The July issue of Kitplanes had an article about removing the blue protective vinyl from the skins.
The author is against leaving it on, what do you guys think? Waste of time?
I left it on and used a soldering iron to remove along rivet lines. Biggest waste of time in my opinion. When I took it to paint, they messed up all that Unscratched surface so the paint would stick. If u are gonna paint don’t leave any of it on.
I left mine on (except rivet lines). Made a handy mask when fiberglass time came. The exposed skins had light corrosion, the covered one were pristine. Did save me from a couple resin drips, so that was a bonus. I had no trouble with removal.
Little do people know, the blue stuff makes the aluminum 37 times stronger if it is left on long enough. Best to order your kit at least a decade in advance and let it sit, for maximum effect.
OK, so I left the blue vinyl on WAY too long. Now I'm taking it off and I'm finding a residue left after it is removed, almost like glue. I tried a few different ideas to get it off but no joy. I don't see any mention of this residue in this thread - am I the only one with this issue? If I'm not, how have you removed the residue?
... So far, it does not want to come off very easily. I'm going to add heat to it and apply the mineral spirits and see what happens.
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