Randy, et al,
Let's see, prepping went like this (I performed these duties): A
week of pre-prep (plastic liner taped up in the garage, paper taped on the
floor, clean, clean, etc), 30 minutes to apply primer (WLS, 1st coat - squeegee
and brush, others sprayed on), followed by 2 weeks of wet sanding
by hand. This was repeated thrice for two times (upside down before the
vertical was installed and right-side up, both with the wings
mounted). If I remember right, sanding proceeded through three steps,
ending in 320 grit.
Then, the lawn dart was flown for 1.5 years in that final stage
of primer with minor surgical modifications to the cowl and wingtip.
Ultimately, pre-paint prep involved a thorough cleaning, removal of the
temporary Krylon N number, light sanding and more cleaning. Finally,
the application of base coat (automotive white), color (Extreme
Rainbow (2 pints @ $450/pt.) and clear coat was accomplished by a
professional. The paint was applied in an automotive body
shop paint booth over three days with 7 hours of that time used for taping off
the color areas. Re-assembly and control surface re-balancing was
done in my hangar, followed by buffing a few days later.
I can't tell how much time I devoted to surface prep as I am sure 3000
of the 4600 build time hours were spent hand sanding one thing or another.
BTW, my fingerprints were non-existent for a long time and I wore thru about 8
left-hand leather gloves.
These methods seemed to work reasonably well as the plane received an
Outstanding Workmanship at OSH in 1998 and an Outstanding Aircraft at SnF in
1999. Of course, the judging criteria is probably tougher these days as
the competition has stiffened.
The finish has held up pretty well over 10 years and 800+ flight hours
(some done at race speeds). The bottom line - $5000 for the paint
work and supplies - of course, the painter was a friend that owned an auto body
shop at that time. If I were to do this again, one thing would be to have
another coat of primer shot on and sanded just before the final paint.
Scott Krueger
AKA Grayhawk
Lancair N92EX IO320 SB 89/96
Aurora, IL (KARR)
PS:
Randy, your plane is a beauty - especially with the
various fuselage enhancements you made. I was glad we met and
talked at OSH.
In a message dated 8/5/2008 10:38:49 A.M. Central Daylight Time,
randylsnarr@yahoo.com writes:
It all
depends on what kind or finish you are after. I spent 6 months working
3-4hours in the evenings and more on the weekends doing body work alone and
then another 2 months at the painter to get a show quality surface to paint
over.
1/3 of that time was learning the tricks of the trade and how it
relates to our airframes.
It is easy to waste when not doing the right
techniques. I have seen paint jobs run around $20k or more even when the
airplane is in primer basically ready for paint. The sky is the limit on the
body work. The paint is easy in comparrison to the surface prep. I would set a
budget and live with the best job you can get with that money.
Don't
let them grind away to get it flat as body workers do. You have to build up
the lows not grind down the highs.
The finish is not cheap but make
sure you are making good progress. I probably worked for about .25 cents per
hour on mine as I did not have $35 k to drop on finish...I probably could have
gotten a 2nd job working for minimum wage and had someone else breathing the
dust. Unfortunately no one will care as much as you do...