Warbird Information Exchange

Ok fellas,

If any of you have seen the "Spirit of Freedom" in the last 2 years, you already know that our 2002 paint job has deteriorated rather quickly. It almost immediately developed a tooth which will not let go of oil stains and has begun fading at a rather rapid pace.

Needless to say we are in need of a paint job again.

Our first paint job in 1992 was an Alumi-Grip paint job, which looked fantastic for over 10 years, before the clear coat failed.

The paint shop that did the first paint job is willing to do it again for us, but he only wants to use Alumi-Grip. I'm trying to contact Akzo-Nobel to solicit some paint, but I need some additional info.

How many gallons of paint would it take to paint a C-54? Does anyone know the cost of a gallon of Alumi-Grip silver paint?

(We may need to run a fund raising campaign to purchase the paint. If you know of a way to get Alumi-Grip at a discount, I'd love to know about it.)

I'd like to get on this ASAP, because after OSH, we have nothing until September and it would be a good opportunity to get the airplane painted.

Thanks!

_________________
Kevin Kearney
Vice President
Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation


C-54D "Spirit of Freedom" 43-17228
C-97 "Angel of Deliverance" 52-2718 (painted as YC-97A 45-59595)
C-54E/R5D-4 "Spirit of Freedom" 44-9144 BuNo 90414 (wfu April/2020)
http://www.spiritoffreedom.org