Weight of a/c paint?

[The Inspector]

I have some copies of NAA newsletters covering the P-51. I'll check if they mention anything specific to the difference when they stopped the external painting.
There is also a paint shop next door and I'll ask if they have any numbers on paint weight per square foot of coverage. If you know how much square footage on an aircraft and how much paint weighs per square foot you could come up with some reasonable numbers.

Our paint shop would cut and weigh a square foot piece of aluminum, toss it on a digital scale and note the bare weight. Then prime and paint, let the paint 'kick' and weight the panel again so we know that U.S. Paint Co. 707 gray weighs XXX per square foot x the acreage of what was painted (available from the manufacturers or give it a good guess) the new weight of the painted test piece was noted on the back of the square foot with a permanent marker so next time there was a question about Las Vegas Gold or British Air Blue per square foot you had a base number and just updated as you went along.

[omega7]

Excerpt from the June 2008, 8th AF News:

[i] ……….according to Boeing Corporate Historian Michael Lombardi, the weight of paint on the B-17 Flying Fortress was 58.7 pounds. On the advent of the all-silver models late in the war, interior paint was also eliminated except for cockpit non-glare areas and zinc chromatic in areas of possible corrosion…….[/i]

Carrying this figure out to tenths of pounds is, of course, unrealistic inasmuch as wide variations in application, mixtures, etc. naturally occurred, but that was the number quoted. –Adrian

[Jeff Nelson]

Many years ago I worked at Nellis right next to the Thunderbirds. I remember hearing that the F-4s they were flying at the time weighed 800 lbs more at the end of the season than at the beginning due to all the constant touching up the paint. Might have been a "prop wash" kind of story, but I was impressed when I heard it....

[51fixer]

Many parts and components used to build up structures were often dipped in large tanks of Zinc Chromate rather than the traditional spray method for applying paint.
Also most exterior paints were lacquer based rather than enamel or polyurethane types that came along later.

[Kyleb]

Excerpt from the June 2008, 8th AF News:

……….according to Boeing Corporate Historian Michael Lombardi, the weight of paint on the B-17 Flying Fortress was 58.7 pounds. On the advent of the all-silver models late in the war, interior paint was also eliminated except for cockpit non-glare areas and zinc chromatic in areas of possible corrosion…….

Carrying this figure out to tenths of pounds is, of course, unrealistic inasmuch as wide variations in application, mixtures, etc. naturally occurred, but that was the number quoted. –Adrian

<60 lbs makes no sense at all. That's the weight of paint on a C-172.

[The Inspector]

Excerpt from the June 2008, 8th AF News:

……….according to Boeing Corporate Historian Michael Lombardi, the weight of paint on the B-17 Flying Fortress was 58.7 pounds. On the advent of the all-silver models late in the war, interior paint was also eliminated except for cockpit non-glare areas and zinc chromatic in areas of possible corrosion…….

Carrying this figure out to tenths of pounds is, of course, unrealistic inasmuch as wide variations in application, mixtures, etc. naturally occurred, but that was the number quoted. –Adrian

<60 lbs makes no sense at all. That's the weight of paint on a C-172.

It was a time issue, with plant 2 cranking out 16 B-17's a day plus what VEGA and DOUGLAS were producing, there wasn't enough time in a day to paint the days production of airplanes.

[51fixer]

Excerpt from the June 2008, 8th AF News:

……….according to Boeing Corporate Historian Michael Lombardi, the weight of paint on the B-17 Flying Fortress was 58.7 pounds. On the advent of the all-silver models late in the war, interior paint was also eliminated except for cockpit non-glare areas and zinc chromatic in areas of possible corrosion…….

Carrying this figure out to tenths of pounds is, of course, unrealistic inasmuch as wide variations in application, mixtures, etc. naturally occurred, but that was the number quoted. –Adrian

<60 lbs makes no sense at all. That's the weight of paint on a C-172.

If they were talking eliminating Zinc Chromate on selected parts it plausible. The Zinc primer was real thin, almost see through when dipped, a little thicker when sprayed.

If the 172 was painted in the 60s it probably had less than 60 lbs of paint and each year it would decrease. I've wiped older paint jobs with wax and ended up with a rag turned whatever the color that I was wiping.
If painted today with epoxy primer and hi solids paint and cleared then it would be heavier than that. If sanded and painted it keeps climbing.

[The Inspector]

Painting instructions per the mid 70's CESSNA manual mentions needing up to 50 coats of CESSNA Enamel on leading edges, and when using CESSNA Alkyd mixed per the intructions gave you a mixture that looked like and covered as well as 1% skim milk. @ R/STOL we said 'PHOOEY' (or something similar, if more direct) and started using IMRON, in the morning, one coat of primer, one coat of paint, go have lunch, unmask and by 4:30 go test fly it.