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