Angier -

I originally wanted to paint my 360 the "Ferrari Red" color that N320L used
to have.  I I even sent a letter to Lancair asking if they knew what the skin
temperature would be if I painted it that color (or any other color).  I
received a well-thought out letter from Lance himself describing the
difficulties in predicting an average (or peak) skin temperature on the
aircraft, which concluded with the recommendation that "light colors are
best".  (My brief summary does not do it justice -- it really was a detailed
letter.)

Since that time, as part of the Columbia certififcation effort, Lancair was
forced to conduct extensive tests on precisely this issue.  I'm told that
they discovered (to their surprise) that their original recommendations were
more conservative than they needed to be, and that colors other than white
might not be a problem after all.  I don't know if anyone up there in Bend
has time to share the test results with us, but my recollection of the
conversation was that any color you wanted was just fine, with the possible
exception of the top wing skin near the wing root (where the bending loads
are highest and the load carrying member -- the spar cap -- is very close to
the skin).

My wife informs me that "our" airplane will be green-and-cream, which looked
very nice on one of the other factory airplanes, too...

On a personal note, I would love to sample the Hamilton MA BBQ claim, and see
how your project (and new house) are coming along.  My wife is agitating for
a trip out there for Thanksgiving.  I'll keep you posted.

- Rob Wolf