A 1977 Cessna Cardinal 177B aircraft, being given away by the world’s largest pilots association, AOPA, hasbeen refurbished with coatings donated by ANAC (Akzo Nobel Aerospace Coatings) through their distributor network.
US based AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) is giving away a Cessna Cardinal aircraft in their annual sweepstakes. The sweepstakes, which features a different restored aircraft each year, is the mainspring of the annual membership drive with every member entered. The members, who own and operate primarily single and twin-engine planes for business and personal use, are able to follow the progress of the work on line and through AOPA’s publications, taking notes for their own projects. AOPA has a membership of 414,000, two thirds of all pilots in the U.S.
The paint design, applied by Advanced Aircraft Refinishers of Georgia, was created by Scheme Designers, owned and operated by Craig Barnett of Cresskill, New Jersey, who also works with OEMs on paint schemes. His inspiration for this project was the Cessna Cardinal logo, originally displayed on the tail in a smaller form.
After the complete disassembly of the airframe into more than 280 parts, each piece of the airplane was put through a thorough the paint refurbishing process to ensure the best possible protective finish was achieved.
Following the removal of the existing paint layers, the surfaces were chemically cleaned and a conversion coating applied. A zinc chromate epoxy primer was followed by ANAC’s Alumigrip Matterhorn White topcoat, producing a superb, high gloss finish. The white was then masked for the application of the red, gold and black trim, all in ANAC paints. The paints were donated by ANAC distributor Aero Performance.
The high gloss finish delighted the entire restoration team. “The result was a long-lasting shine most aircraft owners would envy,” commented Julie Boatman of AOPA.
The refurbishment of the Cessna was the biggest that AOPA has undertaken so far.
The ‘Catch-a-Cardinal’ sweepstakes will be drawn in January 2008. In the meantime, the beautiful and fully restored airplane has been on display at aviation events around the U.S.
Source: ANAC AOPA
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