New Paint

[hharney]

Off to Sturgis Aviation in the mighty burrow of Sturgis, Michigan. Here lies a paint shop that does not advertise (ever) and has a 2 to 3 month waiting list. The first time I met Danny was last October and told him then to put me on the list. He said based on the back log he had right then it could be February before there was an opening. Even thought my interior guru said that he would be done by the end of December, I told Danny that was just fine, pencil me in. At the time I made the visit, back in October, he was doing the paint on brand new Beech Hawkers from the factory, the customer that bought like 7 or so Hawkers did not want factory paint but was having Sturgis Aviation do all the paint on all the new Hawkers. That was very impressive but then Danny said that he had never painted a Skymaster. Well then, let's get you started on new territory. BTW, the last issue of Sport from EAA with the P-38 "Rough Stuff" on the cover, yep Danny painted it. In fact he has a number of planes that have won awards at OSH. We are going to try it with a Skymaster this year. Hope to see some of you 337 enthusiast there too.

It sounds like it will be about 4 weeks to completion. Can't wait!!! I delivered 2JF on Saturday and today was my first visit back. After complaining about driving to Larry's for the last 4 months, I now have to drive another hour past Larry's to the paint shop. I know whiner. Anyway they had the paint stripped and were removing control surfaces. I have one flap that has a boo boo so off to the control surface doctor. Wow, that is expensive work but it has to be done. I am not going to paint something that is wrinkled. This shop has some real good people. They are painting a Citation, Mooney Aclaim (both touch up stuff) and a full job on a AT-6. This isn't much of a load for them so the Skymaster should move pretty quickly. I will be replacing any screws that have to be removed for inspection with stainless. Even the cowling latches will be stainless. I am doing a neat design on the spinner for a little pizazz and going with the #3 paint scheme.

Here are some photos from today.