It took a LONG time to get to this point, but it finally came! N724X was dissassembled and taken piece by piece to the workshop of Anthony Anaya, an award-winning local vocational tech teacher, just a mile or two from Santa Fe Airport (SAF). Anthony and his crew have painted a number of other homebuilts at Santa Fe, and they look great.

Given everyone's busy schedules, reassembling the plane took quite a while. We flew again in July 2003.

Click on thumbnails to view larger versions of the pics!

Candidates for stripe detailing for the side of the fuselage. Decided to go with the center example.	Trial run for fuselage stripe detailing.	Prepping the fuselage for paint. Guide coat sprayed over primed surface for wet sanding.	Wet sanding strakes
Fuselage painted white first. Lines for placement of stripe detailing being ste.	Stripes projected forward to meet at nosetip.	Stripe on sides positioned to bypass fresh air NACA inlet ...	... and pitot tube on other side.
Lines extended rearward.	Fuselage prepped and ready for red and blue paint. The red and blue paint goes on top of the base white and everthing is covered with a thin clear coat.	Creating stripes entails laying out tape to form the borders of the stripes and the interspersed thin white lines.	All white surfaces masked - almost ready for paint.
Checking alignment.	Innermost (red) stripe masking removed.	Red paint laid down first.	First sweep leaves red stripes complete.
Next, the masking covering the area on fuselage corresponding to the blue stripes is removed.	The newly painted red stripe is covered with masking tape.	Then, blue paint is sprayed down.	Halfway done! After the stripe paint is laid down, the masking is stripped off and a very light clear coat sprayed on.
Multiple views of the newly painted stripes!
The clear coat is partially "bladed" off making the striped surface even with the surrounding surface.		The clear coat over the fuselage is buffed and N724X is ready to return to the hangar.	N724X is loaded onto a trailer for the trip home.
Just a little bit wide but it's only a mile or so. We get lots of curious looks.	Uh oh! A moment of worry: but with a toot of the horn and a friendly wave from the local sheriff, we pass on to the airport.	Returning home!	The wings are next, first sprayed with guide coat ...
... and the laborious process of wet sanding begun.	In Anthony's workshop, some touchup work is done.	Anthony points out newly prepped areas.	Getting ready for paint.
		The paint process begins with a wing painted in its entirety. Inside the paint booth, the undersurface is sprayed.
After the wing is painted white, the detailing on the outer surface of the winglets is next.	In a similar fashion as the stripes on the fuselage, tape is laid out to demarcate the vaiuos colors.	A local sign store supplies a template for the N number which is placed in position. The template has an adhesive backing which holds it in position.	Removing the covering after the stripes have been painted. Note N number in place under covering paper.
Final product! The stripes and N number are clear coated and blended into surface as were stripes on fuselage leaving a smooth surface.	My mother, Inez Guerra, inspects the paint job.	Paint looks great so I and my parents start putting it all back together.	Mom and Dad stand next to a newly reassembled N724X, just after a test run.
Ready for first flight (again!) This time, we go early in the day because by noon, density altitude is 10,000 feet. (It's HOT!)	Still some fine tuning required, but the outside looks nice and clean.
		Some views of N724X in final paint.

Comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome! email: rich@rguerra.com

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