The International Cessna^® 170 Association

I am painting my prop spinner to match to major colcor on my C170 - Red (actually Reddish). I had a local auto paint store match the color I wanted and put it in a spray can. Seemed simple enough - spray self etching rpimer on the spinner and then simply spray the Red color on and done. Well, ain't so! The biggest problem, I discovered, was holding the spray can the right distance from the spinner - too close and I get runs - too far and get Orange peel apperance. I have the spinner finally at what is probably as good as it is going to get. I am hoping I can buf out some of the Orange peel places. I cannot imgaine painting my own airplane.

When you park your airplane, ring it with tape to keep other people back about six feet. "Orange peel' can't be seen from that distance. Neither can rivet runs.

However, if the color or trim scheme is wrong it will look like s--t from clear across the airport.

Orange peel can be due to temperature (too cold). Warm the spinner and paint it in a warm room.

Runs are from painting too close, and too thickly. Several thin coats are better, and they also buff out better should you not like the gloss.

I wet sanded and buffed out most of the uglyness - bac on the airplane the spinner doesn't look half bad.

I know how you feel. When I started painting my plane, I started with the rudder. I thought I would start out small and in the beginning I could do no wrong. My rudder is a piece of beauty but unfortunately it also gave me a false perception of the skill required when doing the larger pieces. The more I painted the more mistakes I made. I tried painting both my wings at the same time and it cost me two extra weeks of stripping them over again not to mention the cost of materials. Sometimes it just pays to get the right plan of action.

I forgot to mention that you know where the mistakes are, often they can't be seen when looking at the entire plane and most people look at the entire plane.

I just read this post for the first time, because I didn't think I could contribute to spinner painting, but...
I shoot alot of rivets when rebuilding wings. Sometimes the rivet bucker slips off the rivet, and the shooter doesn't get off the trigger quick enough. It causes the thin skin to dimple in a bit. There is really nothing you can do exept use a dolly bar and shot bag to knock it back out. When we're done, I've never had a customer notice or remark, because he can't see it, it's not there. However, I was there and know it was done, and I'll remember that and thus always see the problem.
I worked with a very good structural repairman, many years my elder, dead now, he had a "sayin"; "Caint see it from my house".
Sometimes you have to look at things from other peoples perspective and not be to judgemental on your own work. That reasoning is not to be used as an "out" concerning quality.