After evaluating the overall aircraft, we arrange for the materials needed to complete the job. Next, we start the prep work for cleaning the old paint. Remove all the tips, fairings, etc. and tape the remaining items for protection. Once the paint is off, we then remove all the flight controls and clean the attach points and coves. The flight controls then go to the booth for painting.

The next step is a complete wash down with an acid etch. We use this on the entire exterior and the flap & aileron coves until we get a water break -free rinse.

I put all the flight controls and other small items removed for painting in the paint booth. That gives us more flexibility as to hanging the controls to insure all the edges are painted. Also lets us keep these items away from the airplane until they are ready to be installed.  At this point, I have all the flight controls primed and ready for sanding and topcoating. Moving right along !

Got the control yokes all cleaned down to bare metal and primed with epoxy primer as shown in the first photo. The yokes are then placed in a jig for powder coating with mirror black poly  for a smooth, glossy finish.

The aileron control rods showed quite a bit of rust. Now is the best time to take good care of it. Cleaned the rods down and inspected accordingly. Primed with epoxy corrosion primer and followed that with metallic silver poly powder coat finish. During preflight, these rods will look like new, bare metal when actually the finish is the metallic silver.

O.k., so I couldn't resist it. I had to paint the door jambs. Jet-Flex soft white works great here.

After powder coating the rods, I reinstalled them and we're ready to install the ailerons back on the airplane. Here, I use new stainless steel structural screws with new lock nuts. Also, greased all the bushings and needle bearings in the flaps before installing.

Now it's time for the wheels. Take a good look.

While I'm refinishing the wheel halves, I clean each bearing and each part, inspect and service. The second photo shows the wheel bearings ready to install after pressure packing with Shell aviation grease.

While the nose gear is out, now is a good time to inspect the lower engine mount tube and refinish it. The Cessna 150/152 is prone to crack at the welds on the lower collar. In the first photo, the collar and tubes are cleaned and inspected. Checked out fine, and after a primer coat, the lower tube and collar are finished with a semi-gloss black like new.

After cleaning and priming with epoxy primer, the brake discs are finished with a high temp paint.  They look new now.

Nose Gear: First, I pressure clean the nose gear. Next, since this model doesn't have a grease fitting in the collar, I remove the steering collar and manually grease the needle bearings. They were pretty dry, but hadn't sustained any damage yet. Packed it full of grease and reinstalled adding one shim to the collar to tighten it up. Checked the damper, cleaned the whole assembly down again and headed to the booth with it. Primed with epoxy primer and painted with Jet-Glo Matterhorn White to match the rest of the plane. Should look real snazzy when I slide it back into the newly painted tube and get the powder coated nose wheel back on !

When I put everything back together, I used reflective chrome powder coat on the axle nuts and nose wheel spacers.

Installed new bearings and insert bushings in the rudder attach points before installing the rudder. Greased and used new bolts and nuts to install the rudder.

Got the tips and all the strips and light holders painted. Each small piece is painted as an individual part to make a cleaner look and ease of servicing the aircraft later.

It was a rare find and a tall order, but I did manage to find the raw materials to fabricate the carpet in bright orange. Not many mills do orange these days, but we did get fairly close to the original color.

Got the stripe layout done in the original scheme. The orange accents are sprayed first, then masked to spray the black major color.

Got the black all painted and now all that's left is the clean up ! We'll clean down all the lines and detail everything out. Then, we'll top it off by installing the new exterior decals which are the same as the original Cessna Aerobat.

Well here it is ! Complete with the original paint scheme, colors and even period correct decals on the tail. Although the interior was no completely renovated, the new Aerobat seats and carpet really pull off the design. The last photo is of Henri Kowalczyk taken just after the first flight in the bird after the work. He even let me go with him !!

Here's a Before/After Recap of it :

     Before                   After                   Before                   After                    Before                 After

Hope you enjoyed viewing this airplane. Thanks for visiting.