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Painting An Aircraft  
User currently offlineIlyushin96M From United States of America, joined Sep 1999, 2609 posts, RR: 14
Posted (12 years 9 months 12 hours ago) and read 918 times:

All this talk of changing liveries brings up the question: how is an aircraft painted? Does anyone know the procedure from start to finish, including covering over engines, windows, etc. and how long it takes?

Thanks!

3 replies: All unread, jump to last
 
User currently offlineSierraAir From United States of America, joined May 1999, 200 posts, RR: 0
Reply 1, posted (12 years 9 months 6 hours ago) and read 876 times:

I'm not sure of the exact process but I know some. It starts right after the aircraft comes of the production line when the aircraft is towed over to the paint hanger. (Mind you that this is the Boeing process and Airbus or others might have a different process) The aircraft is sprayed with a special solution that removes the green coating that is used to protect the aircraft from the weather. What's left is bare metal. Then comes the process of masking of everything that won't be painted. This process takes longer than the painting itself. Then I believe a coat of primmer is added. Then it is left to dry. The building is heated to spead up the process but I'm not sure how long drying takes. Then, depending on the airline, other areas are masked off, painted, then left to dry. These steps are repeated until the aircraft is done. This is the Boeing process and is not universal. This is just the basics and there is probably some details that I left out. Total time may be a few days to a week depending on airline specifications.

Brian

User currently offlineILUV767 From United States of America, joined May 2000, 3141 posts, RR: 8
Reply 2, posted (12 years 9 months 6 hours ago) and read 870 times:

United used to paint planes while in HMV in SFO. Now I think a seperate contractor does it, but i'm not sure. I know that it is not done in California, due to laws about the paint.

Here is how it was done...well sort of!  
1. The paint is stripped.
2. Bare metal is left.
3. ** The plane is inspected for any cracks or fractures that may be covered up by the paint.
4. The plane would be masked. Everything from windows, to parts of the body were covered. The masking was paper bag like material.
5. A primer coat is applied
6. The Blue bottom, is painted.
7. The gray top is painted
8. The stripes are painted including the tail
9. The tail logo is painted
10. "United Airlines" is painted
11. Registration, and the nose number is painted
12. The masking is removed.
13. You have one beautiful plane with that fresh paint.

User currently offlineJeb From United States of America, joined Oct 2007, 0 posts, RR: 0
Reply 3, posted (12 years 9 months 5 hours ago) and read 863 times:

For balancing reasons the rudder is painted prior to any other painting. In fact this step is done before the plane is completely finished.

Jeb!
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