Scarecrow56
Well-Known Member
Hi folks, been a while. I have a friend that bought a C150 with almost no paint on it and what is left is pretty bad. long story short, I have been "warned" against painting the plane for him because "if you don't know what you're doing you can ruin an airplane". My background is about 7 years as an autobody man. I can paint a car and make it look like glass although I would not consider myself an expert. I do believe I am halfway decent. I have had experience with aluminum truck bodies. I don't believe them to be any different from aircraft. The last one I painted was in the 1970's though and I used a zinc oxide primer. Do they still use this or is there something else out there now? We have an experienced person that will strip it. I have heard that it needs to be "etched" which is something new to me. Is that true? I never did that with the truck bodies. Is it necessary and if so how do you do that? Also, this may sound rookie or stupid, what about polishing the aluminum? Like a P51. How do they do that and can you do it with standard factory grade skin on a C150? Thanks, I'm sure I will have more questions but that's enough for now.