Page 13 - Volume 11 Number 12

The layout of a design is underway. The rudder has been re- attached to achieve continuity in the arcing stripe on the tail.
Years ago, one of my customers was picking up his C90 after a new paint job. He got into the cockpit and noticed that both airspeeds were stuck at around 80 knots. He checked the pitot tubes and they looked fine – they weren’t covered or blocked in any way. So he gave me a call and we hatched a plan.
The next day, he flew to my shop in another aircraft. I grabbed a spare airspeed indicator, and together, we flew to the paint facility. I installed my spare airspeed on one side and did a quick static pitot test to verify everything was good. The goal was to get this King Air to my shop to fix the other side. As I chatted with the paint shop staff, I discovered they used a blow gun to remove the dust. It seems their guy blew directly into the pitot tubes; that explained the airspeeds.
Then I began to wonder about other things. I asked to see what maintenance manual they used for control surface balancing. They showed me an F90 manual. Needless to say, this C90 did not leave the paint shop that day. They had to pull all the control surfaces back off, balance them per the C90 manual, and reinstall them yet again. Eventually we got it over to my shop, had the airspeeds repaired, and all was well.
Fortunately, the owner of the paint shop took this one on the chin. He used this incident as a learning lesson for all his guys and ultimately took his business to the next level. In the years following, he called me many times with King Air questions and I was happy to help.
Level the Playing Field
Most paint shops will give you a generic quote. But, as you can see, it is vital that you delve into these quotes to flush out their differences. You’re trying to get them all on the same page, for a true apples-to-apples comparison. Once you start adding design features (colors, stripes, ribbons, fades, custom logos, and more), sticker shock will soon set in!
Screws – Pay Now or Pay Later
With new paint, there’s one more thing to consider – your screws. What happens to your gorgeous, pristine “virgin” paint job at the next phase inspection?
DECEMBER 2017
Extensive masking is required to apply a color over the
base coat. The rudder is still on, but will be removed later, balanced per the maintenance manual and reinstalled before the aircraft is delivered to the customer.
Mechanics with pointed tools open up access panels for inspection and repair. There are many, many panels and each one takes anywhere from six to 20 screws. That’s a lot of screws, and every one of those screws has been painted over.
Your new, fresh paint job has essentially sealed every screw in place. As these screws are removed for the first time since being painted, the paint around the screw head twists, tears and chips away. The thicker the paint, the bigger the problem. I’ve seen paint so thick I could barely make out the screwdriver slots.
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 11