Weight of Paint

We teach a few groups of kids about airplanes each year and part of the discussion is always the four forces of flight and later some airplane tours.  My airplane is not painted and I always tell them that paint adds weight.  Does anyone have a before paint and after paint weight of their Zenith?  For this purpose model does not matter, just looking for a reasonable number for our students.

THANKS

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Permalink Reply by Gary Welch on May 8, 2023 at 10:32pm

There is discussions on this at Van's Air Force forum. Depending on the aircraft, the weight added is in the 20 to 25 lb range, if I recall correctly. It was for this reason I went with a polished aircraft, with a small amount of vinyl wrap.

Permalink Reply by François Balaux on May 13, 2023 at 7:46am

Thanks for the info Gary

Permalink Reply by Bob Simmons on May 13, 2023 at 6:10pm

I thought of polishing my plane, but the weight of the polisher exceeded the gross weight capacity of my arms.

Permalink Reply by Peter Eiberger on May 17, 2023 at 2:24pm

According to the build-sheet on the Cessna 150 I owned, the optional paint added 18lbs to the finished plane.

I went with partial paint/partial polish, never weighed before/after. 

Permalink Reply by John Burns on June 3, 2023 at 8:49pm

Thanks for the help.  For simplicity we will call it 20 pounds.  I will have to see if our club 172E has a weight for the paint in the weight an balance.  I also skipped the paint to save weight and valuable flying time.

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