paint job - log book entry

[wingnut]

Having painted many airplanes, I can only agree with Brady. You have to remove everything including access panels. Wings off tail off contro surfaces off. Once stripped you will have many sheet metal repairs to make. ONce painted and reassembled, after balancing control surfaces, rigging control travels and making sure cable tensions are correct, you should weigh the aircraft. You will be surprised how much it can change. Remember, you always get what you pay for, or also what you don't pay for. A little bit of paint covers a multitude of sin.

There are probably more ways to paint a plane than there are planes. I've never painted a plane, but have been involved in (kind of acting agent) hundreds of aircraft paint jobs. I would guess 90% of legit paint shops do remove balanced control surfaces, but not wings and stabs. I personally think that everything that can be removed, should be removed (that is, everything that's held on with bolts/screws). But that just don't happen often. If you're getting prices, make sure you're getting accurate/detailed work description for comparison.

[minton]

This started out (Logbook Entry) Paint job. After reading all of the inputs I hope you can see the need for A&P/AI oversight and logbook sign offs.

[minton]

Is there any guidance on the use of bondo or filler on aircraft skin other than flight controls? I do not remember seeing it in 43.13. Do any aircraft manufacturers ok it in a maintenance manual? Is there a product available that is recommended for aircraft?

43.13 is so old that they had'nt invented "Bondo" yet

[jasondepew]

My plane is (once-upon-a-time) polished metal living in corrosive Florida air. I'm considering just painting it. Anyone have a rough estimate on how much weight that would add?

[blueldr]

The weight change on an airplane after a paint job is directly proportional to the size of the instrument used to make the log entry.
Careful log entries are lightest using a very fine ball point pen.