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Cleaning/maintaining temporarily unpainted RV

E

Elwell81

Member
I've just finished with phase one and was wondering how others have kept their planes clean and corrosion free until being painted?

I've notice these little spots on leading edges of the wings. I can't feel them so I don't think they are a huge cause for concern but I would like to get rid of them and prevent them from reoccurring. Any ideas are welcomed. Thanks

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Elwell81 said:
I've just finished with phase one and was wondering how others have kept their planes clean and corrosion free until being painted?
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If it temporary bare aluminum don't even worry about it your painter will take care. If you are not planning to paint at all fly often and fly a lot. Run from corrosion. I am not primed unpainted and exactly one year parked under elements. Inspected inner fuse couple weeks ago nothing major.




Different picture on the outside there are tiny spots where corrosion bites. Not so much on the upper fuselage/wings but bottom wing skins. Likely caused by spot abrasion the airframe at 2K hours and seen some harsh environs.


 
Vlad, maybe a couple cans of spray paint on the bottom? It would protect it and easy to sand or remove later. Give it the $10 paint job!
 
I flew mine with unpainted aluminum for 9 years. Never really seriously tried to polish it. When the painter scuffed it for painting, all of the minor corrosion was taken care of. The painter did a good job with the primer and the Acry-Glo paint gives the plane a first class look.
 
Some of the 170 guys with unpainted and unpolished airplanes wash them with a mixture of WD40 and water. Seems to work for them.
 
I use WD-40 on the belly of my polished -6 to remove discarded oil residue. It works very well, and I suspect it leaves a film that protects it a bit, too. I wonder whether over time it will leave enough residue that i'll never be able to paint it, but for now i'm not too concerned about that.
 
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