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Pirep on vinyl

Mark33

Well Known Member
Hi gang! I?m looking to get a pirep from anyone that?s used vinyl on their project. Im planning on painting my entire airplane one solid color and then using vinyl for the accent stripes. It would be interesting to hear from anyone that?s wrapped their entire airplane in vinyl and how it?s held up over time, but I?m primarily interested in hearing from people that?s used vinyl for their accent striping. Also, can it be applied to flat area...such as the side of the fuselage or on top of the wings? In other words, how well does it work in an area where the leading edge of the vinyl doesn?t have anything to wrap/tuck under? Will air have a tendency to get under it and rip it loose or get air bubbles under it?

Thanks for the input!!

Mark
 
Hi gang! I?m looking to get a pirep from anyone that?s used vinyl on their project. Im planning on painting my entire airplane one solid color and then using vinyl for the accent stripes. It would be interesting to hear from anyone that?s wrapped their entire airplane in vinyl and how it?s held up over time, but I?m primarily interested in hearing from people that?s used vinyl for their accent striping. Also, can it be applied to flat area...such as the side of the fuselage or on top of the wings? In other words, how well does it work in an area where the leading edge of the vinyl doesn?t have anything to wrap/tuck under? Will air have a tendency to get under it and rip it loose or get air bubbles under it?

Thanks for the input!!

Mark

My RV7A is wrapped (except for the fibreglass parts) and is holding up well after 3 years and 160+ hrs of flight time. It lives is a hangar. It is easy to clean. Bevan.

wkjp1y.jpg
 
Mark. This is my exact plan also. I've been thinking about it for years. And going to paint this summer. Silver then do vinyl stripes and decals.

I'd love to hear any tips or suggestions you gather along the way.
 
Bevan,

Man, I love that design...that?s a really pretty bird!!

Thanks! Just to be clear. Other than the fiberglass parts, all the white and black is 3m 1080 vinyl applied directly to cleaned alclad. The skins were NOT primered first. The interior is primed but that's another story.

The design was cut with knifeless tape from solid color metallic black and bright white. No sharp tools ever touched the metal skins. This was my first vinyl project. Total weight of the vinyl is calculated to be about 17lb as I recall.

So far so good.

Bevan
 
Thanks! Just to be clear. Other than the fiberglass parts, all the white and black is 3m 1080 vinyl applied directly to cleaned alclad. The skins were NOT primered first. The interior is primed but that's another story.

The design was cut with knifeless tape from solid color metallic black and bright white. No sharp tools ever touched the metal skins. This was my first vinyl project. Total weight of the vinyl is calculated to be about 17lb as I recall.

So far so good.

Bevan

Bevan,
I?m a little scared to apply vinyl directly to the aluminum and that?s why I?m planning on a good solid basic white paint job and using the vinyl for the graphics. Priming instead of painting may be another option. How long has you vinyl been on? You haven?t seen any sighs of corrosion?


LoooFuzz,
I?m planning on bringing everything to a local painter before final assembly and have it sprayed using base coat/clear coat. I?ll probably go with solid white. I think I?ll be able to get a very good paint job and get paint into every crack and crevice, then I?ll bring it back to the hangar for final assembly. I want to approach it like as if I were restoring a classic car. I really like the idea to be able to change things up and apply different graphics if I ever want to.
 
Moderator, can you please move this thread to the “RV General discussion”?

Thank you.
 
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Last edited by scrollF4 : Today at 04:20 PM. Reason: As you wish. (Quick... name the movie!)

Wesley? Is that you?

Scroll: Yes, but I prefer Dread Pirate Roberts.
 
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I have always had concerns about the vinyl partially letting go inflight and creating excess stress to crucial part of the airframe. Has this ever occurred and is it addressed by the manufacturers of these products?
 
Concerns about vinyl

I have always had concerns about the vinyl partially letting go inflight and creating excess stress to crucial part of the airframe. Has this ever occurred and is it addressed by the manufacturers of these products?

I just spoke to one the guys here on the forum (dbc12) on the phone and asked him this exact question. He said that he?s had vinyl graphics on his airplane for about 15 years now and has never had any problems with it. As a matter of fact, he said that he just changed up some of his graphics and the old vinyl was still holding fast and required a heat gun to remove it. He also said the the newer vinyls are even better than the old vinyl that he removed.
 
Bevan,
I?m a little scared to apply vinyl directly to the aluminum and that?s why I?m planning on a good solid basic white paint job and using the vinyl for the graphics. Priming instead of painting may be another option. How long has you vinyl been on? You haven?t seen any sighs of corrosion?

No signs of corrosion. It?s been on for three years now. Nothing has come loose/off other than a little here/there that I?ve taken off. Not expecting anything coming loose as all the seams are facing aft or down. It looks like paint, most people can?t tell it?s not paint until they realize the finish is too perfect/uniform to be paint.

If you prime/paint first, there will be no weight savings, cost savings, or time savings. Almost no reason left to put vinyl on at that point other than for trim and the ident numbers.

Bevan
 
I?ve been really happy with my vinyl so far. People gather around my airplane now. I just flew it in a nasty rain storm yesterday and the vinyl held up great nothing came loose or even looked any different.

It?s inky been done a few months but very happy so far.
If someone wants to post pics for me I?d be happy to post some.
Cstockbird at aolsot com I?ll send pics
 
RV-7 has been flying since November, about 100 hours on it now. Initially my plan was to vinyl wrap the whole thing. However, I ran into issues on the really tight curves around the cowling inlets and the tips of the horizontal stab, elevators, vertical stab, and rudder. After fully covering those, I was not happy with the results and peeled it off. Sent the cowlings, wing tips, wheel pants, vertical stab, rudder, horizontal stab, and elevators off to a real paint shop and had them professionally painted.

The rest of the aircraft including, the wings, flaps, ailerons, fuselage, and all fairings are fully wrapped in 3M 1080 Gloss White. The 3M white is extremely bright. Did not realize how bright it was until the paint shop tried to match it to matterhorn and other common whites. The wings are wrapped in two pieces each, with a seam about 6 inches behind the leading edge on the bottom. The fuselage is mainly 3 pieces, one left, one right, and one on the belly, with seams on the belly and one directly on the top which is only a couple feet long from the canopy slider track to the empennage fairing.

The stripes and checkers were applied using knifeless tape to mask out the design, then applying 3M 1080 Gloss Sterling Silver, and 3M 1080 Gloss Dark Red. I highly recommend the knifeless tape, this stuff is great. The 3M 1080 vinyl is also great, super forgiving to mistakes and very easy to work with.

The entire vinyl wrap looks good, but isn't perfect (done by a first time vinyl wrapper). The one thing that bugs me is the cowl paint and the vinyl white are a shade off, like i said before, the 3M white is EXTREMELY BRIGHT white. No issues with peeling so far, I flew through some heavy rain and it did chew up a little bit of the vinyl around the windshield, which has since been fixed. Vinyl was applied directly to the bare aluminum skin. I have absolutely no worries whatsoever about the vinyl coming off in flight or corrosion developing underneath. It would be impossible for any air or moisture to get underneath.

Overall, I'm happy with the final result, spent around $1500 on vinyl and it is supposedly lighter than paint, although I have no numbers to prove that. However, if I were to do it again, I would just paint the entire aircraft white and then use knifeless tape to create the vinyl stripes.


ywsdCNA.png


LMjrM8t.png
 
I used that 3 m 1080 vinyl wrap (white ) on my 2008 Dodge Ram and it?s slightly whiter but very livable. (Hardly noticeable) So if anyone was looking for a very close white I?d say that?s the one to try.
 
Are the checkerboards on the tail and wings small squares of vinyl or printed? Cover it all with the black and then knifeless tape? Looks nice!

Thank you, All just layered vinyl, nothing printed except for the American Flag decal. Checkerboards done by laying out knifeless tape then a big sheet of vinyl and peeling out the extra squares with the tape.
 
I have been on the fence with Vinyl, but I had a thought today while reading this post.

My scheme has 4 colors, and a lot of black pinstriping between colors to give it a little extra punch. In paint, that will cost dearly. I watched a 3 wire knifeless tape video today about butt joints with a pinstripe covering. It looks perfect for my application. Last up, I really wanted Pearl White instead of Aviation white, but I found a source for that as well, so there go those reasons against vinyl.

For the people that have worked with it, what do you think of the idea of covering the stabilizer first, see if I like the results, and then proceed?

If I don't like it, can I remove it without issue and revert to paint?

One last question, how do you handle semi-hidden areas like the ends of control surfaces, or hinged areas (between ailerons and wings, stabilzier and elevator, etc.)?
 
Another question, did you take the tanks off and cover them separately from the wings or run the vinyl over both with the tanks on? If I could cover the cowl, would heat be a problem? I?m also planning to try some small parts first, if they don?t work out how hard is it to remove? The blue film on Vans parts can be a bear to get off sometimes and I suppose 1080 sticks better?
 
RV-7 has been flying since November, about 100 hours on it now. Initially my plan was to vinyl wrap the whole thing. However, I ran into issues on the really tight curves around the cowling inlets and the tips of the horizontal stab, elevators, vertical stab, and rudder. After fully covering those, I was not happy with the results and peeled it off. Sent the cowlings, wing tips, wheel pants, vertical stab, rudder, horizontal stab, and elevators off to a real paint shop and had them professionally painted.

The rest of the aircraft including, the wings, flaps, ailerons, fuselage, and all fairings are fully wrapped in 3M 1080 Gloss White. The 3M white is extremely bright. Did not realize how bright it was until the paint shop tried to match it to matterhorn and other common whites. The wings are wrapped in two pieces each, with a seam about 6 inches behind the leading edge on the bottom. The fuselage is mainly 3 pieces, one left, one right, and one on the belly, with seams on the belly and one directly on the top which is only a couple feet long from the canopy slider track to the empennage fairing.

The stripes and checkers were applied using knifeless tape to mask out the design, then applying 3M 1080 Gloss Sterling Silver, and 3M 1080 Gloss Dark Red. I highly recommend the knifeless tape, this stuff is great. The 3M 1080 vinyl is also great, super forgiving to mistakes and very easy to work with.

The entire vinyl wrap looks good, but isn't perfect (done by a first time vinyl wrapper). The one thing that bugs me is the cowl paint and the vinyl white are a shade off, like i said before, the 3M white is EXTREMELY BRIGHT white. No issues with peeling so far, I flew through some heavy rain and it did chew up a little bit of the vinyl around the windshield, which has since been fixed. Vinyl was applied directly to the bare aluminum skin. I have absolutely no worries whatsoever about the vinyl coming off in flight or corrosion developing underneath. It would be impossible for any air or moisture to get underneath.

Overall, I'm happy with the final result, spent around $1500 on vinyl and it is supposedly lighter than paint, although I have no numbers to prove that. However, if I were to do it again, I would just paint the entire aircraft white and then use knifeless tape to create the vinyl stripes.


ywsdCNA.png


LMjrM8t.png

Man, that is one pretty airplane...clean, simple, and elegant!! That?s exactly what I?m waiting to accomplish with mine. Like I said in an earlier post, my plan is to paint the entire thing white and do my graphics/stripes with the vinyl....just like you said that you?d do if you were to do it again. I hope you don?t mind, but I might steal your design!! :)
 
... I watched a 3 wire knifeless tape video today about butt joints with a pinstripe covering. It looks perfect for my application. Last up, I really wanted Pearl White instead of Aviation white, but I found a source for that as well ...

I'm curious which video you found helpful, and also where you found the pearl white you're referring to. I have an off-white color (light almond color as the paint shop nick-named it) that I need for a base color, not sure I will find anything close in stock vinyl colors, so I had been considering having something custom printed (which would be pretty pricey I think). If I can find something close enough I may compromise a little though.
 
I'm curious which video you found helpful, and also where you found the pearl white you're referring to. I have an off-white color (light almond color as the paint shop nick-named it) that I need for a base color, not sure I will find anything close in stock vinyl colors, so I had been considering having something custom printed (which would be pretty pricey I think). If I can find something close enough I may compromise a little though.

Here is the Pearl White:
https://www.metrorestyling.com/3M-1080-SP10-Satin-Pearl-White-Vinyl-Wrap-p/satin1080sp10.htm

I didn't bother to see if it was the best source yet, but it is a standard 3M 1080 product.

for the video go here:
https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/graphics-signage-us/knifeless-tapes/
and scroll down to the "3M Knifeless Tape Instructional Videos", and watch the "3M Knifeless Tape - Butt joints" video.
 
Metro is good I used them too. Prices are great customer service is lacking. They even forgot some items (small items) but didn?t care at all. I don?t jniw that any vinyl supplier is actually better though and they ship super fast and free over $99.
 
For knifeless tape the 3m breaks more often but cuts (curves) cleaner than the wrap cut brand. The wrap cut brand is a actual wire though and it very strong. Yet harder in tight curves. Which one to use depends on how thick your vinyl is, I used Avery diamond vinyl and the 3m finish line had a tough time with it and the 3 m design line was useless, broke constantly.
 
PPG DC concept base paint and vinyl stripes

Not a fancy scheme but 10 years and 460 hours and still looks as good as new. Photo taken last week, aircraft is hangared.

view


Figs
 
Just the graphics

The white is PPG Concept 2 stage auto paint (just base no clearcoat), all the graphics are vinyl graphics from Aerographics who were great to work with.
Figs
 
I painted both my planes yellow and white and had a sign shop do the black and blue colors. If you ever painted checks you know how much easier it is to have the sign shop do the rudder in vinyl.

The 9 good for 11 years so far with new owner. The 12 working on 3rd year. I make sure the stripes are wide enough to cover up the lines separating the white and yellow with a little bock sanding along line to cut down on the ridge. Even so it does clearly show through the vinyl. The new vinyl is much better without bubble problems.


 
I painted both my planes yellow and white and had a sign shop do the black and blue colors. If you ever painted checks you know how much easier it is to have the sign shop do the rudder in vinyl.

The 9 good for 11 years so far with new owner. The 12 working on 3rd year. I make sure the stripes are wide enough to cover up the lines separating the white and yellow with a little bock sanding along line to cut down on the ridge. Even so it does clearly show through the vinyl. The new vinyl is much better without bubble problems.




Very nice!! The more that I hear and see about doing the graphics in vinyl, the more I?m convinced that that?s the way to go.
 
I have wrapped my wings and discovered that the screw heads will pucker the vinyl when you torque them down. I'm not crazy about using tinnerman screws on my tanks - what is everyone else doing here?
 
How much vinyl is required to wrap a plane? Not including striping and extra details. Can anybody say how much they purchased and used?

Thanks
 
I did my checkers by hand and let me tell you it was not an easy task. The Whole rudder with graphics and n number is hand cut actually.
Vansrv6.com for pics
 
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