Meanwhile, 2005 Winner Enjoys His Thunderbirds-Inspired Glastar

AeroGraphics Design announced this week they will again exhibit at the Lakeland Fly-In this April. AeroGraphics Design will be in space SW-007 in the South Exhibit area, near Wittman pond and the exhibit buildings -- the same location the company exhibited at in 2005.

"We will again be providing daily demonstrations of various techniques such as vinyl-applique and spray mask use at our exhibit space, and I am scheduled to give several educational forums." said AeroGraphics president John L. Knolla. 

The forum presentations will provide technical information about paint and graphic scheme design and the installation\use of vinyl graphics and spray masks, as well as time for questions and answers.

The forum schedule is listed as follows:

• Installation of Vinyl Graphics\Spray Masks. Tuesday, April 4, Tent 1 1:00PM
• Paint Scheme and Graphics Design. Wednesday, April 5, Tent 1 12:00PM
• Installation of Vinyl Graphics\Spray Masks. Saturday, April 8, Tent 1 12:00PM
• Paint Scheme and Graphics Design. Sunday, April 9, Tent 1 10:00AM

Also as part of its plans, AeroGraphics Design will once again raffle off a complete graphics package, with the winner to be announced at the end of the show. That winner will be able to select from either a growing selection of "off-the-shelf" graphics packages, or choose to have a complete custom graphics package designed specifically for their aircraft -- in applique or paint mask format, up to an $1800 value (not including installation).

Perhaps best of all, there's no hurry should the winner wish to take their time in selecting a graphics package -- or, should they want to apply the graphics to an airplane they may not have just yet. The winner can take up to 18 months to pick colors and take delivery, according to Knolla.

Speaking of sweepstakes winners, Knolla also told Aero-News his company recently completed the 2005 sweepstakes winner's aircraft, a Glastar belonging to Herman Leong of Henderson, NV. The previously all-white Glastar is now bedecked in a graphics design that pays homage to the Air Force Thunderbirds.

"We are very pleased to present this package to Herman and trust it will provide him with years of enjoyment on his well built Glastar," said Knolla, adding he worked with Leong via e-mail and telephone through several patriotic design iterations until Leong eventually settled on the Thunderbird scheme.

Leong also took advantage of the relaxed time requirement, opting to have the graphics package installed after he completed his new hangar at Cal-Nev-Ari/Kidwell Airport.

"It looks great!" Leong said during the installation, which Knolla and installer Lupe Sandoval completed onsite at Leong's hangar. The graphics package on Leong's aircraft (photos above and below) is valued at approximately $1600.

"We really enjoyed using nearly all of our "bag-of-tricks" on this package, such as computer cut vinyl for the N Numbers, Service Markings and Stars and Bars, digital prints for the Thunderbird logos, and even hand-cutting and trimming on the aircraft -- which is an art in itself," Knolla said.

It took about 11 hours for Knolla and Sandoval to complete the graphics installation, spanning one and a half days to complete.

FMI: www.aerographicsdesign.com