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Paint weight

wirejock

wirejock

Well Known Member
Final numbers
Three coats of Kirker Ultra Glo single stage urethane
Total came in at 3.53 grams per ft².
Cut and buff removed a little less than a gram per ft². Not worth measuring.
If I sprayed the airplane, I would add a fouth layer. It was very thin. Cut&buff blew through the paint in a couple places
Add your own numbers for clear if using two stage paint.
Bottom line, figure a minimum of 10 grams per ft² for primer and paint for a minimum total of 10lbs. Clear would add at least 4 lbs.
 
Data point. RV-8 with some tri coat (primer, color, pearl, clear). Plane weighed with real scales before and after paint. Paint added 17 pounds.

Carl
 
Of the planes that I have weighed after painting, pretty all of your basic 3 color paint jobs come in at around 19 pounds for the paint and primer.
 
Weight

Those numbers all sound within the estimates.
Obviously, type of paint and the way a person paints all effect the total. I went through the exercise for fun.
I thought builders would benefit from the data.
I definitely need to shed some "LB's" as well. :D
 
When I built my -8A I kinda ruffled the feathers of some of my neighbors with a relatively light weight. I was very light on avionics plus light prop, starter, and battery. I came in at 1050 and most people I knew were around 1100.
 
wirejock said:
Final numbers
Three coats of Kirker Ultra Glo single stage urethane
Total came in at 3.53 grams per ft².
Cut and buff removed a little less than a gram per ft². Not worth measuring.
If I sprayed the airplane, I would add a fouth layer. It was very thin. Cut&buff blew through the paint in a couple places
Add your own numbers for clear if using two stage paint.
Bottom line, figure a minimum of 10 grams per ft² for primer and paint for a minimum total of 10lbs. Clear would add at least 4 lbs.
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Not sure I agree with that. SS is really just clear coat with pigment mixed in. Two stage is a base coat followed by clear coat. The base coat is VERY thin.
It is true that there are binders and carriers in the base in addition to pigment and there would be some weight there, but applied weight per coat of base is a fraction of clear or SS. HOWEVER, if you need extra coats for color coverage, doing it with a base coat vs SS, will result in a lower weight, as one coat of base is MUCH thinner and lighter than a coat of SS, as the amount of pigment per liquid volume is higher. I would argue that tough colors like red and yellow would weigh more with SS over Base/Clear, though easy colors like white and black may favor SS. I am guessing the light weight you observed is due to your coats being too thin. Three coats of SS, if applied at the makers recommended thickness should not be easy to blow through on cut and buff.
 
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Single stage

lr172 said:
Not sure I agree with that. SS is really just clear coat with pigment mixed in. Two stage is a base coat followed by clear coat. The base coat is VERY thin.
It is true that there are binders and carriers in the base in addition to pigment and there would be some weight there, but applied weight per coat of base is a fraction of clear or SS. HOWEVER, if you need extra coats for color coverage, doing it with a base coat vs SS, will result in a lower weight, as one coat of base is MUCH thinner and lighter than a coat of SS, as the amount of pigment per liquid volume is higher. I would argue that tough colors like red and yellow would weigh more with SS over Base/Clear, though easy colors like white and black may favor SS. I am guessing the light weight you observed is due to your coats being too thin. Three coats of SS, if applied at the makers recommended thickness should not be easy to blow through on cut and buff.
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You're obviously far more experienced than I am. I haven't sprayed clear in years. In any case. I'm sure you are correct. My data, is just that. Data for anyone intersted.
If anyone has data for color and clear, it would be welcome.
I like my results with my thin single stage.
20221028_160215.jpg
 
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Not sure the exact paint weight, but my plane gained 25 pounds after addition of paint and interior side panels, using real scales as Carl said. I would guess the side panels added 6 - 8 pounds - wish I had weighed them separately.
 
Documented weight gain on my RV-10 was 19# using Stewart System primer and paint / 4-color scheme. I'm betting the cut and buff removed some fraction of that - enough to make a huge mess of the floor and my various work outfits.
 
Fulltron Aviation's paint shop recently finished an RV-14 that we weighed with certified aircraft scales, before and after painting. Primer/sealer and three colors and then three coats of clear, and then buffed to where you couldn't feel any paint stripes when it was finished. Customer wanted a show-plane quality paint job. Paint added 23# to unpainted weight. You can see it on our website www.FulltronAviation.com. Tail number was N58TV. Dan Baker - Fulltron Aviation
 
FulltronAviation said:
Fulltron Aviation's paint shop recently finished an RV-14 that we weighed with certified aircraft scales, before and after painting. Primer/sealer and three colors and then three coats of clear, and then buffed to where you couldn't feel any paint stripes when it was finished. Customer wanted a show-plane quality paint job. Paint added 23# to unpainted weight. You can see it on our website www.FulltronAviation.com. Tail number was N58TV. Dan Baker - Fulltron Aviation
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Thanks. Love all the data coming in.
 
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