So far I've spent 48 hours on filling and sanding, and the bottom of my airplane is in primer, but not the top.  I did this so that my paint guy would not have to do the priming work lying on his back (he was very appreciative).  This was done just before attaching the vertical and horizontal tails, so the horizontal tail is not primed, nor are the wingtips and control surfaces.

I did the "rough out" of the filling and sanding.  My goal was to leave only minor high spots and let the professional do the final pass.  After all, that's where all the skill comes in.  In fact, he made one pass, found a few low spots, added some filler there, and then did the final pass.  Then he sprayed on the primer (PPG K36) and did the block-sanding of that.  He left it so that it needs one more pass with (I think) 360 grit, so that the "tooth" doesn't sit for more than a day or so before spraying on the color coat.

I highly recommend this approach to builders who are on a budget, but still want their planes to look fantastic.  Do the grunt work yourself (major filling and sanding down to, say, 180 grit) -- this is not skilled labor.  Let a pro do the final pass.  That *is* skilled labor.

Oh, and if you can, get the guy to look at it when you think you are done, because you probably aren't.  In my case, I just brought a wing down to him.  He pointed out what I should be looking for, how I should be identifying what needs work, and pointers on what tools to use and in which directions to be doing the sanding.  It really helped a lot.

For those of you that can write a check, take a one-month vacation, and pick up your filled, sanded and painted plane -- well, that's great.  I wish I could.  But this way, it will look like I did!

- Rob Wolf