Look in your airframe log to check your paint if it might have been repainted before- – or to see what was original.
Our Bolkow originally had 3 colours, 2 specified as Volkswagen, one as Toyota, so presumably standard car paint.
(Fabric paint is very different – paint MUST flex.)
We’ve at least another two weeks of idling on the ground. So, I thought I would report back the progress on the topic.
Regarding cleaning the plane, the suggestion to use soap and water is good and obvious. I have done it in the past and results are satisfactory. That made me think that I should have chosen the topic some like ‘bring shine to the plane’ :)
Someone on the forum suggested to use Liqui Molly products and I went for those. You could see the product catalog on their site ;-) I found SpeedWax good for not-yet-dull surface. For waxing, Pain Restorer product might be good. I am new to polishing and can’t exactly yet if I am doing it right. I will keep experimenting.
I also found out that after simple cleaning the bugs spots become more visible and require much more effort to get rid of.
There is a recent discussion on MS forum about easy ceramic coating. It might be worthwhile to try it out but I need get the surface shining first.
I’m now considering putting a ceramic coating on. There are a few same type aircraft owner’s who’ve been using it for a few years and have good things to say (this includes the fabric). I’m going to give it a good wash and touch up some spots on the struts beforehand then make a decision.
There is a company here in the UK that will do all this in one day for about £600. Sounds like a plan to me.
Buckerfan, are you saying that somebody will ceramic coat an airplane in the UK for 600? This seems awfully cheap if you know the work that goes into it. It isnt the cost of the ceramic or applying it, it is prepping the surface properly. This could take days – look at the videos linked to by Snoopy – this guy spends a lot of very long days getting an airplane ready for ceramic.
If someone is looking for a reason to wax their plane, the Cafe Foundation did some research on the subject.
Cafe Foundation link:
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You don’t have permission to access this resource.
Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.”
Best for someone to download the PDF and drop it into the forum. You can do PDFs, as well as pictures.
Apparently, that site prohibits hotlinking. I was able to access this document by going to http://cafe.foundation > RESEARCH (on top) > CAFE Reports (right) > Wax Effects on Drag (in the body). Here it is:
Wax_Job_with_PICT_pdf
