Cost to cover

[mulwyk]

Seems like the number one question I'm getting is: "what did it cost to cover?"

Well, I used:

7 gallons of PolyBrush, (2 gallons untinted PolyBrush for the fuselage, the other 5 gallons were tinted). I put on one coat with a brush and 2 coats sprayed.

6 gallons of PolySpray (the silver, UV resistant layer) which gave 3 cross coats on everything. I sanded between the second and third coats.

1 gallon of white PolyTone for a very light base coat under the red.

5 gallons of red PolyTone for 2 cross coats on everything (some areas have 3 coats). I sanded again between coats.

1 gallon of black PolyTone for the trim.

That's 20 gallons of paint at roughly $75 a gallon...say $1500.
Add fabric, reducers, tapes, etc. maybe another $1000.

So, total cost for materials is roughly $2500 plus freight. (I was able to save about 1/3 off that figure by watching for ads on eBay and Barnstormers.)

Then there's labor. I put in about 400 hours of part time labor on the covering. (I used rib stitching on the wings.)

How's that compare with others experience?

[Ragwing nut]

Re: Cost to cover

Seems like the number one question I'm getting is: "what did it cost to cover?"

Well, I used:

7 gallons of PolyBrush, (2 gallons untinted PolyBrush for the fuselage, the other 5 gallons were tinted). I put on one coat with a brush and 2 coats sprayed.

6 gallons of PolySpray (the silver, UV resistant layer) which gave 3 cross coats on everything. I sanded between the second and third coats.

1 gallon of white PolyTone for a very light base coat under the red.

5 gallons of red PolyTone for 2 cross coats on everything (some areas have 3 coats). I sanded again between coats.

1 gallon of black PolyTone for the trim.

That's 20 gallons of paint at roughly $75 a gallon...say $1500.
Add fabric, reducers, tapes, etc. maybe another $1000.

So, total cost for materials is roughly $2500 plus freight. (I was able to save about 1/3 off that figure by watching for ads on eBay and Barnstormers.)

Then there's labor. I put in about 400 hours of part time labor on the covering. (I used rib stitching on the wings.)

How's that compare with others experience?

You are light on material quote, need to add reducers, catalyst, glues, brushes, mixing cups, tape, masking paper, etc. You can add $500-$1000 in incidentals easily.

Time wise, about right for what we do here. You can add another couple hundred hours to finish putting it together and you are right where we quote jobs at.

[NC22211]

Re: Cost to cover

Gents:

Cost to cover in Ceconite and Randoplph Dopes is now just under $5000!! That is as of June, 2009. Just received my shipment and invoice. If you remove the very few extra items we ordered, you are still at over $4500. Not an inexpensive proposition.