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Wing Walk

Aircraft Spruce sells a couple different kinds of peel-n-stick wing walk that you can purchase by the foot. You just trim it to size with a knife. Not sure if it's any different than the skateboard stuff.
 
Does that eliminate the need to have the big “Experimental” placard that most folks put on the back wall of the fuse?
As far as mine, yes. I checked with him before inspection. Both wing walks are placarded Experimental in 2" letters.
I drew up a grid of 1" square and uploaded it to Board Pusher. Then used the grid to get the letters the right size and centered. A little gets cut off. Mine is flush to the wing root fairing.
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Does that eliminate the need to have the big “Experimental” placard that most folks put on the back wall of the fuse?
Yes - it simply has to be visible to anyone entering the cockpit. On high wings, I frequently see them on the top of the lift strut near the fuselage.
 
Skateboard shops and "exp" in the wingwalk. So nice to have new ideas and options!!
I have been using skate board stuff since the late nineties, what I really like about the stuff other than being inexpensive is the grit is really sharpe and grabs the sole of your shoes better than other stuff out there. I figured the way kids beat on the stuff it should last as wing walk for a long time.
 
I used "Herculiner", truck bed liner from Lowes. Exact same compound as what Spruce sells for half the price, from the same company, but a different label. Put it on thick and it has a rubber feel rather than the normal sandpaper feel.
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I have been using skate board stuff since the late nineties, what I really like about the stuff other than being inexpensive is the grit is really sharpe and grabs the sole of your shoes better than other stuff out there. I figured the way kids beat on the stuff it should last as wing walk for a long time.
So since we're on the topic, I found some adhesive non skid ~20 years ago that did not have a sharp aggregate component. It had the surface texture of an orange. Would like to match/replace this type of material with similar. Unfortunately, all I can find is the conventional adhesive with sharp alum oxide type material enbedded. Suggestions for sources and/or names of the "orange peel" type adhesive non skid? I've looked with no success at West Marine, Amazon, Granger. Herculiner is possible. But would prefer peel and stick if I can.
 
As far as mine, yes. I checked with him before inspection. Both wing walks are placarded Experimental in 2" letters.
I drew up a grid of 1" square and uploaded it to Board Pusher. Then used the grid to get the letters the right size and centered. A little gets cut off. Mine is flush to the wing root fairing.
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Wow your post is in my wheel house
Great idea and when I get back I’ll be ordering some of those
Looks great THANKS for the post FIXIT
 
So since we're on the topic, I found some adhesive non skid ~20 years ago that did not have a sharp aggregate component. It had the surface texture of an orange. Would like to match/replace this type of material with similar. Unfortunately, all I can find is the conventional adhesive with sharp alum oxide type material enbedded. Suggestions for sources and/or names of the "orange peel" type adhesive non skid? I've looked with no success at West Marine, Amazon, Granger. Herculiner is possible. But would prefer peel and stick if I can.
Aircraft Spruce:

 
On a related topic, what have people used as a temporary wing walk, one that the paint shop can remove without a lot of trouble?
 
I got mine from Blake at flyboyaccessories. Not “sandpaper” and has an effective texture.
I’ve used typical non-slip stick-on before (from Vans and other sources). I didn’t like that the abrasives eventually liberated.
 
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I also did the custom printed skateboard product with "EXPERIMENTAL" Text. I color matched as best I could to the wing color. Had to do a bit of work and research to convert color codes and layout, but happy with the result in the end. l used Splattergoat Customs (Splattergoat.com).
 
After seeing what @wirejock posted, ordered some custom wing walks from BoardPusher.com and installed them on my build. I even had enough after trimming to put a strip on my steps.
 

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Just a note from observation...what tends to cause anything adhesive like this start to peel up are *square corners*, in my experience. I took the time to carefully round all the corners on my RAC wing walks, and 12 years later, they still look brand new and no peeling up.

I see a lot of pics here on VAF of stickers of all kinds, including wing walks, with squared corners that I'd be willing to bet will peel up sooner rather than later.
 
I got mine from Blake at flyboyaccessories. Not “sandpaper” and has an effective texture.
I’ve used typical non-slip stick-on before (from Vans and other sources). I didn’t like that the abrasives eventually liberated.
Me too - from Flyboy Accessories - nonskid/nonsandpaper. Easy to apply, works well. Good price.

 

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Aircraft Spruce sells a couple different kinds of peel-n-stick wing walk that you can purchase by the foot. You just trim it to size with a knife. Not sure if it's any different than the skateboard stuff.
This is the 3m stuff and holds up very well. Many other brands have peeling issues. I got 8 years out of my first set. That was over 1000 hours along with sitting on the ramp every day.
 
How do you get the old wing walk off?
I used a heat gun to slowly peel it off and it came in one piece. Can'r remember if mineral spirits were enough to get off the residue or used laquer thinner. This was for the 3M stuff and they use a high quality and strong adhesive. Others may be easier.
 
He he he this was actually a safety issue I worked back in the day. The preferred skid reducing walkway additive was (believe it or not) sawdust. Operators would replace with a mixture that included small plastic pellets because it looked better. Unfortunately this was much slippery-er and it was the grace of God that the engineer that demonstrated this survived to tell the tale.
Not sure what the currently approved products include.
 
He he he this was actually a safety issue I worked back in the day. The preferred skid reducing walkway additive was (believe it or not) sawdust. Operators would replace with a mixture that included small plastic pellets because it looked better. Unfortunately this was much slippery-er and it was the grace of God that the engineer that demonstrated this survived to tell the tale.
Not sure what the currently approved products include.
Not sure what's actually in the stick-on type, but Randolph X-1567 wing walk compound is blended with #3 Grit Walnut Shells providing the best in economical anti-slip paint while not skimping on safety. Randolph wing walk compound is a brush-on coating for wing walks or areas where a gritty, non-skid walkway is desired.
 
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