Must see update: Vinyl on airplane after 6 months
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- It's time for that long-awaited update. What's going on with the vinyl after 6 months of flying, cold, and super extreme summer heat on the Lancair. Is it sticking the way I expected or is it all falling apart? Watch until the end as I give you a few tips based on my experience with this whole process. If you haven't seen the whole initial vinyl installation in time lapse, you may want to have a look as well.
If there are any further questions, drop me a note in the comments section.
#HUDPilot #vinylwrap #airplanes
Thanks for stopping by.
-Tony
Good looking wrap job… looks nice…
Thanks for the honest assessment of the wrap and your technique. Your videos on this topic gives me confidence to proceed with a similar plan of (finishing) attack on my Velocity.
Ahhh @VelociSteve....the velocity: a plane that I still recall the article in kitplanes when they were doing the flight testing for the aircraft! Should be nice... great lines. You will have success for sure as there aren't as many compound curves. Hope you get it done. Let me know if I can assist if you have any further questions. It was quite the learning experience for me.
Watched the entire installation process. Very well done I’d say! An awful lot of great information. Better than a big bottle of Advil, I think you’ve saved me from some headaches!
Glad to hear it helped! Thanks for stopping by.
I would be happy if I did that on my own plane...be proud. You did a great job.
Hi Steve and THANK YOU! Give it a shot on your plane. I can give you a few tips if you need them...now that I have ALL this experience lol.
Up close, I never noticed any of the issues! She looks awesome in person.
Mind you, the pilot could use some wrap and tuck…
That's cause I let you fly it!! lol. I wouldn't let you in the plane if you said anything Paul! lol
Well so much for your future rides.... serves you right for telling the truth Paul!! lol
Hey Tony, my old neighbor, is that the plane you were building in your garage ??
Looking good my friend hope all is well with you. Take care.
Hey Richard! Doing well. Yup that is the one indeed. Has carried me on many adventures so far! Nice hearing from you!
I am was so keen to see your info on the wigs - thanks. My biggest fear is that the wrap peels badly in flight. I see you wrapped one piece over the leading edge. I can't see how you handled the ailerons. Uhm, would you perhaps be able to discuss more the wrap you did on your wings and control surfaces.
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I want o stick a couple solar panels to the fuselage. Then I want to put vinyl of the entire solar panel and remove a window from the solar panel. In essence use the vinyl to cover the edge solar panel and help hold down the solar panel. Stupid idea?
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I should tell you - my glider has a metal body (not fibre glass). my glider is in the 'home built category' like your 'experimental' category. So I am allowed to wrap the he glider. (One shouldn't wrap fiberglass. If there is any stress cracks - it will show through the gel coat of of the fiberglass).
Hi again Mark. Will try to cover everything you’ve mentioned in this post. The peeling has not happened: not even in the tiny thin vinyl areas: the vinyl has been on for two winters and a summer with no issues (the update video in the series goes over that). The vinyl in leading edge wraps around and under and gets cut about 4” under the wing. There is no vinyl on ailerons (only on flaps). The vinyl tucks under the wing trailing edge by about a 1/4”. If the wrap would peel badly in flight or there was a fear of it, airliners wouldn’t be putting it on 750kph airplanes. Improper installation (poor prep) and incorrect vinyl type would be the reason. This stuff cures to maximum bonding after about 7 days.
The solar panel idea: drop it. Don’t do it. Pretend you never thought of it. This is not gorilla duct tape. This is delicate vinyl and not meant to hold anything down.
Not sure I understand the no vinyl on fiberglass thing. Paint on a plane does the same thing. Old paint cracks. Newer paint flexes more and thus could “hide the cracks”. That’s a personal thing and can be discussed at length. In this case I say go with what you are comfortable with. Also not all glass planes are gel coated. Mine is not. Metal shouldn’t make a difference. I have seen lots of metal planes with vinyl. Just note that I mentioned in videos. EVERYTHING shows through this vinyl. Including flakes of dust that might be in the paint. Vinyl doesn’t hide as much as you might think it does. Again, go with what makes you comfortable.
On topic of experimental, there is lots of debate on whether you are allowed or not. All those debates are on US planes. There is no rule in Canada that says you can’t. If there was, airliners would not be able to use this stuff. The Disney frozen plane is nothing but a base coat with giant stickers of Elsa and company. I know… I was there when it was introduced to the employees: I have the closeups somewhere on some computer drive lol. In either case, it’s always your decision.
Hope this was helpful.
What to Lancair say about dark colours on the op surface of the wing/spar? Most composites/epoxies have a Tg around 130/140f and black can easily exceed this in summer....
Great point. First Lancair doesn’t say anything because they were unresponsive throughout my build and this includes this vinyl application.
They did mention in documentation way back in the day that their red plane was a test bed of sorts and folks really shouldn’t paint their Lancair dark colors. In my case, 1. The plane sits indoors all year long. 2. There isn’t enough color on this wing to attract enough sunlight to cause that much heat build up: lord knows I have checked. Most of the color is sitting on the D-cell of the wing (that’s why it wraps around the front). The warmest times this plane has seen the sun parked on the ground was at Oshkosh this year and there was zero hot surface difference between the light wing surface and the painted light grey surface.
Thanks for writing.
So how’s it holding up?
This perfect. No lifting anywhere.
Looks like a job for cyanoacrylate