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difficult to vinyl wrap undersides?

alpinelakespilot2000

Well Known Member
Been flying for almost 10 years now, still haven't painted, but think it's time to do something. Because I've been pretty committed to building the entire plane myself, all the way down to slow build kits from the start, I also want to do the finish work but really am not interested in learning to paint at this point--the amount of time it would take to learn and do, with the plane being out of commission for the duration, is not particularly appealing. Vinyl wrap is thus more and more interesting. That said, couple questions...

1. One of the do-it-myself concerns is about how easy/hard it is to wrap the bottom surfaces, particularly the large areas of the wings and fuselage. While I'd love to be able to easily remove the wings to be able to flip them, that isn't happening. Other than having a few extra hands to help me, does anyone have any encouragement/discouragement/tips to offer?

2. What do most do for the things that can't be wrapped, e.g. the rear spars of the wings, HS and rudder, and the HS end ribs, etc.? Do you just try to get as close color match as possible from a spray can?​

Thanks for any thoughts.
 
Been flying for almost 10 years now, still haven't painted, but think it's time to do something. Because I've been pretty committed to building the entire plane myself, all the way down to slow build kits from the start, I also want to do the finish work but really am not interested in learning to paint at this point--the amount of time it would take to learn and do, with the plane being out of commission for the duration, is not particularly appealing. Vinyl wrap is thus more and more interesting. That said, couple questions...

1. One of the do-it-myself concerns is about how easy/hard it is to wrap the bottom surfaces, particularly the large areas of the wings and fuselage. While I'd love to be able to easily remove the wings to be able to flip them, that isn't happening. Other than having a few extra hands to help me, does anyone have any encouragement/discouragement/tips to offer?

2. What do most do for the things that can't be wrapped, e.g. the rear spars of the wings, HS and rudder, and the HS end ribs, etc.? Do you just try to get as close color match as possible from a spray can?​

Thanks for any thoughts.

I am getting geared up to wrap here in the next couple months and from what I have found:

1. If I wrap the bottom of my wings I will tape the sheet up with the help of someone and then you can pull the backer out a little at a time. Doing a flat surface like that is pretty easy to squeegee out so no worries there.

2. For all the open ends I am most likely just going to leave them primed with a possibility of spray can paint. I view it this way. Right now when my plane is on the ground at a show or something of that nature I have my control locks in which puts them in the neutral position. I can't say as I have ever noticed the akzo green catching my eye as neutral controls hide it well.
 
Its done all the time. Learning curve is like anything thats new. Easier for newbie to lay on their back and paint, probably not. The positive is, its the bottom and you are the only one who needs to approve. The vinyl is easily tacked down then repositioned. When all is good, then and only then you squeegee it down. You built an airplane 🤩, Ive got all the confidence in the world you and 2-4 extra hands ( at times) can knock this out. Now go watch more diy videos . 3m 2080 vinyl is great stuff. If you can’t or don’t want to wrap, then paint with 2k rattle can, Eastman or any auto paint shop can mix it and put in can with catalyst. Waiting on pictures. :)
 
There is a bit of a learning curve to wrapping but it’s not the most difficult part of the project by far.


This will get you started….
1)Assuming you’re doing a solid color on the wings, and assuming the vinyl comes in 60 inch widths, ailerons and flaps are removed, measure from the trailing edge of the top skin going forward and around the leading edge until you find the 60inch mark on the bottom of the wing. Make a mark with a sharpie approximately 3 inches forward of there. This will be your spa wise cut line for the first sheet of vinyl, and where the second sheet will overlap with the exposed edge facing aft.

2) You will put a nice straight piece of knifeless tape along this spanwise line and your first piece of vinyl will cover from the trailing edge (with about i inch hanging off the end to be trimmed later) and go over and past the knifeless tape just put down. Once the vinyl is down and squeegeed secure, carefully pull the knifeless tape to make the cut, fish out the two pieces of backing from the tape, heat the vinyl’s edge with a heat gun and the somewhat disturbing ragged cut edge will smooth right out and then while it’s still hot, squeegee it down flat making slightly angled strokes in a forward motion, I will discuss trimming the aft spar area another time but suffice to say, it will be wrapped around nice and tight using lots of heat and squeegee action back and forth along the length of the spar so it folds over nice and evenly. The folded over piece will end at the edge of the first row of rivet tails. This will give the edge a powder coat smooth look. At least this is what I did.

3). Next is the top piece put on in a similar fashion after a second piece of spanwise knifeless tape has been laid down 1/4 to 1/2 inch aft of the cut line of the first piece of vinyl on the bottom of the wing. The top piece will cover from the trailing edge (plus an inch of overhanging like before) all the way forward and around the leading edge all the way and over the knifeless tape on the bottom side with plenty of overlap (at least an inch or two). Squeegee down tight. Then pull the knifeless tape, hit with heat and a squeegee and you will have a very precise overlap joint on the bottom of the wing which you will soon forget about.

Some more points:
1). You will always need a helper to handle the large sheets of vinyl.
2). When you peel the backing off, the vinyl will develop some static cling action so be ready for that. Sometimes it’s best not to pull all the backing off at once. Leave some on and pull it off only as you make some progress. You don’t want any dust sticking to the adhesive side of the vinyl, especially landing on the floor sticky side down unless you want a clean floor. Lol
3) Work in a clean shop with a clean floor so stirring up the dust is minimised.
4) Clean all the aluminum surfaces to get all finger grease off, and wash all hands with alcohol so they too are grease free prior to starting a sheet of vinyl.
5) Put a piece of felt around the squeegee so as to not scratch the vinyl.
6). Get started on ailerons and flaps (dismounted from the airframe) first to develop the skills. These are the easiest pieces to wrap. Wings are easy too just much bigger.
7). Work in a warm shop. The vinyl can handle the cold, but it’s tougher to work with. You need the heat gun to squeegee it down tight.

Have fun.

Bevan
Ps my wrap job took about 100 man hours (counting me and 1 helper) to complete and still looks really good.
 
There is a bit of a learning curve to wrapping but it’s not the most difficult part of the project by far.


This will get you started….
1)Assuming you’re doing a solid color on the wings, and assuming the vinyl comes in 60 inch widths, ailerons and flaps are removed, measure from the trailing edge of the top skin going forward and around the leading edge until you find the 60inch mark on the bottom of the wing. Make a mark with a sharpie approximately 3 inches forward of there. This will be your spa wise cut line for the first sheet of vinyl, and where the second sheet will overlap with the exposed edge facing aft.

2) You will put a nice straight piece of knifeless tape along this spanwise line and your first piece of vinyl will cover from the trailing edge (with about i inch hanging off the end to be trimmed later) and go over and past the knifeless tape just put down. Once the vinyl is down and squeegeed secure, carefully pull the knifeless tape to make the cut, fish out the two pieces of backing from the tape, heat the vinyl’s edge with a heat gun and the somewhat disturbing ragged cut edge will smooth right out and then while it’s still hot, squeegee it down flat making slightly angled strokes in a forward motion, I will discuss trimming the aft spar area another time but suffice to say, it will be wrapped around nice and tight using lots of heat and squeegee action back and forth along the length of the spar so it folds over nice and evenly. The folded over piece will end at the edge of the first row of rivet tails. This will give the edge a powder coat smooth look. At least this is what I did.

3). Next is the top piece put on in a similar fashion after a second piece of spanwise knifeless tape has been laid down 1/4 to 1/2 inch aft of the cut line of the first piece of vinyl on the bottom of the wing. The top piece will cover from the trailing edge (plus an inch of overhanging like before) all the way forward and around the leading edge all the way and over the knifeless tape on the bottom side with plenty of overlap (at least an inch or two). Squeegee down tight. Then pull the knifeless tape, hit with heat and a squeegee and you will have a very precise overlap joint on the bottom of the wing which you will soon forget about.

Some more points:
1). You will always need a helper to handle the large sheets of vinyl.
2). When you peel the backing off, the vinyl will develop some static cling action so be ready for that. Sometimes it’s best not to pull all the backing off at once. Leave some on and pull it off only as you make some progress. You don’t want any dust sticking to the adhesive side of the vinyl, especially landing on the floor sticky side down unless you want a clean floor. Lol
3) Work in a clean shop with a clean floor so stirring up the dust is minimised.
4) Clean all the aluminum surfaces to get all finger grease off, and wash all hands with alcohol so they too are grease free prior to starting a sheet of vinyl.
5) Put a piece of felt around the squeegee so as to not scratch the vinyl.
6). Get started on ailerons and flaps (dismounted from the airframe) first to develop the skills. These are the easiest pieces to wrap. Wings are easy too just much bigger.
7). Work in a warm shop. The vinyl can handle the cold, but it’s tougher to work with. You need the heat gun to squeegee it down tight.

Have fun.

Bevan
Ps my wrap job took about 100 man hours (counting me and 1 helper) to complete and still looks really good.

Bevan how old is your wrap? Still looking good or showing some age?
 
Thanks Bevan--I appreciate the step-by-step recommendations! Been learning a lot reading this as well as a couple of the other good wrapping threads. Going to watch some of the YouTube tutorials and am thinking I'll set aside some time this summer to tackle the project. Again, much appreciated.
 
Before I did my vinyl wrap, I purchased a variety of rattle can spray primers & tested each to determine if the vinyl would adhere to it. Suprisingly, most didn't stick well. I found Rustoleum worked best for me.
 
Before I did my vinyl wrap, I purchased a variety of rattle can spray primers & tested each to determine if the vinyl would adhere to it. Suprisingly, most didn't stick well. I found Rustoleum worked best for me.

Yes, still working on what, if anything, to do about priming. Sounds like adhesion can be a bit problematic with a primer. And, while Van's recommends removing the blue plastic right away to avoid the potential for corrosion, I haven't yet confirmed or refuted in my own mind whether priming is necessary with wrapping. Also would like to avoid priming in case I decide to remove the vinyl at some point down the road and paint.
 
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We wrapped our RV recently and you can see our write up here.

It was a time consuming project but so worth it.

I was also concerned about all the underneath areas that need wrapping, but to our surprise the belly and lower wings were some of the easiest to wrap. Gravity actually worked in our advantage by letting vinyl sag to the floor and then we just removed backing as we squeegeed along.

Good luck with your project.
 
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