I’m not one to get excited by big planes but I love this video of Boeing building Southwest’s “Florida One”.

From the Southwest Airlines website:

Date unveiled: April 23, 2010
Process time: 8 days
Number of People: 32 over 3 shifts
Paint colors: 16
Total gallons: Approximately 46
Premask (stencil outline): 15 boxes or approximately 150 different pieces to create the logo

The challenge of this plane was to recreate the Flag Logo without the use of tools, using only the drawing for reference and the stencils for outline, while at the same time making both sides exactly symmetrical.

Slightly odd note at MetaFilter though, where someone points out that the plane being built is a 737-800 whereas the plane being painted is a 737-700.

Watch it again. The plane they build has two big chunky doors right above the wing. (They’re very conspicuous.) The plane they paint only has one big chunky above-the-wing door. (It’s very conspicuous after the paint has gone on.) Also, the plane they paint is conspicuously shorter. As well it should be, since it’s a different plane.

I suppose it’s easier to get all the footage as a composite but I’m a little bit disappointed.

But not so disappointed that I’m not going to watch it again!