Now the plane is ready for the paint job. I’ve scuffed the complete plane (why did I bother to protect the Aluminum against scratches) and it is now ready for priming.
The paint shop is not used to painting airplanes. Typically they paint trucks and other industrial equipment. However, they were excited to take this challange to paint my RV-7.
I helped them to ‘hang’ all the parts on the mobile scaffold. Especially the wings were tricky, because with the wing tips installed they are hard to attach.
As you can see, I used a tube and inserted them through the light openings in the wing tips into the holes of the wing ribs. Here the primer coating is already done.
The big hole provides a strong ventilation of dust and paint particles. This keeps the coatings clean.
With the first (White) layer in place, the masking tapes are set for the next layer. The part that remains white is covered with paper. It turns out the order of the layers is determined by there opaqueness.
I was a little scared when I saw this result, because I was sure the Orange collor was not the one I thought it was. But it actually was the correct color. Apparently the shinny metallic characteristics of the paint requires a finish coat to come alive.
Here are the other parts in the dry cell.
The details on the wings and wheel pants are a meticulous job.
The Red paint is done, so now the last color (Black) is sprayed. After these layers, two layers of clear coat are applied for the final finish.
Wow, in the dry cell you can already see the stunning result. I’m really glad I didn’t try this to do myself.
I’m really mesmerized by the beauty of the paint scheme.
Oops, I see there is a small Black outline ‘forgotten’. We touched that up after we moved to the airport.
Man, also the details on the fairings look great.
The wheel pants look stunning.
Now we have to ship the result to the airport. This time we have to be even more careful, not to scratch the paint.
First we ship the wings, horizontal stabilizer and the small parts.
The second ride we moved the fuselage and the canopy.
Done, all the parts are now in the (temporary) hangar. We can now start with final assembly.
Time: 30 Hours, Rivets: 0/0 (2021-07-..)
Time: 30 Hours, Rivets: 0/0 (2021-08-..)
Time: 6 Hours, Rivets: 0/0 (2021-09-04)
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