G-VGAL Gets New Paint Job

VGAL has been spotted wearing the new colours. We now have 3 744's painted like this.

Link to a.net

Enjoy










Edit by mod to shorten link...... Nick

Interesting because I just went to BGI on Jersey Girl in august and it was still it old livery

Originally posted by Door013
Interesting because I just went to BGI on Jersey Girl in august and it was still it old livery

2 months is a long time in the air industry.[;)]

Guessing it will have got the new paint when it was cycled through KLM's Maintenance Hangar 14 (which has been named the 'Leonardo da Vinci' hangar - where they do most widebody heavy maintenance and repainting) in Amsterdam during September for a D check.

It was followed in October by G-VROS, and that has since been replaced in Amsterdam by G-VTOP, which I think I still there.

Mike

When repainting, presumably the old paint is stripped off - guess they don't use Nitromors?

[honey lamb]

Originally posted by slinky09
When repainting, presumably the old paint is stripped off - guess they don't use Nitromors?

No, they sand it down. Takes quite a bit of sandpaper.

Originally posted by honey lamb
No, they sand it down. Takes quite a bit of sandpaper.

Depends. I've seen chemical removers used on aircraft before now, as well as power sanding. There is such a thing as 'aviation paint stripper' and it is a relative of Nitromors! [8D]

After all the windows are masked, landing gear poly-bagged, etc., the aircraft is sprayed down with the paint stripper. This is then jetwashed away taking the old paint with it.

In the case of a 747, you do want to remove the old paint first before applying a fresh paint job, because a 747 paint job can weigh between 300 and 500 kgs.

Here's a link to Virgin's G-VBIG on a test flight almost stripped to bare metal.

The additional weight from the decals for the ANZ LOTR 747s was quite impressive too, something like a further 100 kgs.

I'm not sure if G-VFAB's paint weighs more because of the large Varga girl? Anyone know what that did to FAB's ZFW compared to G-VHOT which is of a similar vintage?

Mike

Originally posted by mike-smashing
After all the windows are masked, landing gear poly-bagged, etc., the aircraft is sprayed down with the paint stripper. This is then jetwashed away taking the old paint with it.

Not the greenest of procedures then [:?].

[Darren Wheeler]

Somehow I don't think it will go down the drain. More likely (and legally) into a holding tank, then taken away for processing.

Oh, and before the 'waste of money, refurb the Alitalia 5' posts come along.....

Painting is not just a cosmetic/branding thing. The paint helps protect the fuselage from chemical errosion, solar radiation and when polished, gives smoother airflow which increases economy. [:D]