I’ve booked my PA28 in for a bare metal respray in November but has anybody have experience of Aircraft wrapping?
The video shows how it is applied to a car on the second link. It says 3M have products for certified aircraft but how long would this last? – Some websites also say that rivets are no problem but I can imagine ACF-50 leaking through seams from the inside.
In my case I think I’ll stick to paint but I was wondering if anybody did this in the UK? Perhaps a wrap over the front glass fibre cowlings would cover up the crazing in the gel coat? Alternatively my front spat is always getting stone chipped. Perhaps a wrap on this area only would last longer than paint?
TBH I find the whole thing terrifying as I can imagine large sheets peeling off in flight and then wrapping around the control surfaces but it is obviously a product used on real Aircraft so this can’t be an issue.
CAT a/c have used these for many years.
Yes, if done badly, it can certainly peel off…
Lots of logos and tail numbers are done in this to prevent the need for repainting if sold and a new number needs to go on. If done properly it tends to just degrade rather than peel off ie edges are worn due to abrasion etc – a much bigger problem on something doing Mach .78 rather than 140 knots.
We used small amounts of vinyl to put sponsor logos on a club-owned A210, which still looks good a few years later. I’ve looked at this to cover and protect the leading edges on a fabric aircraft, but our maintenance people were very scathing about it.
A friend of mine used to be the SoCal sales rep for these films and 3M do indeed have aviation-specific films. Widely used in the CAT world.
My TB20 – Tail and registration done in vinyl, holds for several years (the reg was done back in 2012, still there)
Guimbal Cabri wrap done by the same guy
Easy and cheap solution, would recommend for aircraft registrations to make sure it can be easily changed on sale of the aircraft.
What is meant by “wrapping”?
My tail number is stuck on too, but it was done by a signwriting firm which cut the letters out with some sort of computer-controlled cutter, and stuck them on. No “wrapping” was involved.
I can imagine that if you want to get a very large logo, or something which is reverse-printed (so the printing doesn’t wear off) then you have to produce a large adhesive sheet with it and stick that on.
But you aren’t wrapping the whole aircraft.
There is a big business with cars, where a clear and tough protective film is stuck over basically the entire lower part of the car, protecting it from stone chips. Yesterday I was looking at a Porsche which had that stuff stuck all over it. I doubt it comes off easily…
Look at the helicopter above – this is what I mean when I talk about wrapping – the helicopter is painted white but the whole front part (i.e. everything except tail) is wrapped in orange vinyl foil (I think from 3M), which has some printing on it. To make it absolutely clear – the orange stuff is not paint but foil – a wrap.
This picture illustrates how it looked before the foil wrap was applied…
