Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobby C
Hi Scott
Pardon my ignorance, but I've been wondering what the dominant green colour is on all new Boeings before they're painted.
Do you know if it's some kind of protective coating or composite material ?
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Ben, LOL it was a nice beaver
Mr. C,
No ignorance there at all. It's a pretty regular question from spotters.
In a nutshell....
Commercial airplane skin panels arrive at Boeing covered with a temporary protective coating to protect the metal from damage or corrosion during the manufacturing and assembly processes, this is where the term 'green airplane' comes from; it references the green protective coating and implies that the product is unfinished, awaiting paint.
Paint shop employees first use a hand-sander on a completed airplane's previously primed surfaces, then tackle the green skins. They then mask off areas that need protecting, such as landing gear and engines, and apply detergent to the airplane to remove the coating. Next they wash the aircraft with a fire hose spraying water heated to 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 C) to remove the green color. This leaves the natural, silver-colored aluminum skins.
Once the jet is clean, painters sand or abrade the surface of the panels to ensure the primer coat adheres to the metal. They apply primer and then mask off areas of the jet and paint it in various stages, depending on the process for each customer's livery. They apply hand-detailing or decals last, prior to preparing the plane for delivery to the customer. The time needed to complete a paint job depends on the size of the airplane and the complexity of the livery. For example, while painting a typical livery on a 737 requires two to three days on a two-shift operation, the Qantas design (Yananyi)required six days on a two-shift operation.
It's basically peeled on and blasted off. Sometimes it starts to fall off in patches and exposes the bare aluminum but the main aim is to prevent scratches and nix in the body to reduce the prep time in the paint shop.
1 in about 6-8 frames are painted at RNT with the 737's, the rest are done in the shops at BFI. While it may stop scratches for the most part, a fuselage comes from Wichita on the back of a train and will quite often be riddled with bullet holes.
Hope this helps and here is a shot of a Wedgetail as a 'greenie'
http://flickr.com/photos/bfiguy/2116549715/sizes/l
And a closer look:
http://flickr.com/photos/bfiguy/2236130514/
Cheers,
Scott.