Options for new paint?

If I had an older Cherokee 140 (that's what I'm looking at) and wanted to spruce up the looks without spending $10,000 for a paint job, what kind of results would one get by taking the time to sand the current paint, fill a couple of dings, and then have it painted just all white?

So instead of completely stripping off the old paint down to the aluminum, I'd basically be sanding the current layer, and then spraying white over the whole thing. Has anyone done this or is this just a stupid idea? I'm usually an expert on stupid ideas.

Oh, it's been done. Sometimes with less that stellar results.

A friend of mine in Columbus painted his 172 by wiping it down with DuPont prep*sol and spraying. Then he used the old stripe bumps under the new paint as a guide to mask off and repaint the stripes. Same paint scheme. It actually looked pretty good but he only did it to "flip" the plane, i.e. put lipstick on a pig.

You can save $$ if you do the strip and prep work yourself. Read up on the appropriate methods and materials for stripping the existing paint. That is half the cost of a full repaint. The remainder of the work you propose paying for anyway, the prep and paint work.

It is not rocket science but to get good paint you need to spend lots of time on the prep work. Shooting the paint itself is relatively easy.

EAA offers some workshops on topics that include paint. Sign up for one.

Best of luck,

Wes
N78PS

On a Cherokee, you really can't do a quality job by just sanding. Unfortuantely, there are paint shops that do just that. At least on my Cherokee 180, there were many standard rivets with oval heads (i.e. not flush). There is no way you can remove all the old paint around these rivets with out a striper. The risk with a sander is that you are most likely will sand some of the oval head off the rivet.

If the current paint is failing, I wouldn't paint over it. I would strip down to the aluminum. Like others said, you can save quite a bit of money by doing this yourself. The problem you'll need to think about is taking off the control surfaces. You'll need to remove them to remove all the paint. You can take them off, but you'll need an A&P to sign off getting them put back on.

I would avoid sanding any metal surface(s) of the airplane.if your looking to smooth and scuff the existing paint for a "paint over," I'd use Scotchbrite pads. You can get them in different coarseness for the appropriate job. Just remember; more paint equals more weight.

If you haven't already, take a look at WWW.Aircraftwraps.com Pretty interesting

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Originally Posted by rleffler

. You can take them off, but you'll need an A&P to sign off getting them put back on.

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Ahhh, the joys of being a homebuilder, right Bob? No A&P required......

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Originally Posted by gbrasch

Ahhh, the joys of being a homebuilder, right Bob? No A&P required......

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The OP is talking about a Cherokee, not a homebuilt.

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Originally Posted by Matt Gonitzke

The OP is talking about a Cherokee, not a homebuilt.

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I know, that was my point, if it was a homebuilt, he wouldn't have to worry about a A&P.

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Originally Posted by Matt Gonitzke

The OP is talking about a Cherokee, not a homebuilt.

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I believe Glenn was poking a little humor towards me. We both have RVs. And it's one of the major reasons I sold my Cherokee 180 and built an RV-10.

Dave Wortofsky (owner of Potomac Airfield) used to be regularly seen out by his Cessna 337 with a couple of cans of green krylon touching up the paint. I hear however that he finally gave up and had the plane professionally repainted.

Seriously, if you can find a compatible paint, you could touch it up. Be careful sanding (you so not want to compromise the metal or fasteners). If you use one of the polyurethanes like Imron, be very careful with the fumes. The stuff is toxic and unlike other paints that smell bad, you won't smell it until after you've breathed enough of it to be a problem. Use a proper mask.

Sand and paint can be viable depending on your objectives. It won't last as long nor look as good as a strip and paint. I did it to my Navion to provide an interim paint scheme and buy myself some time to get my RV-6 finished. I can't stand to be without a flyable airplane. I only expect a few years from mine. It looks far better than before but it's a 30 foot paint job done in stages, by me, in my hangar. It serves my purpose. If you have evidence of filliform corrosion under the paint you really need to strip it to fix it. If you do and haven't purchased you may want to pass. As mentioned, be very careful sanding or Scotchbrighting around the rivets. Preparation of the surface will control the quality and longevity of your paint job. It's harder to get everything clean when sanding so edges and rivets will start to flake earlier than when stripped.

Also, you don't want to be attacking aluminum with just any sandpaper. As Greg alludes, scotchbrite is usually a good solution. You could be inducing corrosion with the "sand" residue left behind.

Helped a friend strip and paint his cherokee. A year or 2 ago and it really was not that bad. To do. Came out looking great and I think he had about $4500 in it including materials and some hired help.

I forgot about the raised rivets! Yes it would be impossible to remove the paint around the rivets with out using a proper stripper. The good news is that it seems I have found a very nice cherokee that does not need repainting!