Vinyl Wrap?

[lndwarrior]

Originally Posted by tomkk

That's two who have mentioned the importance of planning for seams. I can understand the importance but could someone talk about what to consider in the plan?

where you have tight curves or larger compound curves the idea is to split a piece of vinyl into smaller sections to avoid wrinkling, or ruining the install. generally you want to follow the body lines.

for example, wrapping the top of the cowling in a single piece can be challenging. wrinkles or wrecked vinyl during the install may result..

in my case I split the top cowling into three sections by adding an accent color in the middle that goes from the front of the cowl to the rear. now I have three smaller pieces of vinyl that will be much easier to install than one large piece, with less chance of screw ups.

you can do the same thing in a single color as the seams are near invisible.

[lndwarrior]

To learn more about how to apply vinyl search on Youtube for CK Wraps. There are dozens of videos posted by a professional wrapper who makes detailed videos of the application process.

While the application on the videos are all for cars, all details are identical for applying vinyl to an aircraft.

If you are bright enough to build an airplane you can certainly learn how to do a good looking vinyl wrap. It's not hard but like everything, there is a bit of a learning curve, albeit a short one.

[sahrens]

To add to what Indwarrior posted. Some of the seam placement is based on air flow over that section. Of course you want the upstream vinyl overlapping the downstream so the airflow does not pick at the edge.

For visual considerations think about how the aircraft is viewed when walking up. For example, the wheel pant fairings that go over the leg fairings were a complex curve that was beyond my capability to handle in one sheet. So I split it into two sections. I placed the forward / top section of vinyl over the bottom section. What you see is curved vinyl because the seam is slightly below the curve of the fairing. Had I done it the other way the light would have caught the edge of the seam and made it more visible. Some locations are not really visible, like the inside, aft section of the wheel pants. Your seams just don't matter in that location. If someone wants to crawl under my aircraft and inspect the aft edge of the wheel pant...have at it. Just be prepared to show me your aircraft. So as you plan your vinyl color scheme start to build a sequence of how the vinyl will be applied to reach your goal.

One other suggestion. I painted recesses that I did not want to try to wrap. For example, my tail is black so I painted the horizontal and elevator end caps and the exposed skin on the sides of the horizontal black to match the vinyl.

There are places where you can see the seam. I'm okay with that, others won't like it. For an initial investment of $3,000.00 I can change my aircraft's look several times before I get to the price of a paint job. If each application lasts 3 years and I change it 5 times that is 15 years and 5 different looking aircraft. But that is just my perspective.

[Phil]

I've been thinking of wrapping as a short-term solution....~2 years

Have any of you wrapped and then removed it for paint later down the road? What complications resulted from the wrap when applying the paint?

Phil

[tomkk]

Originally Posted by Phil

I've been thinking of wrapping as a short-term solution....~2 years

Have any of you wrapped and then removed it for paint later down the road? What complications resulted from the wrap when applying the paint?

Phil

Is it really that short?

[DaveO]

I want to use vinyl as accents, ie... strips etc. How does one go about doing that install?
Do you buy the vinyl in sheets, cut it yourself and stick it on? Or do some measuring and order the right size from a retailer?
Thanks

[sahrens]

Originally Posted by Davoakes@att.net

I want to use vinyl as accents, ie... strips etc. How does one go about doing that install?
Do you buy the vinyl in sheets, cut it yourself and stick it on? Or do some measuring and order the right size from a retailer?
Thanks

Either way. An RV-8 on our field ordered custom stripes from a company in Connecticut I believe. Or you can put it on and cut it to your specifications.

Check youtube for knifeless tape.

[Turbo69bird]

Originally Posted by Davoakes@att.net

I want to use vinyl as accents, ie... strips etc. How does one go about doing that install?
Do you buy the vinyl in sheets, cut it yourself and stick it on? Or do some measuring and order the right size from a retailer?
Thanks

If you can draw well just use the knifeless tape and lay out your stripes ( careful not to pull hard on the cut tape as you lay it down or stop while laying down a curve) when done on one side and vinyl is cut and laid down, then take some long roll paper, tape it over the graphics on one side and trace along the stripe edge with a ball point pen pushing toward the stripe edge. This will give you a perfect template for the other side.
(Don’t forget if your filament in the tape isn’t on the end of the tape you need to correct for that )


Be careful which cut tape you use, there’s at least three types. One won’t cut thick vinyl, one will cut anything (including your fingers) that’s the wire type but won’t always cut a perfectly clean line (because of how it pulls off the side) and the third will likely be just right.

Of course this all depends on the vinyl your useing. There’s warp cut. Design line 3m and finish line 3m read the specs on them.

To use it can be tricky to some, but you basically fold over the end to capture the filament. Pull the tape to the edge of the vinyl fold it forward over the edge then put your finger tightly on the cut tape, now pull forward to get it started. (Try to pull in one nice clean motion when you can )

I get so many people asking me how to start the cut tape and when I started it took me a bit to find that info.

Wrap cut tape is a little different you really want to snip the tape where you want it to separate but don’t cut the wire. Wrap cut is a great product for thick vinyl, but could use a little work IMO on its placing on the end of the wire instead of a slit design like 3m, and how well it stays along the edge of the medium holding the wire. (Sometimes it’ll cut the vinyl medium that holds it) it it Can cut a little funky sometimes and if working the edge of a large piece of vinyl fixing it can be tough.

To fix, You need to slip a putty knife under the edge and cut with a knife to straighten it out without cutting the layer under it. Especially On curved edges it can be challenging to fix it properly. And when you start getting tired STOP working, lol this is something you want to do when your thinking clearly. ��

[Turbo69bird]

Originally Posted by sahrens

Either way. An RV-8 on our field ordered custom stripes from a company in Connecticut I believe. Or you can put it on and cut it to your specifications.

Check youtube for knifeless tape.

Wonder who it was in CT ?

It’d be nice to know but there’s a lot of people with plotters that can cut vinyl for you. It was always just easier to cut it myself on the spot. I even hand cut my N number and graphic on my tail.
Www.vansrv6.com While it’s not perfect it was done that day. Lol. I think it looks pretty good for hand cut.

I’ve had a lot of people visit the hangar that compliment me on my really nice paint, the most recent was a vinyl siding installer, I couldn’t help but see the irony in that one. You’d think if anyone would know vinyl when they saw it it’d be him. ��

[snopercod]

I hope Doug will forgive me for posting this on his RV forum, but I just got this quote from AeroGraphics. The stripes will be individual pieces and the stars in the blue field will be pre-cut. Wish me luck applying it.