Canadian Challenger Owners Manual - Painting -

The Challenger provides you with an artist's canvas to make a beautiful personalized color scheme. Take the time to design an attractive scheme using our 3 view drawings. An attractive aircraft will always have more value than an ugly one, even if they may be identical under the skin. The increased value and pride of ownership will certainly make this investment worthwhile.

One of the simplest and least expensive ways of getting a stunning result is to paint your plane with a conventional aircraft process to its final base color and then use Trim Line (rather than paint) for the accents. While you certainly can paint the accent colors and stripes in the (time consuming and expensive) conventional manner, 3M's custom Trim Line product can provide you with intricate designs, stripes and graphics through the use of decals.

They are designed on a computer, approved by you, then printed, cut and applied to the airplane. Details such as color coordinated registration marks with shadows or outlines and personalized scripts or graphics are easily accomplished. The process is quick and less expensive than using paint. If you don't know where to get this service, check with local car or yacht dealers.

If you plan to fly your plane in a saltwater environment then you may wish to take steps to minimize corrosion. Click here for more info.

If you chose tinted glass, you may wish to paint black the aluminum doorframe before assembly and the forward and front seat down tubes that are visible. This will make them disappear and enhance the appearance.

There are many different types of dope (paint) available on the market. Talk to suppliers and other owners and builders to get their recommendations.

Regarding glue, the kit is now shipped with Stits Poly-Tak adhesive instead of Superflite U-500. Poly-Tak and U-500 are essentially the same except that Poly-Tak requires much less thinning with MEK than the U-500. Note that Quad City recommends that the Poly-Tak adhesive should be applied using the U-500 methodology described in your Challenger assembly manual.

Regardless of the type of dope used, you must spray a silver (aluminum) undercoat(s) according to the manufacturer's recommendations. Particularly on top surfaces, it must be sufficient to prevent light penetration. This can be tested simply by holding a shoplight on one side and checking to see that it is not visible on the other side.

The silver coat acts as an ultraviolet barrier and is necessary to block ultraviolet rays and achieve the proper life of the covering material. There may be other types of dope you wish to use that we have no experience with. Remember that the skin of the aircraft is flexible and too hard a paint will eventually crack or peel. Flex agents are required.

If you choose to spray the plane yourself, make sure to buy or rent an appropriate fresh air breathing device. Some paints are highly toxic and can put you at risk.