Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Second Thoughts on Painting

The more I am working with different primers at different temperatures and humidity levels the more I am getting second thoughts about painting my RV myself.
It's not just that I don't have a good place to paint at yet it is also a question of experience. With all the spraying I have done so far I have learned one thing about it. Painting is an art and requires a lot of experience to be done properly. Having a dusty and insect infested area doesn't make the job easier.
The idea of doing the painting myself mainly spawned from a desire to reduce the overall cost of the build and only partly came from a pride thing. I believe a commercial paint job is in the area of $6000 and above if it's a fancy paint scheme. The paint scheme I am considering doesn't require a lot of masking, so I will probably be closer to the six grands number. If you consider the money you have put into the build by the time you get ready for painting, this is about 10% of the overall cost. That doesn't even account for all the effort, labor and hardship your were going through to get to that point. But then the paint job is what you are going to see every time you go for a flight. It is what everybody else is going to notice first when looking at your plane and finally it is also what a potential buyer is going to be impressed by (or be drawn away by) when checking your ride - if you'd ever consider selling it.
So, I am wondering if I could live with a paint job turning out as bad as some of the primed parts look like in finish. I tend to spray to light to keep the weight down which then results in horrible orange peel and a rough looking surface.
Therefore I'm leaning towards doing a trial run on this whole endeavor and this is going to be painting the interior. If this one doesn't turn out as I want it to look like I can still opt for the carpeting solution and cover up most of the mess with some noise dampening and glare reducing carpet. If it turns out good though, then I might know what it means to paint the whole exterior of the plane and I will have more knowledge to make an educated decision.

As my fuselage build is getting close to the point where I wanted to paint the floor section, I better get on building the tent I was going to do this in, so I'm getting held back in the build when I reach that point.

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