Just a couple of thoughts as I finish up my most recent PA plane.

Finishing is always a balance between getting a finish that you are proud to display and keeping it light enough to not turn the plane into a hanger queen. (been there several times)  In this latest plane, I didn't have much of a finish budget since I went a bit overboard on structure. When I build a plane, like most of you, I try to make the structure as light a possible. But sometimes the desire to build a solid structure overwhelms our sense and the thing goes a bit overweight. This was certainly true with the latest beast. (but hey, it ain't going to flex) My projected weight for the new plane's airframe (structure only - no drive train or finish) was 22-24oz. I ended up at near 30. So, like every plane I build, I put the whole thing together prior to finish. Engine, take, pipe, wheels, prop, etc. Ready to fly. The all up weight prior to finish tells me what kind of finishing budget I have to work with. In this case, figuring a final weight "ready to fly" of absolutely no more than 56oz (less if I could get away with it), gave me a finishing budget of no more than 8oz. Wish now I would have used it all. My final weight looks to be about 53-54oz. That's great, but I'm far from happy with the finish. Because I was so concerned about keeping this guy in the weight range I needed for it to be a good flier, I went really thin on filler coat and paint (much as Sparky described previously). It doesn't look too bad and should be serviceable, but it's not the Concours winner it might have been. To make things worse, I shot the top coat on in way too cold and humid weather. So, predictably, I ended up with a lot of orange peel. I talked myself into believing that if I hit the topcoat with very slow reducer, it would delay drying and allow the paint to flow out and give me the slick finish I wanted. But things don't go as planned and I ended up with a lot of orange peel anyway. Since the color and substrate are already pretty thin and the topcoat was shot very conservatively (meaning it's really thin), I couldn't really sand out the peel as well as I would have liked, Sigh.... Even so, I still went through in a couple of spots.

But in the end, it's all a matter of priorities. Guys that can put on a killer finish that is also very light are to be admired. I elected to keep the finish light since a great flying plane that has a good but not excellent finish is a higher priority to me than a beautiful plane with a killer finish that doesn't fly as well.

I guess you pays your money and takes your chances.

Light is great, but there is a LOT to be said for durability and reliability - and that results in structural weight gain but (to a point) its worth it.  Finish weight gain is harder to justify, any finish over 8 oz is likely the result of bad choices or bad luck along the way.  Cote finishes can reduce your finish budget to 5 oz or less.

I have never been a light builder and with the quality of  balsa steadily deteriorating it ain't geting any better.  I am setting my sites on teh "Best Monocote" winner at Toledo.  Those birds would be 20 pointers...