Originally Posted by
Mad (Flt) Scientist
Since, simplistically, the weight of paint should be proportional to the aircraft external surface, and the actual aircraft weight itself proportional to the aircraft's volume, one might expect that with the paint being proportional to the square of a characteristic length, and the aircraft weight proportional to the cube of that length, then the proportion of an aircraft's weight represented by paint and finishes should actually decrease with aircraft size, and it's the little guys who should care most about paint mass and thicknesses....
I think there's a fault in your logic there.
If the aircraft were solid then I would be inclined to agree, however there's a lot of empty space inside your average aircraft.
As the a/c increases in size, the amount of empty space inside increases, so the "density" of mass is much lower for, say, a 747 than for a C152.
Now the surface area to be covered in paint will increase at a greater rate than the mass of the aircraft for a given volume.
I think anyway!
