Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
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By jon
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1912612
My paint job is 15 years old, still gleams and looks good at 5 meters.
But closeup loads of chips and scrapes.

I was going to approach some of the well know aircraft paint sprayers – Mick Allen etc
Another option has been mentioned.
Apparently, there are a few good mobile car sprayers you will match paint and do an excellent job at touching up existing pain jobs.

Has anyone experience of these mobile services, or good experience of the usual companies that do touch-up work?
User avatar
By Trent772
#1912621
Yep,

Our RV7 was suffering from the standard seam tinworm. Moisture in the structure sweats out through the skin seams and creates corrosion. More prevalent on QB kits - most get it unless sprayed with ACF50 or corrosion X.

Asked around for a recommend, a couple wouldn't go near an aeroplane which is rather sad.

Found one who looked at it, said no problem.

DA'd the affected areas, prepped, primed and top coated - colour match was spot on, buff and polish - Bingo !!!

Well worth it to keep up with the odd problem. The aeroplane will need a bare strip repaint in 3 - 5 years, but this will keep us going very nicely.
User avatar
By IainD
#1912649
Trent772 wrote:Yep,

Our RV7 was suffering from the standard seam tinworm. Moisture in the structure sweats out through the skin seams and creates corrosion. More prevalent on QB kits - most get it unless sprayed with ACF50 or corrosion X.

Asked around for a recommend, a couple wouldn't go near an aeroplane which is rather sad.

Found one who looked at it, said no problem.

DA'd the affected areas, prepped, primed and top coated - colour match was spot on, buff and polish - Bingo !!!

Well worth it to keep up with the odd problem. The aeroplane will need a bare strip repaint in 3 - 5 years, but this will keep us going very nicely.


Good to know as our QB 9 is suffering the same , mainly on the wings. We were thinking of a full respray but the fuselage and tail section are good. This may be an option for a few extra years . Did you do the prep yourself ie stripping the affected areas and the rough cost.?
By BoeingBoy
#1912650
I have had similar paint issues dating back over six years and generally found that unless you get lucky with a gap in full resprays, the main paint dealers are usually too busy to do small jobs.

As for mobile repairs, I've used mobile automotive paint and dent repairs but always had my engineers involved to oversee the work. Current legislation says that on completion of any significant paintwork you should have a new Certificate of Release for a Part21 aircraft. Permit aircraft are easier to legislate for.

Try approaching your local 'Revive' or 'Chipsaway' representative and see how they feel about visiting your airfield. In my case the only pain is that they won't have airside insurance so can't drive to the hangar.
By The Kissimmee Bum
FLYER Club Member (reader)  FLYER Club Member (reader)
#1912659
BoeingBoy wrote:Try approaching your local 'Revive' or 'Chipsaway' representative and see how they feel about visiting your airfield. In my case the only pain is that they won't have airside insurance so can't drive to the hangar.


Just a caution as to the quality of the paint products they use which is noticeably carp.
By BoeingBoy
#1912671
It is true that you'll need to judge the merits of what the task is. Apart from longer term issues with paint fade, Revive use a 'wet paint' technique that sees them quickly bake a layer enough to paint over with a finishing coat.

The problem arises when you try to do any work on that area. As the paint stays soft underneath it can lead to whole areas peeling away if disturbed by masking tape on another adjacent job. Ask me how I know!

However for small areas, chips and minor dents I've managed to solve issues that I could not fix through the GA industry.
#1912762
Trent772 wrote:Asked around for a recommend, a couple wouldn't go near an aeroplane which is rather sad..


I once used a highly recommended car restorer for a car. He specialised in a particular expensive marque from which he built his reputation with the owners club. Although I thought his skills would be transferable, in reality he was not so good at the marque I had, so it would not surprise me if he steered clear of an aeroplane paint job.

Prior to that I used to know one car sprayer that was considering doing aircraft about a decade ago. It must be difficult to assess the size of the market for GA aircraft resprays - Whilst some owners might budget a respray every 10 years, there could easily be owners that dont budget for it and just do the minimum bits adhoc as required by their engineer/inspector.
Last time I saw him a few years later he was still busy doing cars. Didnt ask if it was due to financial viability or an easy life without the aviation grade scrutiny and paperwork.

Shabby paintwork on aircraft is not great for pax confidence.
Shabby paintwork does not look good on social media which is important to some of the younger generation we need to get into GA.
#1912766
IainD wrote:
Trent772 wrote:Yep,

Our RV7 was suffering from the standard seam tinworm. Moisture in the structure sweats out through the skin seams and creates corrosion. More prevalent on QB kits - most get it unless sprayed with ACF50 or corrosion X.

Asked around for a recommend, a couple wouldn't go near an aeroplane which is rather sad.

Found one who looked at it, said no problem.

DA'd the affected areas, prepped, primed and top coated - colour match was spot on, buff and polish - Bingo !!!

Well worth it to keep up with the odd problem. The aeroplane will need a bare strip repaint in 3 - 5 years, but this will keep us going very nicely.


Good to know as our QB 9 is suffering the same , mainly on the wings. We were thinking of a full respray but the fuselage and tail section are good. This may be an option for a few extra years . Did you do the prep yourself ie stripping the affected areas and the rough cost?


I had the same on my QB RV7 so four years ago I bit the bullet and took the wings off, stripped back to bare metal, then prepped and resprayed them in my workshop booth.

The worst part of the job was bringing myself to actually make the start on it ( removing the close tolerance wing spar bolts on a RV7/8/9 is a notoriously brutal process). Ours was not too bad to de-rig and once underway, it was about three weeks wings off to putting it back together.
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By jon
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1913112
Quick update on this.

talked to Revive and Chipsaway.

Revive - not interested and very abrupt conversation

Chipsaway - very interested and have given a quote based on pictures. I will be visiting their workshop to see examples of their work and quality.
They will take the cowls to start with if I'm happy.
#1913119
If you only need the job to last 5 minutes then using someone like 'Chips away' will be fine. The materials that these type of people use is rubbish. I wouldn't let them anywhere near my car or aeroplane!
A lot of Permit and some other aircraft are now being painted in car 2pack paint by car body people who think they know better than established aircraft painters. This method looks great for a couple of years but then will need a repaint and doing again. Corrosion protection will be minimal using this paint system.
Proper aircraft paint has different addditives for aircraft use. A good aircraft re-paint with proper aircraft paint materials should last 10-15 years. It is expensive but it is the only way to protect your aircraft for years to come.
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By jon
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1913123
This is exactly the feedback I was looking for, thank you.

For me, there are a few stone chips and scratches I want clearing up - pride of ownership and all that.

Talked to a couple of aircraft painters, and would be looking at next year to get a slot.

The overall paint scheme is in very good condition and not looking at changing that at all.
User avatar
By IainD
#1913124
Charliesixtysix wrote:
IainD wrote:
Trent772 wrote:Yep,

Our RV7 was suffering from the standard seam tinworm. Moisture in the structure sweats out through the skin seams and creates corrosion. More prevalent on QB kits - most get it unless sprayed with ACF50 or corrosion X.

Asked around for a recommend, a couple wouldn't go near an aeroplane which is rather sad.

Found one who looked at it, said no problem.

DA'd the affected areas, prepped, primed and top coated - colour match was spot on, buff and polish - Bingo !!!

Well worth it to keep up with the odd problem. The aeroplane will need a bare strip repaint in 3 - 5 years, but this will keep us going very nicely.


Good to know as our QB 9 is suffering the same , mainly on the wings. We were thinking of a full respray but the fuselage and tail section are good. This may be an option for a few extra years . Did you do the prep yourself ie stripping the affected areas and the rough cost?


I had the same on my QB RV7 so four years ago I bit the bullet and took the wings off, stripped back to bare metal, then prepped and resprayed them in my workshop booth.

The worst part of the job was bringing myself to actually make the start on it ( removing the close tolerance wing spar bolts on a RV7/8/9 is a notoriously brutal process). Ours was not too bad to de-rig and once underway, it was about three weeks wings off to putting it back together.


Yes we would do it ourselves but the thought of removing wings...if they even would come off a bit daunting (those bolts don't want to seem to go anywhere!). I'm interested what you used to strip the paint as we need to get back to bare metal but have been warned of using strippers as it remains in the rivet holes and lifts paint later according to our inspector.