In order to repaint the fuselage because of all the welding, I have been doing on it I needed to repaint it. I also wanted to change the color! So I decided to teardown the fuselage removing all parts from it until I was down to the bare frame.

After disassembly, I started painting by first using a metal primer for a local lumber superstore :). Priming went well with fast dry times was able to get that done in a few hours. Then came the actual painting. I really wanted to do something like powder coating but do not see how to do that without outsourcing or buying large heating lamps and setting up a heated room.

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After researching and wanting to keep my costs down I just painted using an enamel stated for metal use. Because of the color scheme, I am thinking of I wanted the frame to be mostly white so that is what I purchased.

Based on suggestions on the forms I deluded my paint about 20% with paint thinner and using a small spray gun I was able to paint the fuselage with three coats over 3 days. Dry times were longer than probably necessary but I wanted the coats to harden before the next coat.

I was able to rotate the fuselage just by adding temporary bolts to the engine mounts and using them to rest on a sawhorse in the front and another in the back resting on the tail wheel bracket. Found painting between all the tubes was a little bit of a pain but not as bad as it would have been if I could not rotate the fuselage.

Before and After shots!

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