Zenith Aircraft Builders and Flyers
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Polishing Your Airplane? Tell Us of All Your Procedures, Tricks, Tips and Photos
A few Zenith builders have chosen to polish their aircraft rather than paint (including me). Many have posted some photos along with some tips. These are very valuable to those that trying to decide whether to polish or not and to those that have just began to polish their airplane. It is difficult to find all the posts that include these procedures. Let's make this discussion thread all things polishing. If you find this thread and have already posted something relevant to polishing an aircraft else where, please copy your comments and photos and post them in this thread. If everyone brings their experiences here, it will be more valuable to those that follow later on. Thanks.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jerry Latimer on
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I used the cheap Harbor Freight polisher on my plane. At low rpm, it's rpm would wander a bit. I just lived with it and it worked fine. I did wear out one of the polishers about half way through. I don't think one of the brushes was installed properly, so when I purchased my second one, I double checked the brush installation.
I helped on of our local EAA members learn how to polish his Thatcher CX-4. He purchased several polishers. They all worked reasonably well. It just depends on your personal preference and how deep your pockets are.
My Zodie has a much better polish than the Thatcher (Brad used the 3 head polisher over much of the aircraft). I think the difference is more patience that machine. FWIW
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Permalink Reply by Wayne Tyson Jr on
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How do y'all handle polishing up to painted or plastic applied sections? I'm thinking of some red striping and trim, with a matte black on the top of the cowl.
How about the plastic trim products? Or should I start a separate discussion on that? Is there another one already done? I also need to prep the custom cowl, which is fiberglass. The finish is pretty rough; I am thinking of painting or applying silvery plastic stuff to mimic the polished aluminum, then laying more plastic trim over that, such as a stripe below the cowl hinge extending straight back. I plan to paint the slats red, to match the powder-coated gear legs and struts. Maybe some more red on the tail. I haven't decided on a scheme yet, but there's plenty of time. All aluminum will suit me fine, but the struts and gear legs are already red.
Thanks,
W
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Wayne, I polished my entire plane then added the striping. Now I only do an annual polish using the final polishing compound. I believe it Nuvite S. I polish up to onto the vinyl stripes and the painted surfaces, that I've added. I then remove the black polish from the strips with Windex or denatured alcohol. So far (3.5years) no harm to the stripes or the paint. I'm also using a random orbit car polisher and not buffer when I'm doing this.
Jerry
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Thanks, Jerry. Why do you use the random orbit car polisher and what is it--how does it differ from the other polishers? What rpm?
So no damage to the vinyl or the paint from the polishing, even when you cross the line? How do you like the vinyl? Is it a good substitute for paint? Where did you get it? Did you apply it yourself?
WT
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Permalink Reply by Paul Sanders on
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Very much like John I had quite the oxidisation on my wing skins and followed his suggestion at cleaning them up.
But recently I stumbled upon the website of Stewart Systems where I noticed a product called EkoEtch which specifically mentions oxidisation in the description. http://http//www.stewartsystems.aero/products/105/ekoetch-quart
I ordered a quart and tested it on a scrap sample that was in similar condition to the wing and am happy to say that it came out great, and with not a whole lot of effort.
Stewart Systems confirmed that their product is totally safe with our skins so I am going to use this for my second wing, followed by the Nuvite polish system.
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Permalink Reply by Joe Harrington on
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Well, I am finally getting a glimpse of my fruits of the previous labour. Here is a photo of the start of my final assembly. Still probably a couple months before first flight but I am pretty happy with the results. Everybody that has seen it compliments how good it looks, but like most that polish their airplane, all I can see is where improvements are needed.
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Permalink Reply by Walt Snyder on
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Geez, Joe, do we have to really wear these like you said?
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Permalink Reply by Michael W Mallock on
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Yowzer... that is beautiful!!!
MWM
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Permalink Reply by Doug Schmalzel on
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Polished 750 looks awesome. Did you do polishing prior to assembly out after and worked around the rivets
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Thanks guys. I polished each assembly (fuselage, wings, flaperons, etc) because polishing each loose piece (eg skins) is very tough to do without damaging the piece. I just compound polish over top of the rivets. It is time consuming to remove the polish around the rivets and if you let it dry there, it is very difficult to remove the black residue.
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Thank you for the info. What is the up keep on a polished plane?
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