (had to mount off-centerline due to the roll cage getting in the way of the TNC/BNC connectors). Went from five antennas out in the slipstream to two (Comm2 and the VHF/GPS combo blade up front as Comm1).   Hoping for some knots obviously.

JML

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The post below I placed just recently on MooneySpace.com and this is one thing I can say about us. It does not matter to us that you may take your airplane to a fly-in and have it judged; they are all the same to us. What we strive for is quality and airworthiness. We use aircraft grade materials throughout from paint stripper to top coats. We do take the airplane apart, from the spinner to the tail feathers including the flaps. Our paint facility is one of the few in Florida with an actual air system that forces makeup-air into the hangar during processing which brings the best gloss to the finished product. Yes we charge more but our customers get more.

 

Saltaire has refinished three award winning aircraft this year! In May at the 2nd Annual Beechcraft ABS Fly-In, Beech Baron N1064C won the award for Best Paint. In July at the 2012 EAA Fly-In in Oshkosh a 1948 Navion painted by Saltaire won a Class III Bronze Lindy Award, N888LW. Finally in September at the International Comanche Society Fly-In, N8818Y won the Flagship Award. Congratulations to these aircraft owners and to the incredibly dedicated staff at Saltaire Aircraft Refinishing for their never ending dedication to quality!”

 

If you are really looking for that paint job that stands out, we’re probably the shop you’re looking for.

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