I'm going to dissagree with you on the light planes. paint, especially if it's over an existing coat, can add 20 to 30 lbs. In a two place aircraft that could easily mean the difference of an hour or more of fuel, or a 120lb passenger vs 150lb passenger. Or meeting ultralight rules or not. Doesn't seem like much, but can be significant.
Phil
But see, now you're starting to talk multiple applications. That's not the standard, nor "correct" way to apply the paint to an aircraft.
That also doubles or better the weight that the paint adds. Cutting the numbers in half is 10-15 lbs. That's two gallons of fuel. You'll reduce endurance by all of 10-15 minutes in a C-172 in cruise... Maybe 20 minutes in your 150.
And I havn't seen many ultralight aircraft that have much a fuselage.
Seriously though, I'm not trying to include when people do improper procedures. You're supposed to take all the old paint off before applying new, so I really don't care how much weight is added if you have a half inch of paint on the aircraft.
I'd also like to point out that in the pictures I've seen, it sure looks like the tundra toy has a nice coat of white paint on it.
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/aero_05/textonly/fo01txt.html Is a good explation on the paint vs polished argument.
I'd like to point out that on a 717 paint adds 119 lbs... that's not really all that much weight on an aircraft that size. Does your 152 even have 1/10th the amount of paint of a 717?
