Before I had even bought the new airplane, I knew I where I would want to have it painted. My RV-14A was painted by Evoke in Gadsden, AL back in 2021. They did a magnificent job. I definitely wanted this new plane to get the same treatment. The only problem is that they have a two year waiting list.
I reached out to Jonathan McCormick at Evoke hoping to get a little sooner spot since I was a two time customer. Turns out that Lester had already reserved a spot for the fall of 2025 and I could keep that spot. Woo hoo!
I won’t sugar coat it, Evoke costs a lot of money and is not fast. Having said that, there is no doubt in my mind that they are totally worth every penny and the long wait. They are meticulous in their prep work and are true artists with paint. There is a reason that the planes they paint win awards at the big airshows (Osh Kosh and Sun n Fun) every year.
Besides the great results that they create there is another reason why I would never take my airplane to any other paint shop: Customer Service. I got to work with Autumn Baugh who is one of their very talented designers. She offered lots of suggestions and even was willing to tell me when one of my ideas wouldn’t look good. She sent me countless revisions and made all the tiny changes I asked for. When it was time to take the plane to Alabama, I got to meet with her and Jonathan and review everything. We had a great lunch at Local Joe’s BBQ. Jonathan commented that my new plane was one of the best RV-10 builds he had ever seen (I wonder if he says that to every customer).
BTW, Evoke has a YouTube channel and they do some really cool videos that document what it takes to paint airplanes. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/@EvokeAviation
Here are pictures of the airplane in Gadsden (Sept 2025). I expect it to be ready by February 2026.
Local Joe’s BBQ is really good.
In case you are wondering what the paint job will look like…
I asked them to use the same colors and scheme that they used on my RV-14A. I made a few very minor changes but it will look almost exactly like my old airplane. While perhaps not as edgy as some of the designs they have done, I really like the classic under-stated design.
