Aluminum polish

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Pre-takeoff checklist
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glbtrottr
So a recent a web article states it takes between 50 and 100 hours.

Do you have a polished bird? What’s your experience?

70’s vintage 172.


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I owned a polished Sonex before the one I have now. Used Nuvite products. The Sonex is 6061 so not sure how Nuvite works on anything else. But having owned a polished airplane I agree with my friend that has a beautiful Luscombe when he said, "every pilot should own a polished airplane ... once!" :)
 
I have a polished Ercoupe
I use nuvite 2 stages (C and S)
Takes about 2-3 half days of 2 people working on it to get it polished.
But it definitely looks good!
0000113551.jpg
 
I just discovered how satisfying real polishing can be (on my truck). Now I want to polish everything. The plane needs paint... maybe I’ll just strip and polish her too!
 
I can barely find the energy to polish the spinner.
 
A few years ago I spent 4 solid days helping a friend polish a Cessna 195 to get it ready for a local airshow. In the middle of the show we got a freak 15 minute rain shower. Unable to dry all the water beads off, the plane was left covered in water spots wasting those 4 days of hard work. Ill never own a polished airplane.
 
kmacht said:
A few years ago I spent 4 solid days helping a friend polish a Cessna 195 to get it ready for a local airshow. In the middle of the show we got a freak 15 minute rain shower. Unable to dry all the water beads off, the plane was left covered in water spots wasting those 4 days of hard work. Ill never own a polished airplane.
Click to expand...
If you want to do a good job either on a polished plane or on paint, you need to do it out of the sun and rain (i.e., in the hangar).
 
Here's mine. I used the Nuvite system. The initial polish started from standard 6061 T6 and took about 100 hours. Used three stages. The first two stages were done with a 7" orbital sander from Harbor Freight. Finished using the dual head cyclo polisher (a must for a final finish, IMO).

Now I run the cyclo polisher over it (dry or with just a little polish) two to three times a year. Takes me about an hour to go over the entire plane (note I did not polish the underside of the wings or fuse).

Your plane has a different metal so you should check to see which polish may work best.

Also, "polishing" is somewhat of a misnomer. What you are doing is burnishing. After reading a bunch about it I still do not understand it. I can tell you that I run the cyclo over the edge of my 3m vinyl graphics and it doesn't mark it at all. How can it shine metal but not touch thin vinyl? No idea....
Polished plane.jpg
 
Sport Aviation had an article buy a guy who maintains a Spartan Executive. Gorgeous airplane, you can barely look at it as it shines so. He said that polishing is never done, you're always polishing. What really got my attention was when he began discussing the crap that accumulates around the rivets. Dirt, old polish, bug gut and other assorted stuff. 4,000 hours just for the rivets.

Most of the polished aircraft I've seen are poorly maintained. To me polish is in for a penny, in for a pound. If it isn't really really shiny it isn't worth it.
 
How many of you stripped and polished your own airplane? Curious about your experience.

Live in SoCal, airplane is hangared


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