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    I like baking cakes, wedding cakes especially. It's a hobby of mine. I've been doing this for almost 30 years, about as long as I've been applying markings to pavement. This weekend I'm making a wedding cake for some friends. When I took an inventory of the supplies I have accumulated, I realized I didn't have a few things I would need to make this cake! I guess I could have improvised, but with my reputation at stake, I decided to spend the money to do it right, which is saving me time and headaches. Both of these "hats" will be the top tier; even the flowers are handmade, requiring special supplies and equipment. But it's worth it.

    So why am I telling you all this? I can assure you it's not to get more business making wedding cakes! It's about having the right tools and equipment for the job.

    Equipment designed to paint airfield markings is specialized, and it should be. After all, runway markings are large (centerline bars and side lines are three feet wide; others up to 30-feet wide and 150-feet long), and laying down the paint in three foot passes makes it go fast. There are some who try to improvise with equipment designed to paint highways; but it often ends up looking like the job was done with equipment designed to paint highways. Go figure! Pictured is a truck using two paint guns and two bead guns. Raised high to paint an 18-inch wide pass, the guns have to spray more paint and beads than they are designed for. The glass bead guns are raised up so high and pointed backwards to cast a high arc of beads over the paint, that even a slight wind blows them away. Of course there are ways of making this work and even doing a good job; but it requires the equipment to move more slowly and making twice as many passes to get it done. Many airports cannot afford to allow for twice as much time to complete a striping project.

    There are ways to make sure your airport gets the right tools for the job: specify the equipment be designed to apply airfield markings in a three-foot pass. And then pay attention to uniform coverage and material usage. If you're going to the expense of maintaining the markings, it's best to have the right tools and equipment to do the job well and in the shortest amount of time.

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