Another "paint my aircraft" thread

tawood

tawood

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Tim
So I am considering a new paint job....


I have a Cessna 150G, and the paint is good from afar, but far from good. I have some extra money (about 12k) and figured it was as good a time as any for a new paint job. I also figured I could get a good strip and paint for UNDER 12k, and was actually hoping it would be under 10k.


When I search for aircraft paint shops in my area just north of Detroit, I could not find any. The west side of Michigan has a couple of shops, and I contacted them...I was then was shocked that all the shops are quoting a 16k-18k MINIMUM price!!! They all say that the cost WILL be higher if I need window seals, plastic wingtip replacement, etc...(I will need both seals and wingtips)...so I'm guessing this is a 22k job? Again I'm shocked that this is what people pay for a Cessna 150 repaint... or are these shops overpriced?
 
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Over priced, I've known some guy who contract it out to a hot rod shop with directions for the airplane specific stuff and what paint Mfgr

If you pull your wings and do some of the grunt prep work yourself, put it on a trailer, your options, the deal you'll get and the quality of the work will skyrocket.

I'd also buy your own parts and paint, now would be a good time or order a SS fastener kit, seals and maybe some fiberglass wingtips with HID recog lights.
 
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paint and strip should be somewhere around $11K....windows and seals are extra.
 
Add up the cost of the windows themselves, then a couple hundred in supplies, then what? 20 man hours to replace them?
 
Anyone know a good aircraft painter within 200 miles of the Detroit area, that doesn't charge 20k for a Cessna 150 paint job?
 
I used Sky Harbour in Goderich ONT about 10 years ago for my Citation, they were good, and not that far from you. I bet the cost for a 150 isn't going to be much different than a 172 or even a 182, the big cost is the labor for prep, not the actual painting. The price of painting seems to have gone up considerably in the last 10 years. I had a 414A painted in 2007, it was 18K, my 421B in 2012 was closer to $30K!!

tawood said:
So I am considering a new paint job....


I have a Cessna 150G, and the paint is good from afar, but far from good. I have some extra money (about 12k) and figured it was as good a time as any for a new paint job. I also figured I could get a good strip and paint for UNDER 12k, and was actually hoping it would be under 10k.


When I search for aircraft paint shops in my area just north of Detroit, I could not find any. The west side of Michigan has a couple of shops, and I contacted them...and then was shocked that all the shops are quoting a 16k-18k MINIMUM price!!! The both say that the cost WILL be higher if I need window seals, plastic wingtip replacement, etc...(I will need both seals and wingtips)...so I'm guessing this is a 22k job? I'm shocked that this is what people pay for a Cessna 150 repaint, or are these shops overpriced?
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More than 200 miles, but I believe there are 3 paint shops in Mena Arkansas that are in the 7K range.
 
The cost of supplies is enough for me to say no, even doing it myself.
 
I also have been looking in to paint. 2 estimates from Mena are at least 30% less than local to Okc. However not finding much on Internet, recommendations (positive or negative). Anyone have personal experience to share for Mena?
 
Its weird: I see many Cessna 150s with paint jobs done in the past couple of years...they're getting painted somewhere! And I'd assume for less than $20k, but maybe I'm wrong...
 
evapilotaz said:
What the Heck. I can get a Car painted for $99.99

Why so much? Oh its a feaken airplane. :mad2:
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so, how many gallons you think it takes to paint a 150?....just so you know, I painted one....and in 1985 it cost me ~$1,500 in stripper & paint (no tools purchased). something like (10) gallons of stripper, (4) gallons of epoxy primer, (4) gallons of white, (2) gallons of color, (4-5) gallons of reducer, (10) gallons MEK for cleanup and I'm sure there was more I can't remember. That's easily enough materials to do 3-4 cheap auto paint jobs....:rofl:

You wouldn't believe the surface area involved....remember you paint top and bottom. :yes:


That was my last.....I paid to have my Bonanza painted two years ago....bout $13,000 for a cheap strip and paint (Imron).
 
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I painted my RV-6. It still looks very nice after 15 years.

That said, it was the biggest pain in the ass of the entire build. Would I do it again? Dunno. I had the benefit of painting it in my garage (I was a bachelor and could do stuff like that back then.), and in pieces. Probably 50 components, with the biggest being the wings and fuselage, and the smallest being some of the access panels and fairings.

Iit is much easier painting an airplane in pieces (as opposed to a mostly assembled airframe), and starting with fresh new aluminum that doesn't have to be stripped.

With that in mind, $8-12k isn't out of line (IMO) to appropriately disassemble an airplane (remove fairings, rudder, flaps, ailerons, external lights, wingtips) mask the items that need masking (windows, for instance) strip the airplane, fix minor dents, dings, and fiberglass cracks, and repaint the thing. It is a HUGE amount of manual labor, in addition to the cost of the materials, and the overhead expense of providing a suitable facility.
 
Checkerbird.jpg
 
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