Paint Job

The first two pictures show how 89H looked before we started.

These pictures were taken in front of her old hanger at Pottstown Muni.

The first step is to remove all control surfaces.

Here she is with no ailerons, flaps, elevators, or rudder. Even the wing tips, wheel pants, and tail cone are gone.

Next all the garnish comes off, the windows and doors are covered and sealed, and the plane is stripped. You can see the ailerons and the corner of an elevator in the pictures below.

Any dents and irregularities are filled, and the stripped aluminum is thoroughly cleaned and detailed before the primer goes on.

The plane then goes to the paint shop, where the bare aluminum is further cleaned. Any surface dings are smoothed over (as you can see on the horizontal stabilizers).

Next the primer coat is mixed and applied to the body of the plane, the cowlings, and all the control surfaces.

Then the base coat goes on (below). They used a PPG one-step polymer paint, applied in multiple coats. Note that the control surfaces are all painted separately.

The "one-step" process, used by PPG means that the topcoat system consists of high solid base color components which the painter mixes with a polyurethane "clear coat" curing solution and activator before spraying. While the paint dries, the "clear coat" rises to the surface, which in effect seals the paint as it cures. It also results in a glossy appearance when finished.

After After the topcoat paint dries, notice how it lightens up, but stays glossy. We chose an off-white "cream" color. The plane has now gone to the lay-out shop for the stripes to be planned and laid out with tape.

The picture below shows the beginnings of this process. Rodway, at Lancaster Aero, is truely an artist when it comes to laying out stripes.

Now the plane is back in the paint shop, masked out ready for the first color stripe to be painted on. This is the medium green color that will go on the bottom stripe on the side, the top stripe on the tail, and the letters "Sky" in "Slylane". Everything else on the plane is completely masked over.

And here we see the first application of color added to the mask described above. Each color stripe also gets a clear coat applied on top.

Here the plane is almost done. The wheel pants still have to be finished, the prop painted, etc. The dark stripe will look more green in the sunlight. In fact, all the colors should look a little lighter away from the shadows of the hanger. Speaking of shadows, notice the shadow effect on the numbers below.

Finally we see the finished project above. To the left is Aircraft Mechanic Ned Gibbons inspecting the reinstallation of the control surfaces to insure safety on the flight home.