Plane painting

sedge

sedge

Funster
Joined
Jul 7, 2009
Posts
5,598
Likes collected
13,722
Location
Nr Jct 3 M6
Funster No
7,396
MH
A class
Exp
Aug 09 to date
Just a question, seems certain folk are moaning like hell about £900k to paint the plane used by both the PM and HM to travel.

BUT - how much would it cost to just repaint it in it's RAF livery? How often do they need a respray? Nob all is cheap on or for a plane and I do not honestly believe the whingers have bothered to find out. I mean - unless you own one and have needed to get it painted, why would you, how could you? Incidentally I do know what the 'back of the fag packet' estimate was for repairing a damaged much smaller passenger plane and that was in 6 figures, so that's why I'm wondering now, I'm not easily scared!

IMHO the ruddy RAF aren't going to ask anybody who hasn't painted one before loose on one of theirs, same as eg Eddy Stobart wouldn't! Hence I cannot imagine in even my wildest dreams it's a 'job for friends' scenario.

Anyone?
 
Whenever we sent ships for refit it was standard practice to paint the whole hull, it formed quite a large slice of the cost. I imagine airplanes are much the same, difficult to get insurance unless correct maintenance procedures are adhered to.
 
WillH said:
Whenever we sent ships for refit it was standard practice to paint the whole hull, it formed quite a large slice of the cost. I imagine airplanes are much the same, difficult to get insurance unless correct maintenance procedures are adhered to.
Click to expand...
Imagine that insurance quote "Who exactly will be flying in this plane?" The broker would have a field day!!
 
sedge said:
BUT - how much would it cost to just repaint it in it's RAF livery? How often do they need a respray?
Click to expand...

About £100 - 200k, depending on the size of the aircraft and the complexity of the paint job. The basic RAF grey scheme is probably at the lower end of the scale. Typically 6 - 8 years, depending on age and mileage, I believe.

There is also other maintenance work to be done in the £900k quoted.

There's another couple of threads running on this subject which contain quite a bit of information. :)

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Save a fortune not only on paint but fuel. Don't paint them at all and leave them in the "bare" metal.
Think a US airline did that at one time (American?).
 
I was involved in repainting the Queens Flight Dominee aircraft in the 90's. I remember how keen they were that the red and white and blue colour scheme had to have an acceptable level of gloss. Their inspector had a fag packet sized device to measure the gloss, it was labelled "Glossometer". Then we had to paint a couple of the Dominees in matt anti infra-red grey. Now he wanted to ensure it was matt enough.
I have often wondered if his Glossometer was actually a fake just to wind us up.
 
Gellyneck said:
Save a fortune not only on paint but fuel. Don't paint them at all and leave them in the "bare" metal.
Think a US airline did that at one time (American?).
Click to expand...
Polished aluminium looks lovely in some cases but not a good look on military aircraft.
Grey aircraft are extremely difficult to see in the sky but a polished one would be lit up like a beacon in the sunlight.
You wouldn’t want to be sitting in that over some of the world’s hotspots. :Eeek:

Richard.
 
Before repainting an aircraft must be stripped back to bare metal before an etch primer then a very thin topcoat is applied. This is mainly because paint is very heavy and can easily increase the overall weight by an unacceptable amount - and you think you have payload problems with your motorhome! The bigger and more complex the aircraft, the worse the problem plus, of course, it all takes very expensive time.

I used to own a light aircraft maintenance and repair business and whenever we had to do any kind of repainting the aircraft had to be re-weighed and re-certified at that weight.
 
Marshall’s of Cambridge have been sub contractors to the MOD /RAF for years. They work continuously for MOD/RAF and have the expertise to deliver all types of contract on time and on budget.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
£900 K may seem to be a lot of money , but in the great scheme of things , the prestige that this gives our country when flying on trade missions etc is immense , in reality it's cost is a drop in the ocean when compared to the value it adds.
 
Never thought about the weight of paint before, off out now, scrape a coat off of the van, will be able to take new dog away with us then, the new dog is at least 10kg more than the last.
 
Am thinking a chunk of the cash will go to some designers to make sure it looks good. This will involve loads of meetings in top hotels. They may even need to have a few trips abroad to look at other planes.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
A nice gloss finish will make it fly faster. Or reduce the fuel consumption (y)
 
Clarky said:
Polished aluminium looks lovely in some cases but not a good look on military aircraft.
Grey aircraft are extremely difficult to see in the sky but a polished one would be lit up like a beacon in the sunlight.
You wouldn’t want to be sitting in that over some of the world’s hotspots. :Eeek:

Richard.
Click to expand...
Just like it being painted red, white and blue hence my answer on another thread about visibility when in it's primary role. At least money would be saved on bare metal finish.:whistle2:
 
Tribbtravs said:
It would be more accurate to paint Billy Smarts FLYING CIRCUS on the side with a nice red nose cone
Click to expand...
Forgive my addition to you post, but very apt

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Join us

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Back
Top