Vinyl Wrap Survey Facts and Figures:

[gmcjetpilot]

For those who HAVE and or thinking of Vinyl wrap for their plane, partial or full, and have researched it, would you please share your experience, did you hire someone, what material did you use, pictures.

1) How much cost in materials to wrap whole plane (range ball park)?

2) How much weight does it add, less, the same, more than paint?

3) Areas should or can NOT wrap (cowl, wheel pants, Flt Cont'l)?

4) What is surface prep (bare or primed)?

5) expected lifespan of Vinyl?

6) Time to do wrap?

Opinions welcomed, no right or wrong. However folks who done that, been there, please share the Pros and Cons. What about flight control balance?

 

[sahrens]

Vinyl

1. I used approximately $1,500 in material. But I did not wrap the entire airplane, just the empennage, wingtips, leading edge, fairings, wheel pants and cowling.

2. I believe 3M is 3ml thick. I weighed the aircraft with vinyl so I can not give an accurate difference in weight.

3. All of my flight controls are wrapped. I inspect them for damage and to see if they are coming loose. In five years I have not had any problems. The wheel pants can be covered, it takes a bit more planning. I don't recommend covering the cowling, but mine is wrapped.

4. I polished the aircraft before the vinyl application, most of the aircraft is polished. The fiberglass was primed before application, except for the wingtips.

5. Three days for the application in my case.

 

[N8DAV8R]

[
2) How much weight does it add, less, the same, more than paint?

[/QUOTE]

#2 is impossible to answer and perpetuates part of the mythology of vinyl. Unless an airplane was first painted in the same scheme and colors as the wrap, there is no means to evaluate "more than paint".

 

[wirejock]

Vinyl

For those who HAVE and or thinking of Vinyl wrap for their plane, partial or full, and have researched it, would you please share your experience, did you hire someone, what material did you use, pictures.

1) How much cost in materials to wrap whole plane (range ball park)?

2) How much weight does it add, less, the same, more than paint?

3) Areas should or can NOT wrap (cowl, wheel pants, Flt Cont'l)?

4) What is surface prep (bare or primed)?

5) expected lifespan of Vinyl?

6) Time to do wrap?

Opinions welcomed, no right or wrong. However folks who done that, been there, please share the Pros and Cons. What about flight control balance?

I don't see my option. I am applying a semi-full vinyl wrap over Alodined surface. Fiberglass is all painted.

1. Cost. I bought two full rolls of 3M 2080. $1400
2. Weight. Subjective. I do know one square foot weights 15.5g. Based on my calculations of square footage, I should be adding 12.8lbs. The reason it's subjective is because paint weight is not consistent. Paints weigh different amounts. Painters apply varying amounts. Based on samples I've weighed in my shop, Kirker Endro Prime is 5.7g per sq ft and Kirker Ultra Glo Single Stage weighs 3.5g per sq ft for a total of 9.2 or about 10lbs on the exterior. I've heard builders with post paint weight and balance figures anywhere from 12 to 30 lbs. You would need lots of samples just to get a reasonable estimate.
3. Areas. I didn't wrap fiberglass because I knew it would be impossible for me to get a good wrap. I painted all the fiberglass.
4. Surface. Mine is all alodined. If I did it again, I would have primed inside and outside of parts at the same time with P60G2. It weights almost nothing. Alodine has no weight but it's very labor intensive to apply and dispose properly. It's also carcinogenic.
5. Lifespan. I don't have first-hand experience with my airplane. I do have a test recently posted. This one.
Personally, I don't plan more than 5 years before changing it.
6. Time. Subjective, but far easier and faster than paint. I would say about an hour each for the empennage parts. I'm getting ready to apply to the fuse and skills are improving. The same results with paint take days. Prime, sand, fill, sand, paint, cut, buff, blah, blah. I'm not knocking paint. I've painted all sorts of stuff. I painted all the fiberglass parts and they look nice. It's just a lot of work while wearing PPE. No PPE required for vinyl.

I'm not taking sides or commenting on one vs the other. That's for others.
Nascar cars have been full vehicle wrapped for years. Granted they don't leave it on for years, but they do go pretty fast and aerodynamics matter to them. I would love to talk to one of their vinyl people. Just sayin'.

I am writing an article. 1st draft is available if you want to read it. It's a wok in progress while I apply the vinyl to my airplane, so it's a living document. Shoot me an e-mail.
Note, I am not an engineer. I'm not certified in any vinyl product or process.
I'm just a guy that tries to help other guys like me and save them some aches and pains.

 

[RV7A Flyer]

I'm not taking sides or commenting on one vs the other. That's for others.
Nascar cars have been full vehicle wrapped for years. Granted they don't leave it on for years, but they do go pretty fast and aerodynamics matter to them. I would love to talk to one of their vinyl people. Just sayin'.

You mean like this?

 

[wcalvert]

1) How much cost in materials to wrap whole plane (range ball park)? $1500 plus some extra tools that I didn't really need. You probably have most of it already but a dedicated kit is sure nice (felts, squeegees, roller, spray bottles, IPA)

2) How much weight does it add, less, the same, more than paint? Have no idea but my best guess is about 25# or so for the whole

3) Areas should or can NOT wrap (cowl, wheel pants, Flt Cont'l)? Since my wrap was before all this great online discussion and there wasn't much to go on, I chose not to wrap any FG parts, everything else is wrapped. My attempt at doing the stab intersection fairing was disappointing (too many crazy curves, probably the most difficult for an amateur, so that got painted).

Advice: You see that color offerings are different between 3M and Avery. Cast vinyl is what you're looking for, there are other companies out there. Your lifespan will be improved by sealing all seams that you have any question about or live in a high abuse area, properly lapping seams like roof shingles in the proper direction, taping any edge that meets another type of surface (vinyl to lexan), following the application directions to a "t" including full heat and pressure using a IR thermometer. I used all 3M products (tape, sealer, fine line), expensive but it works. Planning is important to preserve material and create good joints and seams in the right places.

4) What is surface prep (bare or primed)? Virgin bare aluminum wiped with IPA. Non porous and smooth is the key. Matching color of paint to vinyl can be a challenge, plan so as to not create a "color conflict" if possible. ALL defects will show thru, the vinyl doesn't cover up everything like a thick paint layer will ...

5) expected lifespan of Vinyl? Mine is Avery Supreme vinyl and they say 5-7 years on a vehicle stored outside. Mine lives in a hangar.

6) Time to do wrap? Mine was done while the fuse was on the rotisserie and the wings on a table. Probably took 40 hours or so. My painted FG probably took just as long (cowl, tips, pants)

All my knowledge came from online manufacturer pubs and Youtube videos. My impression was that if some dude looking like he needs another hit really bad can do this, so can I! Nothing against tats and dilated pupils, some of these guys/gals are real artists, it's not as easy as it looks, but you'll get the hang of it!

 

[jcarne]

1) How much cost in materials to wrap whole plane (range ball park)?

$700-800 including tools

2) How much weight does it add, less, the same, more than paint?

My design weight increase was not much at all. Few lbs

3) Areas should or can NOT wrap (cowl, wheel pants, Flt Cont'l)?

This depends on design. If you look at my cowl you will see how the design can accomodate seams that make it easier. I would not wrap spinner or tips.

4) What is surface prep (bare or primed)?

Bare aluminum. Just cleaned really well

5) expected lifespan of Vinyl?

Hard to say. Stored inside and heated makes a difference

6) Time to do wrap?

Longer than you think. haha But not as long as it took me to polish the fuselage. Best guess would be around 30hrs. Trying to tape nice curved lines is a humbling experience!


I absolutely would wrap a project again. It was somewhat enjoyable, not messy at all and mistakes were easily fixed (although not cheap). Most people at Airventure couldn't tell it was wrapped until I told them or they inspected closely.

Product used was 3M 2080 wrap

Also, not all colors are the same thickness or have the same formability. For example, chrome is very difficult to work with.

 

[gmcjetpilot]

[
#2 is impossible to answer and perpetuates part of the mythology of vinyl. Unless an airplane was first painted in the same scheme and colors as the wrap, there is no means to evaluate "more than paint".

No it is not impossible to answer. Easy. Yes weigh plane before or after, Or know vinyl weight per square foot and calculate area covered. Math

No myth and no.one asked to compare to paint, we have that data. Yes paint has weight and depends on application thickness.

No need to be defensive. Just collecting data.

 

[scrollF4]

I'm in the full-wrap group, and don't believe I'd do it again.

Here's my story, with photos:
https://vansairforce.net/community/showpost.php?p=1731011&postcount=40

Answers to the questions:

1) How much cost in materials to wrap whole plane (range ball park)?
About $9500 in 2015, done by a professional aircraft wrap business (no longer around).

2) How much weight does it add, less, the same, more than paint?
Wrap materials weighed about 13 lbs, about 10 lbs less than paint.

3) Areas should or can NOT wrap (cowl, wheel pants, Flt Cont'l)?
Whole aircraft wrapped, minus the canopy rail, prop spinner, and tire/wheel fairings. They are painted.

4) What is surface prep (bare or primed)?
Bare.

5) expected lifespan of Vinyl?
I just removed the wrap in November, exactly 8 years after the original wrap. She's going into the GLO Custom paint barn.

6) Time to do wrap?
The wrappers took about 6 weeks.

 

[Snowflake]

The biggest fear I have about trying this is that this is what it will look like when i'm done:

 

[gmcjetpilot]

The biggest fear I have about trying this is that this is what it will look like when i'm done:

I did not ask if it looks good. I think with some care vinyl will be nice. If you mess up you can take it off and try again.

As far as graphic design and paint schemes, I assume you can:

• Put wrap accents over base color wrap?
• Two different colors of vinyl butt against each other?
• Get vinyl in patterns like checkered flag?

An excellent paint job with good materials is going to be a thing of beauty. Bad paint job, vinyl will be a winner.

If you want fancy graphics paint scheme may be paint is better.

Aero? I'm thinking the surface of vinyl is low drag, as good or better than paint.

Weight? Vinyl should be a few lbs lighter. Mostly because ppl put too much primer and paint on.

I would say vinyl should lasts long time but paint likley s/b longer lived, provided good quality paint on well prepared surface and maintained.

 

[wirejock]

Vinyl

I did not ask if it looks good. I think with some care vinyl will be nice. If you mess up you can take it off and try again.

As far as graphic design and paint schemes, I assume you can:

• Put wrap accents over base color wrap?
• Two different colors of vinyl butt against each other?
• Get vinyl in patterns like checkered flag?

An excellent paint job with good materials is going to be a thing of beauty. Bad paint job, vinyl will be a winner.

If you want fancy graphics paint scheme may be paint is better.

Aero? I'm thinking the surface of vinyl is low drag, as good or better than paint.

Weight? Vinyl should be a few lbs lighter. Mostly because ppl put too much primer and paint on.

I would say vinyl should lasts long time but paint likley s/b longer lived, provided good quality paint on well prepared surface and maintained.

The parts I've wrapped so far look great. I would call it a 12-inch paint job. You have to get really close to see any seams or imperfections. It's all in the effort. You're analysis is spot on. Nice paint job is awesome. What if the painter doesn't do so well? You cant pull it off and try again and a lawsuit doesn't remove paint. Vinyl can be removed and replaced. Just my humble opinion.

You're best results will be graphics over a base layer, but inlay graphics can be done with knifeless tape and lots of care. The latter will have seams visible. It's very difficult to have two pieces butt together perfectly. I don't recommend it. Plus, you want seams sealed.

The really nice vinyl schemes are printed. Like Nascar. Design the airplane scheme and have it printed. You can design the panels with overlaps if you don't want to deal with huge panels. The material is 60-inches wide. That's big enough for any skin on an RV. My grand daughter is a graphic artist. She did those huge designs on busses and trucks and the company printed and installed them. She doesn't work there anymore, but she's still a graphic artist. I've seen a few printed schemes on airplanes. Pretty amazing stuff.
Maybe we should get sponsors and have full airplane wraps with cool graphics!

 

[rph142]

I work for a company that makes large Cessna sized carbon fiber drones. We wrap our planes and I’ve seen 3 guys complete an airplane start to finish in 8 hours. I’ve tried my hand using their techniques and it’s actually quite easy. They have a butane torch with a push button on off trigger that they use to instantaneously heat the vinyl before applying it. They are blipping the torch flame continuously throughout the process. The end result looks nicer than the pain job I attempted on my -3 but not even close to a cut and buffed professional clear coated paint job. They unwrap a plane prior to re wrapping in a giant shipping container sized oven in about an hour. I think vinyl is a pretty good option considering the price and you can change the design down the road.

 

[Stockmanreef]

I did a partial wrap of the plane at this point, but plan to finish covering the plane when it warms up. The wings will be yellow, the bottom will be black or gray, then TBD on the rest of the plane. For pictures:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057443199199

I wrapped all the fiberglass in my living room watching TV. You will notice that the design is not symmetric. I figure you can't look at both sides of the plane at the same time. My wife also used a Cricut to make the RV-14A (left side) and van's symbols (wheel pants) decals. I also did underlays on the left side of the cowling, so that if you look close there are outlines of the yellow shapes about 1" or so away from them.

I will determine how much I like it depending on how well it does flying.