Artool Archives - High Flying Hot Rod

High Flying Hot Rod
Who cares about Street Legal, when the sky’s the limit?

Reprinted with permission from Airbrush Action (August 2000)

While an airplane may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word "hot rod," there is a connection that becomes obvious when you understand the definitive nature of hot rodding. Originally, "hot rod" was a derogative term for the radically customized vehicles built in the early to late '40s, recognized for their bizarre "fenderless" appearance on chopped and channeled bodies with exposed engines. Initially used to improve racing performance, these visual modifications, over time, were incorporated solely for their aesthetic properties. This was often done with hope of creating the same hype and portraying the same "anti-establishment" rebellion that fostered the original beatnik mindset of the early hot rodders. Basically, this was the cult of the individual embodied in a vehicle.

So, take a half-million dollar vehicle from one of the most over-regulated, establishment-oriented, safety-conscious industries in the U.S. (namely, the aircraft industry and the FAA), add a little kustom paint to give it a distinct personality in a vast fleet of boring single-color stripe jobs, and what you have is an airborne version of the hot rod spirit incarnate. For those of you who feel that true hot rodding requires performance in addition to good looks, this particular plane has twin turbos, a pressurized cabin, and it can fly with a ceiling of up to 20,000 feet at about 330 mph. If that doesn't describe a hot rod, I'm not sure what does. For last year's hot rod issue (July/August 1999), we kustom painted America's fastest production sports car for "Viva Las Viper." This year, we've painted the world's fastest single-engine production plane.

Our subject is the Lancair IV, a pressurized four seater that moves quite a bit faster than most four-seat hot rods on the road today. It's owned by Greg Sanders, a buddy of ours in San Luis Obispo, which is coincidentally where we painted it, in its own hangar. (We couldn't quite fit the plane into our booth, and our back lot is not really a legitimate landing strip.) The fact that the entire body and wing surface are made of carbon fiber is one of the most interesting aspects of painting this plane. Luckily, the owner had already bodyworked and primered the body before we started. Another interesting aspect was that we had to create a booth. Using a combination of Visquine plastic sheets hung from the ceiling and covering the floor, a couple of filtered fans, and a lot of dust-reducing water on the ground, we created a pretty decent spraybooth for painting.

Step 1

The builder/owner had already primered the Lancair IV with a white epoxy sealer. He did a good job on the prep work, but I've discovered there is always more work to prep than meets the eye. The main color of the plane was to remain white, so we were happy that the sealer would not be difficult to cover.

Step 2

First, we disassemble the plane as much as possible. With large objects, you must segment the job into smaller parts.Otherwise the paint can set up before you get to the second coat. The control surfaces (rudder, ailerons, and elevators) are removed and painted separately, so we can get to all of those hard-to-reach areas. This also gives us the ability to focus on keeping the paint to a minimum on these surfaces, because any change in their shape can affect the plane's performance.

Step 3

After patching up a few pinholes in the primer, K-Daddy re-shoots the sealer, then hits the surface with a guide-coat of black primer. This guide coat is used to help us see and eliminate any sanding scratches or low points that exist in the primary sealer. To sand them out, we use either a hand block, a long-board, or a "planer" air-sander that uses long 12-16" boards to give us long, flat areas.

Step 4

After about 30 hours of blocking and sanding (I'm not joking about the time. Dave, K-Daddy, and Dion put in about ten hours of sanding each. I was strategically absent. I never learned to sand), K-Daddy straps on the respirator and, with his Iwata LPH-95 spray gun, sprays the entire plane with a coat of single-stage white urethane.

Step 5

With a day for the paint to cure, the surface is wet-sanded with 600-grit, and then we lay out the initial design before we spray the first graphic. K-Daddy and Dave use a piece of masking paper to trace the design on one side in order to transfer the design accurately to the other side, which is a lot easier than running back and forth to check whether the graphics on both sides are the same.

Step 6

After applying the main graphic with House of Kolor Tru-Blu, K-Daddy lays out the checkerboard graphic. Since the base color is already white, he masks a criss-crossed grid of checkers, using 2-inch 3M tape. After cutting and removing the tape from every other checker, K will come in with his HoK (House of Kolor) basecoat black and bingo–instant checkers!

Step 7

With the checkers unmasked, K lays out the secondary yellow graphic. Because all of these graphics rarely intersect, they can be laid out much more quickly, without the fear of masking over uncured paint. While the finished paint job will appear to have many colors, there are actually only five main graphics, including the checkers, and that counts the main color of the plane. (We didn't want to get too radical and scare everyone away!)

Step 8

When the yellow is too fresh to mask on, you can always back mask over it. This is done using masking paper laid over the surface, with the tape around the design. This technique saves big bucks when it comes to masking tape. To provide some added depth and a furled effect to the checkers, I airbrush in some wavy streaks, using my Iwata Eclipse CS and some HoK PBC-40 violet pearl basecoat.

Step 9

For the final silver background color, the checkers and the rest of the graphics are masked off. We like to remask and spray the silver last, instead of layering the graphics over the silver. This way, we don't build up a high edge with the graphics. Instead, we butt the silver up against them, giving us a nice even surface for clearcoating.

Step 10

With the HoK Orion silver applied, and the rest of the plane still masked, I come back with my Eclipse CS top-feed and airbrush in the marbled streaks and veins. I use a combination of HoK black and white basecoats, with just a few drops of silver added. Adding the silver is important because it gives the black and white the same incidence-of-refraction. Otherwise, the white can appear almost black when the light reflects off the metallic surface.

Step 11

Now that K-Daddy, Dion, and Dave have finished spraying the main graphics, they unmask the entire plane and take a much needed break, while I have fun airbrushing all the effects. On the Tru-Blu graphic that runs throughout the design, I airbrush in a teal pearl using a "wisk broom" stencil to create a wispy palm-like effect. You can make a wisk broom stencil out of any old broom or straw-like substance. Use anything that will give a funky, random effect.

Step 12

A combination of the same pearl teal, oriental blue Kandy Koncentrate, and SG-100 intercoat clear is streaked into the tips of the white graphic. This not only brings to life the conservative white graphic of the original paint job, but also gives the illusion of additional graphics and separates the tips from the background. I reduce down all my basecoats and basecoat kandies with a 1:1 ratio of RU 311 HoK reducer. It's twice the recommended amount for spraying, but necessary for airbrushing.

Step 13

After finishing the airbrushing with a few drop-shadows to give the graphics a sense of depth, I begin the delightful stage of pinstriping the graphics. The stripes are laid in using an X-Caliber OO striping brush and HoK striping urethanes. To prevent the clear from pulling the striping, a bit of catalyst is added to the striping urethanes.

Step 14

While K and Dion do a final once-over on the plane, I add in the registration numbers. Since the dimensions are strongly regulated, I had to be sure to use the proper height. It wouldn't be much fun to have the FAA require me to repaint the plane because the numbers are an inch too small. I use a Tru-Blu basecoat for the actual numbers, which are then drop-shadowed and pinstriped with HoK black.

Step 15

For those of you who think clearcoating is fun: think again. This is my favorite photo, showing Dion in his monkey suit surrounded by a toxic waste cloud. Dion became very adept at skating around the floor on the creeper to get to the underside of the wings and fuselage. In order to get everything cleared before it starts setting up, speed is the name of the game. The clearing was done with Dion's trusty Iwata LPH-94 and Valspar AC-2135 clear.

Step 16

After the first clearing session, everybody gets to enjoy the wonderful process of wet-sanding. Luckily, we have a nice day outside. I try to convince them that I am a lousy sander, but they find it in their hearts to teach me the technique. (They did let me have a break to shoot the photo.)

Step 17

With the Lancair still disassembled, K-Daddy proceeds to buff out the body panels. The flats on the wings get the most attention, and the sides and top get a nice finish polish. This is especially important when working on the control surfaces, because it can affect airspeed and control.

Well, there you have it. One kustom-painted airborne hot rod, made to order. After getting a ride back to Bakersfield, we consider the job done. If my memory serves me correctly, we took about a week off after we finished.

One interesting side note: the paint added so much weight to the plane that the standard lead weights used in the tail section were not enough to balance out the aircraft. Fortunately, it turned out okay; Greg got some depleted uranium from the Internet to add more weight to the tail. Why doesn't this make me feel good?

As you probably figured by now, kustom paint can be used for just about any application you can imagine. A hot rod doesn't necessarily have to look like something out of American Graffiti to embody the same spirit. Any time kustom paint helps something stand out in the crowd or make a statement about someone's taste in art or their individuality, it has done its job. Quality should be a given, but don't forget the art of the design. And, for those of you who feel that a hot rod is not a hot rod without a few flames–maybe on the next plane. It may be superstition, but it seems that most pilots are uncomfortable with their plane being covered in flames.

WHO YOU GONNA CALL?

This may have little to do with airplanes or traditional hot rods, but for fun, I thought I'd show you the project for an upcoming automotive paint article. It's a 1960 Cadillac Superior Limousine Hearse. (Just when you thought it was safe to get into kustom painting.) I'm just having trouble deciding whether I should use it in the 2001 hot rod issue, or the October "Scairbrushing" issue!

By the way, it's going to be covered in flames...

Until next time, stay tuned, keep your spray guns clean, and keep on painting.

ABOUT THE GUYZ

Dion Giuliano, Kyle "K-Daddy" Gann, Dave, and Craig Fraser are the krew that makes up Kal Koncepts/Air Syndicate Kustom Paint. Specializing in kustom paint and Harley graphics, Kal Koncepts is also known for their kustom street rod work and sport truck designs. Their clients include: Truckin' Magazine, Colorado Custom wheels, House of Kolor, and Jesse James' West Coast Choppers. You can can give the guys a call at their Bakersfield, California shop at (805) 833-8486, or cruize their website at www.gotpaint.com.