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Selective removal of blue plastic protection

WingedFrog

WingedFrog

Well Known Member
I am just starting riveting the skins on my wings. On a few builders sites I saw that the blue plastic had been just removed on the rivet holes lines, leaving the rest of the skin covered and well protected against the inevitable scratches and buffing that come with any activity involving tools. I am wondering how they do this selective removal? Can anybody give me a hint?
 
Most builders use an electric soldering iron. I polished the tip of mine on the scotchbrite wheel and occasionally thereafter so it wouldn't scratch the skin. Then just run it along a straightedge when it's hot. Easy.
 
Unless you are not going to paint the outer skin, IMHO the -12 goes together so fast (around 800 hours to flying status) that taking the time to just take off a portion of the "blue death" is not time well spent. You will end up taking off the rest of the plastic within a few months anyway.
 
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Per Rick Gray

I rounded off the tip of the iron so that there was no point to sctatch the soft Alclad coating. It does take some time but considering the number of things I dropped on a piece of metal it was worthwhile for me.

Wayne 120241 flying (if the runway ever melts off)
 
I agree with Larry.....

I spent hours on the first kit removing strips of blue stuff with the soldering iron, and worrying about scratching the finish. One day I realized that before painting, all the skin was going to get agressively roughed up with ScotchBrite pads anyway - so what's the point? From then on I just ripped the blue stiff off of everything as I used each piece.

So - it depends on whether you plan on paint or a polished finish - most will be eventually painted.
 
Good point, Big John!

I intend to have the plane painted but did not know that the surface had to be roughed before painting. I did one skin and it worked well with the soldering iron I may continue with the rest of the skins. Who knows, may be it will be some time before I get the paint job done...
 
WingedFrog said:
I intend to have the plane painted but did not know that the surface had to be roughed before painting. I did one skin and it worked well with the soldering iron I may continue with the rest of the skins. Who knows, may be it will be some time before I get the paint job done...
Click to expand...

I helped my painter do the acid etch & alodine surface prep when my -12 was painted. The process involved taking Scotch bright pads soaked in acid or alodine and you scuff up every square inch of shiney metal. If it shines it is not ready. This gives the primer something to grab onto. I felt pretty silly after seeing that remembering all of the care I took trying to keep the surfaces scratch free.
 
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I recommend taking the blue demon off as soon as I work the part. It's going to come off soon anyway and if you happen to get some parts that weren't rotated the longer the blue is on the harder it is to get off. Just my opinion. The one exception is if you plan to have a polished aluminum airplane. I believe in paint because I want to fly my airplane rather than spend so much time shining it. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Dick Seiders
 
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