Soda Blasting, Polish, Vinyl Wrap

J

JB1842

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Josh
So my 150 has the original 1975 paint job, with a few touched up areas. It looks it's age. I'm thinking of soda blasting the paint off, polish the aluminum, and then putting a colored vinyl wrap around the cowl and down the sides, or putting clear vinyl over the majority of it after I polish. I've read a few posts on these topics, but I'm wondering if anybody has any recent experience with any of these 3 things. And please no comments on how I will always be polishing it. It's also in a hangar, so I don't need to worry about the vinyl fading within a few years.
 
I think that after putting the initial effort into polishing an aircraft it would be a travesty to either clear coat or vinyl wrap it. The long term result would be a mess and require you to put as much, or more, effort than initially invested into it all over again.

A coat of good wax and a bit of yearly maintenance would be much better. You'll find that with regular care the shine just gets better as the years go by and you don't need to exert anything remotely close to what it took to initially get that shine on.
 
Vinyl is not anywhere near as tough as aluminum. Anytime you have to rub a splattered bug or bit of grime off of it you're going to induce scratches that can't be polished out. It might work for a static display but not a flying airplane. Same goes for clear coat, eventually it will break down and begin to deteriorate whereas the bare polished aluminum with a moderate amount of maintenance will maintain and even improve over the years.

EDIT: I may as well add this - few airplanes are worthy of the toil that is required to polish them. The 150, isn't really one of them. The Luscombe, the Swift, marginally the 140 and 170. Basically, the less slab sided, the more curved, the better for polish. Flat areas are both hard to do and don't look particularly great when you're done.
 
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Are you thinking you're the first guy that ever asked this question? Since you're close, spend a few days at OSH and count the number of polished planes and note the number with a wrap or clear coat. Then ask yourself why.

JB1842 said:
Why is that? A good vinyl wrap is air and water tight unless it gets a tear or hole in it.
Click to expand...
 
JB1842 said:
Why is that? A good vinyl wrap is air and water tight unless it gets a tear or hole in it.
Click to expand...

Cessna found out the hard way when the stuck sound deadening material to the inside of some skins. Eventually water will find its way in, it will corrode and if it is under the colored part you will not see it.

Hell this part was even painted!
942090_10152007582208712_1368846986_n.jpg
 
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