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Strip and polish wings

rph142

Well Known Member
Just curious here. How hard would it be to strip and polish my wings? They were shot with Stewart Sysyems. Would it be impossible to remove paint from around the rivets? For some reason I can't stop tinkering with my plane.
 
In the spirit of your paint job perhaps you should just strip one wing, or a portion of a wing:D
 
It probably depends on whether or not the wings were acid etched prior to painting. That removes some of the alclad, which is only a bit more than 0.001" thick. And was the alclad sanded through anywhere? If so it will have a different finish when polished than the alcladed alumium.
 
I did acid etch and light to moderate scrub with scotch bright pads before shooting primer. Is it possible to polish out the etch and scotch bright finish?
 
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Rob, you have the coolest paint job EVER! DON'T do it! (Even my wife likes your current paint scheme!)

I didn't paint my plane until two years in and one of the reasons I painted it was because polishing it was such a pain!
 
If you're going to strip and polish something, I recommend starting with something other than the wings. Tail, fuselage, whatever. The wings, polished, reflect twice the light and heat into the cockpit, vs. just having painted wings. My wife refers to it as the "Easy Bake Oven."
 
Personal opinion aside, what you are asking can be done. It will be a lot of work and you might never be able to get a consistent mirror finish if the cladding is gone from some areas either during the scuffing for paint prep or the polishing process. Be very very careful when you strip the aircraft to make sure you neutralize/clean all the stripper chemicals from the surfaces. You can promote corrosion by doing a poor job of cleaning up post stripping.

Personal opinion/experience. Of all the surfaces on an airplane to polish I think the wings, right after the boot cowl, are the worst idea to polish for the following reasons.
1. No matter what direction you are going or what time of day, it will always seem that the sun will be reflecting in your eyes.
2. It might not have rained for the last 20 years but as soon as you take a polished airplane out of the hangar it will start to rain and if you think getting water spots off paint is fun, try it on bare metal.
3. No matter where you park it there will be a small child with sticky fingers come over and rub their hands everywhere on any polished aircraft. They appear as if by magic.
4. Did I mention the annual post winter requirement to polish because the moist air hazed the entire aircraft.

I love a highly polished airplane.
They are perhaps the most beautiful thing going but having cared for one I will never in a thousand years own one.
 
Say it ain't so, Joe!

Just curious here. How hard would it be to strip and polish my wings? They were shot with Stewart Sysyems. Would it be impossible to remove paint from around the rivets? For some reason I can't stop tinkering with my plane.

Such interest sounds like a good reason to start your next build! I'd hate to see you change your paint scheme
 
You guys talked me out of it. It sounds like polishing is much more work than I thought, not to mention the constant upkeep. Back to the drawing board.
 
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