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.