Step 13.1, more painting

Sand, sand, primer, sand, sand, base, base, base, sand, clear, sand, sand, buff. done.  Ok, good, now on to the next piece.  Obviously it's needless to say, but painting is a slow, messy, and often very tedious business.  I comfort myself in the knowledge that I'm saving big bucks here  -- enough to buy fuel for about 5 years worth of flying (assuming the average GA pilot flies about 50 hrs/yr). I plan to fly more than that, but who knows.

After the primer is sanded down to #800, the masking for the stripes begins.  Here the wing tips are masked and ready for the first stripe.  I don't know if this is the most efficient method or not, but I start with the gray stripe.  The when that is on and dry enough, I peel the tape up and re-apply it over the gray, but on the other side of the line so I can mask off the just painted stripe.

Then the blue is applied and re-masked for the white.  Here is Carol preparing the tape for the blue stripe.

Finally after all of the base colors are on there are two coats of clear applied over the top.

On to the next thing.  Carol sanding primer on the left wing.

Here I'm applying 3-M fine line tape to follow paper templates for the stripes.

Here is a wing in the blue stripe phase.

Wing tips and wing after clear coat in the paint booth.  I think the flash must have been off.  I don't think it was really that dark in there.

So at this point, I've done no color sanding or buffing because that can wait. Indefinitely, I think, because there will always be something more fun to do.  I've completed about 1/2 of the painting now with just one really big item, the fuselage to go.  Of course there are numerous smaller items such as the cowling,  the vertical stabilizer, rudder, wheel pants, and fairings to go...