How much does a helicopter livery paint job cost?

[Jonathan Bailey]

Can automobile paints be used? Can aircraft-grade paint be custom-mixed in chartreuse or lemon yellow like this picture shown? A bird should look as wonderful as she flies. My guess to paint a real bird like the scheme below: $100,000 (including all the exclusive numbering, lettering and logo work) ???? Top-drawer paint quality is a must on a bird as pricey as this.

[aeroscout]

How does that theme from "twilight zone" music go again ?

[Jonathan Bailey]

How does that theme from "twilight zone" music go again ?

Like this:

[Hobie]

Kinda looks more like 'short bus' yellow.

[RagMan]

There are variety of factors involved. I have limited experience in helping paint ships for not only the flight school that I work at, but also for customer aircraft that come through getting overhauled by us.

 

Not every customer wants a full blown strip down and repaint. Some customers just want a new coat over the old paint. Our recent batch of overhaul R22s that we will be utilizing for our flight school are getting a completely fresh paint job down to the treated aluminum and as much to the fiberglass that we can.

 

The prep time to get the aircraft ready for paint is what takes the most amount of time during the entire process. Aside from the main body of the aircraft itself, the prep work includes removing parts to either strip completely or scuff down to the under coat of paint. Once the parts have been striped and/or scuffed, then they are masked off with plastic and tape to prep for primer and paint. Obviously the larger the aircraft, the longer it will take to prep these parts.

 

Once the aircraft and parts have been stripped, scuffed, cleaned, treated, and masked, they are ready to be primed prior to the actual application of the paint coat. This begins a delicate stage where it starts becoming important to keep the parts clean and free of debris, particles, and dust as much as possible. If you paint an aircraft in an uncontrolled room/environment, you will most likely end up with a lot of particles in the primer and in the paint coat which WILL stick out like a soar thumb once the entire paint process is complete. That type of stuff can be sanded out in the end process, but that adds on to the final bill for the customer and just isn't efficient for the entire process. After the primer stage is done, you'll typically see a couple good coats of paint applied to the aircraft and parts. The first coat of paint just needs to dry enough to the point of tackiness before the second coat can be applied. This sets a good basis for the second coat to stick to. Once all of the parts and the body of the aircraft have been painted, they will be "cured" with heat for a couple hours.

 

After the curing process is complete and it's been determined that the aircraft maintains a healthy and clean state, we'll go ahead and apply a couple coats of clear to seal in the paint. We'll go ahead and do another curing state but this time we'll let the aircraft sit and cure typically for 24-48 hours. Once the clear coat is on and cured, we'll go through and "wet" sand out any particles or imperfections that might have ended up in the paint process. Sometimes we'll have to re-mask off a couple areas and re-shoot some paint and clear coat, but it's minor stuff. After the ship and parts have been painted, clear coated, and determined satisfactory, they'll be ready for installation and returned to the customer.

 

Paint can be expensive, yes, but that's not the biggest expenditure when it comes to the final cost. You'd actually be surprised at how much little paint a typical sized aircraft such as an Astar or Longranger might use; Just a couple quarts of mixed paint. We typically just use Dupont that anybody and everybody can get from the auto paint store. It's trusted, proven, and lasts a long time. The man hours and extent of prep work i'd say is what comes down to the majority of the cost to the customer, and how intricate the paint scheme is that the customer wants.

 

That is the just of a paint job for an aircraft. Hope this helps.

[aeroscout]

Paint for an aircraft can be "cheap insurance".

[Jonathan Bailey]

There are variety of factors involved. I have limited experience in helping paint ships for not only the flight school that I work at, but also for customer aircraft that come through getting overhauled by us.

 

Not every customer wants a full blown strip down and repaint. Some customers just want a new coat over the old paint. Our recent batch of overhaul R22s that we will be utilizing for our flight school are getting a completely fresh paint job down to the treated aluminum and as much to the fiberglass that we can.

 

The prep time to get the aircraft ready for paint is what takes the most amount of time during the entire process. Aside from the main body of the aircraft itself, the prep work includes removing parts to either strip completely or scuff down to the under coat of paint. Once the parts have been striped and/or scuffed, then they are masked off with plastic and tape to prep for primer and paint. Obviously the larger the aircraft, the longer it will take to prep these parts.

 

Once the aircraft and parts have been stripped, scuffed, cleaned, treated, and masked, they are ready to be primed prior to the actual application of the paint coat. This begins a delicate stage where it starts becoming important to keep the parts clean and free of debris, particles, and dust as much as possible. If you paint an aircraft in an uncontrolled room/environment, you will most likely end up with a lot of particles in the primer and in the paint coat which WILL stick out like a soar thumb once the entire paint process is complete. That type of stuff can be sanded out in the end process, but that adds on to the final bill for the customer and just isn't efficient for the entire process. After the primer stage is done, you'll typically see a couple good coats of paint applied to the aircraft and parts. The first coat of paint just needs to dry enough to the point of tackiness before the second coat can be applied. This sets a good basis for the second coat to stick to. Once all of the parts and the body of the aircraft have been painted, they will be "cured" with heat for a couple hours.

 

After the curing process is complete and it's been determined that the aircraft maintains a healthy and clean state, we'll go ahead and apply a couple coats of clear to seal in the paint. We'll go ahead and do another curing state but this time we'll let the aircraft sit and cure typically for 24-48 hours. Once the clear coat is on and cured, we'll go through and "wet" sand out any particles or imperfections that might have ended up in the paint process. Sometimes we'll have to re-mask off a couple areas and re-shoot some paint and clear coat, but it's minor stuff. After the ship and parts have been painted, clear coated, and determined satisfactory, they'll be ready for installation and returned to the customer.

 

Paint can be expensive, yes, but that's not the biggest expenditure when it comes to the final cost. You'd actually be surprised at how much little paint a typical sized aircraft such as an Astar or Longranger might use; Just a couple quarts of mixed paint. We typically just use Dupont that anybody and everybody can get from the auto paint store. It's trusted, proven, and lasts a long time. The man hours and extent of prep work i'd say is what comes down to the majority of the cost to the customer, and how intricate the paint scheme is that the customer wants.

 

That is the just of a paint job for an aircraft. Hope this helps.

A bright color will make a downed plane easier to spot.

 

Then there is names, numbers, graphics, decals and such.

 

If I owned a multi-million dollar craft, no corners would be cut or money spared in the art and color department.

 

Fixed-wing planes have to have paint laid very evenly for good aerodynamics.

[RagMan]

Well, our last R22 that we overhauled and put into our flight school fleet currently sports a Kawasaki green with a white stripe. Our three R22's currently in the paint process will receive the same paint scheme due to the high visibility it puts out within the airspace and environment. Our two Bell Long Rangers that we use for fire fighting sport similar schemes; One is of a white and green with black striping, the other is of a white and orange with black striping.