Painting vs wrapping RV

[diamond]

Has anyone ever done or considered doing a wrap on their RV as an alternative to painting? If so, please post some photos. I'm curious if this is a viable alternative; cost, wearability, weight, etc. Here's an example I pulled off youtube showing the process done on a larger plane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go-PjCuLbOo

[WingsOnWheels]

Originally Posted by diamond

Has anyone ever done or considered doing a wrap on their RV as an alternative to painting? If so, please post some photos. I'm curious if this is a viable alternative; cost, wearability, weight, etc. Here's an example I pulled off youtube showing the process done on a larger plane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go-PjCuLbOo

From what I have seen for vehicle wraps, it costs more than paint unless you are doing detailed graphics. If you are planning a simple paint job with stripes ect, paint would be cheaper. I would also be concerned about traping moisture around the rivet heads and skin seams where the wrap may not stick down completely.

[Dean Pichon]

After about 5 years of flying, the cockpit coaming on my -4 was rather beat up. Rather than repainting this surface, I used a 3M film. It has proven much tougher than the orginal paint. It has been in place for 5 years and still looks great. Similarly, I used film on some interior components to avoid the hassle of painting. It worked great. Doing a whole plane would be a big job, but certainly is acheivable. You can get good weight estimates from the manufacturere, but I would expect it to be similar. It lays down over rivets well (you can't tell it's not paint), but I agree with a previous poster that it may be easier to apply second/third colors with this system due to the difficulty in laying film on complex geometries like the flap brace, or the exposed portion of the rear spar of the horizontal stablizer.

Good luck,

[terrykohler]

Durability is not really an issue. Attached is a link to DAR Ted Gauthier's RV6. I believe the plane was launched in 02. base red and white is paint. The graphics have held up as well as the paint.
http://flyballoons.net/AirplanePhotoGallery.htm

[RV7Ron]

I've also been considering this so I hope some guys that have done it can chime in. I talked to this company at OSH last year...I thought she told me $1500-2000 for a typical RV?? As you can see they have some RV pics in their gallery.

http://www.airgraphicsllc.com/

[rvbuilder2002]

Originally Posted by diamond

Has anyone ever done or considered doing a wrap on their RV as an alternative to painting? If so, please post some photos. I'm curious if this is a viable alternative; cost, wearability, weight, etc. Here's an example I pulled off youtube showing the process done on a larger plane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go-PjCuLbOo

In reality it is not an alternative to painting..... it is an alternative to painting trim or other graphics. You still need to paint the plane a base color. It would be nearly impossible to (and cost prohibitive) to put vinyl on everything that would be normally painted (even vehicles the get the wrap treatment start out with everything painted... door jams, etc.)

[Geico266]

If you look at what those guys can do it would be neat to do the tail art with a wrap.

Most small jets are vinyl graphics now that I have seen, so the product can hold up over rivets and great speeds.

[diamond]

Originally Posted by rvbuilder2002

In reality it is not an alternative to painting..... it is an alternative to painting trim or other graphics. You still need to paint the plane a base color. It would be nearly impossible to (and cost prohibitive) to put vinyl on everything that would be normally painted (even vehicles the get the wrap treatment start out with everything painted... door jams, etc.)

Many of us would feel comfortable putting a base coat on ourselves and then having a wrap applied with design and color. Only a few of us would feel comfortable painting detailed graphics with multi colors. If the cost of spraying my own base and paying for a wrap comes in cheaper than paying for a detailed paint scheme, then you have my attention. Not to mention the ability to remove the wrap and apply something different in the future if and when you sell your plane.

I'm also curious whether those wraps would work over the rivets on a -12.

[panhandler1956]

I considered this too as my airplane is mostly polished. I worked with a guy locally who is great and really into airplanes, but in the end the cost drove me back to paint (I painted it myself for about 1/3rd of the cost - YMMV).

[Flyfalcons]

Originally Posted by Geico266

If you look at what those guys can do it would be neat to do the tail art with a wrap.

Most small jets are vinyl graphics now that I have seen, so the product can hold up over rivets and great speeds.

The vinyl N-numbers toward the front of our engine cowlings haven't held up well, but for the most part they do alright. Doing vinyl trim over a base coat is something that is definitely in the running for my RV when it's time for paint, as what you can lay down is limited only by your creativity and the quality of the vinyl printer. Here is an example of a busy tail vinyl decal I did for a large scale model. My idea for the design and the vinyl cutter pulled it off beautifully (The N-number decal, not the flag decal). I can certainly see this process being viable on the RV.