February 2, 2021 Airborne Canvases

The Liberty Gazette

February 2, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: If the world ever opens up again and international travel resumes, be on the lookout for the coolest paint schemes on airliners. Alaska Airlines may still be sporting the characters from “Incredibles 2.” And look for the scene from “The Lord of the Rings” gracing Air New Zealand. One of WestJet’s planes carries Anna, Elsa, and Olaf from “Frozen” (out of 170 gallons of specialized aircraft paint) way up into cold altitudes. Speaking of cold, one of Iceland Air’s Boeing 757s sports a Northern Lights theme. And who could forget the beloved Shamu on Southwest Airlines? 

While we didn’t go to the expense of contracting with a major motion picture studio when we painted the Elyminator, considerable thought, design, and prep work went into our red and black-and-white checkered racing theme. 

Normally, aircraft paint shops remove old paint with chemical stripper before applying new coats. But Grummans are a bit different. Models like ours have bonded (glued) surfaces. Fewer rivet heads mean less drag and better performance. However, paint stripper could dissolve the bonding, so, we don’t use it. That means removal happens by hand sanding. It’s sanded wet, so the paint does not become dust, and that’s a lot of work. 

There’s also quite a process involved. Over the summer in 2011, we meticulously sanded the entire airplane, per our manufacturer’s maintenance manual. Wrapped in disposable paint overalls and masks, we got quite toasty during the July and August afternoons in the hangar that faced west. It took about 100 (wo)man-hours to sand it all.

Mike: Designing the paint scheme was the fun part. Linda wanted that racing look (plus the slightly sarcastic question on the belly, “Stuck In Traffic?”). I took the drawings for the airplane from the flight manual and created different designs and tried out various colors. With the final artwork in hand, we took it to a paint shop. Control surfaces (elevator, flaps) had to be removed to be painted, then balanced and reinstalled, requiring an FAA-certified airplane mechanic.

Unique paint schemes take time to create and apply, but eye-catching airplanes don’t fly different than others. Except maybe the 727 designed by Alexander Calder for Braniff for the 200th birthday of the United States of America. That airborne canvas was christened by Braniff, “Flying Colors of the United States,” but the crews who flew it called it “Sneaky Snake” because it had trim problems, which required them to hand-fly it a lot. Also, shortly before his death in 1976, artist Calder painted a little squiggly snake on an engine nacelle. 

Wet paint, of course, weighs more than dry paint. The number of layers is also a consideration for both the design and weight. The paint that goes onto our size airplane can weigh between 20 and 40 pounds. The paint that goes onto something like a Boeing 747, once it dries, would add between 500 to 550 pounds. But since that airplane weighs in at nearly a million pounds, I think it can handle it. 

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