how to finish an already painted aircraft

[velocity dreamer]

if I wanted to buy an already flying aircraft but it dosnt seem to be finished( still rough skin not just to touch but sight). Do you have to remove the paint to finish it? and if so what is the best way?

[emteeoh]

ummm... As far as I know (and I'm no expert!) you can just sand it all off. But would you want to? If the builder didn't take the time to make the plane look and feel smooth before painting it... What other corners did he cut?

[velocity dreamer]

That had crossed my mind and is another concern

[Kent Ashton]

Could be the builder was just a lousy painter. Are the surfaces flat? If there are waves, high and low spots in the finish that'd be a lot of work to fix. You'd probably need to sand off the old paint/primer and redo the filler (West System). That's as much work as filling and sanding new construction.

 

If the surfaces are smooth and flat, then you might get away with wet sanding the current paint and applying a new topcoat. Still a fairly big job, though. Airplane paint jobs are not cheap. Selling price should reflect that.

-Kent

[Steve Innova]

Don't forget that some of the older fillers can shrink later, causing the weave of the underlying fiberglass to "print" through the paint.

 

From what I've seen, the best way to remove old paint is with a technique called "Soda blasting". Basically a baking soda mix is sprayed from a high-pressure water jet, stripping the paint off with no damage to underlying glass surfaces.

[michaelj]

I was waiting for a professional painter to chime in on this thread. (that means somebody just a little better than me) Depending on how old the paint job is will be a factor to determine your options. I have sanded off a paint job which is grueling and boring work. There are shops out there that can media blast (not sand blast) the existing paint down th the glass. If you are really interested in this project get a pro to look at it for you. If you do sand it off you will have the opportunity to tweak the contour and erase any flaws that are showing through. I like to use a good sealer, then shoot the paint. It is a fact that 99.99% of the work on a paint job is in the preparation. Shooting the paint is the easiest part.

[Lynn Erickson]

if I wanted to buy an already flying aircraft but it dosnt seem to be finished( still rough skin not just to touch but sight). Do you have to remove the paint to finish it? and if so what is the best way?

which type and when was it built. many of the early vari's and long's will have a minimum of filler on the surface and the weave will be showing. the reason is that Burt Rutan told the builders not to put on to much filler to keep the weight down but some over did it and the surface is not filled smooth and may look bad.