Duncan Aviation’s Paint Layout Technician III Sadie Jones and Senior Lead Designer Molly Pfeiffer have created a stunning shark-themed paint scheme on a Challenger 604
Duncan Aviation’s extensive MRO capability includes modern aircraft paint facilities at its sites in Battle Creek, Michigan; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Provo, Utah. While most business jets emerge from a paint refresh in ‘white with stripes’, in recent years the industry has seen more owners opting for something a little more distinctive.
That was the case at Provo, when a Challenger 604 owner wanted a shark theme for his aircraft’s new paint scheme. Working with Paint Layout Technician III Sadie Jones, Molly Pfeiffer, Duncan’s Senior Lead Designer, sketched out a series of playful ideas, including a cartoon-like ‘pixellated’ wraparound scheme. Pfeiffer ultimately moved towards a more realistic rendering as part of a superficially simpler overall scheme.
Jones, meanwhile, used the ‘pixellation’ to help with colour blending and depicting the array of blue shades in the water where the fin breaks the surface. Working on a test panel, she created the fin and water effect, so impressing the aircraft owner that the mock-up now graces his office. Back at the aircraft, masks and drawings from Pfeiffer’s final renderings were used to prepare the aircraft for painting.
‘White and stripes’ might well be a regular commission for Jones, but in the case of this Challenger the blue and grey stripes flow from the nose gear doors, along the fuselage sides and under the engine nacelles to meet the ‘water’ on the fin. Precise adjustment applied to the masking on-site ensured the stripes matched the aircraft contours perfectly while achieving the desired precise, flowing effect. Shark fins were also applied to the inside of the aircraft’s winglets, a reminder for passengers of the spectacular aircraft they are flying in.