Shine

OkieFlyer

OkieFlyer

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May 16, 2011
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Lindsay, OK
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Andrew L.
No it's not a thread about moonshine, sorry.

I was wondering what products and techniques work well for bringing some of the shine back to aircraft paint. I'm in the process of buying an old 182 with an old paint job. It has been hangared all it's life, but there is some oxidation. I don't have the cash to pop for a paint job, but I'd like to do what I can to make paint look as good as possible.

I'm guessing a good cleaner first (simple green?), Then a polishing compound of some sort, clean it again, then a good sealer/wax.

I've heard Henning talk about Collonite 845 wax. It sounds like good stuff for protection after it's all cleaned up.

What about the plexiglass?

Any help would be great. This will be my first plane, and a thorough cleaning will be at the top of the list when the deal is done (after I go drill a few holes in the sky of course).

-Andrew-
 
I don't have a whole lot of experience polishing aircraft, but don't use normal Simple Green. It's corrosive if I remember correctly. There is plexiglass polish made for aircraft windows. I've used the 210 polish before, and it works quite well. There are others here (and previous threads) that will help you better than I can.
 
I use 409 degreaser for the belly,plexus for the windscreen,and marine cleaner wax for the fuselage.
 
Are you going to use a machine buffer, or work by hand? A machine buffer spins a pad on a central shaft. Anything besides that is an "orbital" and not worth the money, they save me no work.

By hand, the clay bars work very well. Basically this is undisolved buffing compound. By being in this dense concentrated form, you can concentrate the effort. While you rub more than you would with paste and a pad, you don't push as hard.

With a buffer any more I use 3M Finesse It paste polish (dollop around on the surface with a brush), then I'll use a Finesse It or Perfect It series glaze. They aren't my favorites, but they are what is available. If I can find Liquid Ebony glaze locally I buy it.

The trick to glazing is knowing when to stop. You will have 'burned on' streaks of glaze left behind here and there, no worries, if they don't want to come off, leave them. The surface is fully glazed underneath, no need to burn the paint or glaze back over it. It will disappear in in the waxing or washing that comes next.

Most paste compound in a can I add a bit of water too, typically they are packaged a little thicker than I like. Use the buffer at at least 2800 rpm (I run em as fast as they go). I use a regular wool 2 sided SuperBuff pad for the compound/polish and the yellow lambs wool 2 sided SuperBuff pad for the glaze. I don't use the $30 extension/adapter for the SuperBuff pad, I buy a 7¢ 5/8" NC nut and spin it on the buffer shaft to leave the perfect depth of threads available for the SuperBuff pad to flush mount on.
 
Plexiglass I treat the same as paint. Polishing is polishing. If you have surface defects, Micromesh kits are wonderful.
 
Wash with Palmolive Dish Liquid in warm/hot water. Hook up your rinse hose to the hot water outlet tap. Nothing helps wash grease and grime away better than hot water. Also makes due waxing really fast. Wax on everything, rinse with hot water wiping with a mitt and it's done and dust/static free. That's how I'd do it before car shows.
 
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I appreciate the info guys.

Henning, I haven't really decided if I'm going to use a buffer or not. I think I'll see what I can do by hand first. If it's not aggressive enough, I may break out the Dewalt. Most of the plane isn't terribly chalky, but there are some areas that may take some real elbow grease. I don't have to have a mirror finish, and I don't think that's possible with the 1971 paint job, but I'll try to make the best of it.

I was thinking about painting the leading edges, as they are a little dinged up. I have and HVLP sprayer and conventional pneumatic sprayer, and I'm not afraid to use them, but I'm also not opposed to using a decent quality rattle can paint (if that's not an oxymoron). Any suggestions there?
 
OkieFlyer said:
I appreciate the info guys.

Henning, I haven't really decided if I'm going to use a buffer or not. I think I'll see what I can do by hand first. If it's not aggressive enough, I may break out the Dewalt. Most of the plane isn't terribly chalky, but there are some areas that may take some real elbow grease. I don't have to have a mirror finish, and I don't think that's possible with the 1971 paint job, but I'll try to make the best of it.

I was thinking about painting the leading edges, as they are a little dinged up. I have and HVLP sprayer and conventional pneumatic sprayer, and I'm not afraid to use them, but I'm also not opposed to using a decent quality rattle can paint (if that's not an oxymoron). Any suggestions there?
Click to expand...

Tape the plane, spray the leading edges a nice contrasting color with Tool Dip.:rofl: If you have a spray rig and know how to use it, the obvious answer it to buy some good paint and spray the leading edges. But then, you could save a lot of masking by painting the wings. Heck, you could save a bunch of masking and buffing work and just paint the plane...:rofl:;)

I have had pretty good luck with some of the epoxy spray bombs. Beautiful? Meh, does it stick to aluminum better than average? Yeah, pretty much.
 
Henning said:
Wash with Palmolive Dish Liquid in warm/hot water. Hook up your rinse hose to the hot water outlet tap. Nothing helps wash grease and grime away better than hot water. Also makes due waxing really fast. Wax on everything, rinse with hot water wiping with a mitt and it's done and dust/static free. That's how I'd do it before car shows.
Click to expand...

We don't have hot water at our little airport, but I do have some copper tubing, various scrap items, all the free propane I want, and an affinity for making functional stuff out of crap :)

Thanks
 
Try the detailing clay. I used McGuires from the autoparts store. You can feel as it hits and lifts the oxidized paint. It's simple and easy to use and the results were great on my plane's paint.

And if you get overspray on your plexi, well it works just as well with that too, don't ask how I know!
 
Henning said:
Tape the plane, spray the leading edges a nice contrasting color with Tool Dip.:rofl: If you have a spray rig and know how to use it, the obvious answer it to buy some good paint and spray the leading edges. But then, you could save a lot of masking by painting the wings. Heck, you could save a bunch of masking and buffing work and just paint the plane...:rofl:;)

I have had pretty good luck with some of the epoxy spray bombs. Beautiful? Meh, does it stick to aluminum better than average? Yeah, pretty much.
Click to expand...


Noted. When it does come time to paint the whole thing, I probably will do it myself. I don't think I could drop the kind of dough that these paint shops are asking, when I can do perhaps a marginally less professional looking job an pay no labor. Nobody takes a hard look at a 182 anyway, right. Good planes, but boring to look at for most, I'm sure. For now, I think she'll look okay with a little touchup and a buff. The main gear is chipped up pretty good as well. (d*mn gravel apron) Wouldn't bother me to hit that with some frickin rustoleum, lol. I don't want a total rag, but I'm more interested in putting money into turning the prop than turning heads.
 
iflyvfr said:
Try the detailing clay. I used McGuires from the autoparts store. You can feel as it hits and lifts the oxidized paint. It's simple and easy to use and the results were great on my plane's paint.

And if you get overspray on your plexi, well it works just as well with that too, don't ask how I know!
Click to expand...

Right on. I will definitely give the clay a try. Thanks.
 
OkieFlyer said:
We don't have hot water at our little airport, but I do have some copper tubing, various scrap items, all the free propane I want, and an affinity for making functional stuff out of crap :)

Thanks
Click to expand...

Add the guts from a broke BBQ and you have all the makings of a steam cleaner?:D:yesnod:
 
OkieFlyer said:
Right on. I will definitely give the clay a try. Thanks.
Click to expand...

The buffer is less work to me, but I've been slinging a buffer as long as I can remember. In the end you are doing the same work to the paint with the clay bar and your arm direct, or with a buffer adding 1/3rd of a horsepower in the middle. The buffer ads weight, the clay ads motion. The carrying the weight buys you a lot of time. In the end, the sum total of energy expended into the paint is the same. If you already own the buffer, and know how to use it, it doesn't make sense not to use it on a project the size of a plane.
 
OkieFlyer said:
We don't have hot water at our little airport, but I do have some copper tubing, various scrap items, all the free propane I want, and an affinity for making functional stuff out of crap :)

Thanks
Click to expand...

On second thought, if I could rig the plane to run on free propane...........
 
GoJo on the belly (or Goop...same difference)
Meguiars wash and wax in the wash bucket (or similar)
NuFinish on the windows (amazing stuff, removes scratches, far cheaper than any products made for aviation)
AVIATION simple green for stains
Wax once a year, at annual, with a good wax using 2 buffers, one to apply, one to buff after removing the majority with a soft towel

Plane stays looking great (Imron paint)

Whatever you do, don't use any cleaner that you haven't tested first by soaking a piece of skin in it for a week to make sure it's not corrosive (it's my understanding this is what the military does). Castor Super Clean, cleaner and degreaser, will eat a hole thru a sheet of aluminum in a week. Nasty stuff that should never even be allowed thru the airport gate.
 
O'rielly's or another chain auto parts store should carry a product called "Tr-3 resin glaze" which comes in a can that looks similar to mineral spirits. I have been using if for years. Absolutely works wonders for eating away oxidation. Just keep many many clean rags ready to go as they quickly turn the color of your paint. Follow the instructions after washing as clean as you can get it. I have brought lots of paint jobs back to life this way
 
Skyscraper said:
O'rielly's or another chain auto parts store should carry a product called "Tr-3 resin glaze" which comes in a can that looks similar to mineral spirits. I have been using if for years. Absolutely works wonders for eating away oxidation. Just keep many many clean rags ready to go as they quickly turn the color of your paint. Follow the instructions after washing as clean as you can get it. I have brought lots of paint jobs back to life this way
Click to expand...

MEK gives a similar result. It's not as nice, or long lasting, a solution as compound and glaze, but it's definitely not a bad result and can save a but load of work.
 
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