Any polished Mooneys out there?

[Yetti]

Has anyone done a partial strip on say the leading edge?  And then polished it?   Would the aluminum tape be the way to protect the paint and only strip to a line?

[Sabremech]

Clear coat will only work for a little while and then the aluminum will start to return to a dull finish. When we painted our P-51 a couple of years ago, we thought we'd just polish up the aluminum and then paint our OD green with no problem, that was until we found the aluminum had been clear coated. What a pain in the butt to get the clear coat off.

David

[carusoam]

Lightly oxidized patina under the clear coat?

That would require a really ultra high oxygen barrier level provided by the paint chemistry...

Of course, the paint has the added challenge of trying to stick to a polished smooth surface.

That must have been a tough lesson to learn.

Best regards,

-a-

[Wildhorsesracing]

Spent all day yesterday finishing the paint removal from the bottom of the wings, some light sanding and polishing. It is a long tedious process but it looks like the end result will be worth it.

 

http://mooneyspace.com/gallery/image/36900-slow-tedious-progress-looking-good-though33/

[bonal]

Been watching your progress with amazement I know the end result will be incredible good luck for sure but you might want to seek professional help.

[MB65E]

I wish my sheet metal looked that clean. Nice work!! My Dad is polishing his Sonex. He polished the skins before he assembled them on a flat surface.

Yours will look really nice.

-Matt

[N601RX]

Any chance you weighed the plane before stripping it? It would be interesting to know how much weight it lost.

[Wildhorsesracing]

Any chance you weighed the plane before stripping it? It would be interesting to know how much weight it lost.

 

I wish I had, but alas no.  I plan to weigh it as soon as it's done though.

 

More progress today:

 

http://mooneyspace.com/gallery/image/36901-1st-cut-of-the-polish-done-on-fuselage/

[Johnnybgoode]

What are you doing on the ailerons? Those protruding rivets will be a challenge. I think in looking at the other polished one mentioned on here I can see the reason for the painted wingtips, which probably include the ailerons.

Curious if you plan to repaint any parts or go all polished?

Patrick

[Wildhorsesracing]

I hadn't stripped the ailerons yet - but in talking with the local A&P he suggested I go ahead, strip and polish then remove them for balancing.

 

I had planned a few stripes for accents, will use the original green to make the stripes more subtle.

[MB65E]

Good idea to check, but they will be fine. An overbalanced condition is all that will happen. Under-balanced is where the danger can happen. If they are currently "in balance" they will only be "in balance" more after the paint is removed. They all bearly meet the "balance" with paint.

Keep it up! It looks Awesome!!

-Matt

[Steve65E-NC]

Now days this looks like a viable option.  I have been quoted from $13,000 to $15,000 to strip and paint an E.  I asked the $15,000 guy what he did in the gear wells and if he stripped them.  No "we just spray up in there without stripping" was his response.  Maybe if enough folks start doing this polishing the paint shops will stop gouging.

[carusoam]

There is going to be a challenge everytime you park outside....

The reflection of an old crusty P or C will be very unbecoming reflecting off the mirrored surface.

[Wildhorsesracing]

My hangar "neighbors" stripped their plane themselves and had a professional painter come in to paint it last year. That is, partially, what motivated me to strip mine.  They said the amount of paint cost $4,000, the labor was $6,000 and they stripped the plane themselves!  

 

I was washing my plane and when I pushed it back into the hangar I noticed the ground was covered with white paint specs, the paint was literally flaking off.

 

http://mooneyspace.com/gallery/image/36646-/

 

 Originally I was just going to strip the wings and possibly repaint, but the more I stripped the plane the more I liked the aluminum look.

[Yetti]

I have one or two spots on the leading edges that look like that.   Someone prior painted over them with another color white paint. Then that paint came off kind of. I am afraid that one day, I will just start polishing the spots and then suddenly the whole leading edge will become bright shiny and pretty.  

 

The interesting thing about the Mooney paint jobs is that they were very thin.   The current repaint jobs seem like a very thick coating.   I would not be surprised if new paint jobs do not add a great deal of weight to the plane.

[DS1980]

I will never understand the costs of painting a plane. It's just a shed that goes 200 MPH. Oh, and has a few less old videos of strippers.

[bonal]

As far as weight how many gallons of paint to do a proper job on a mooney short body vs long body either one for that matter

[Johnnybgoode]

I hadn't stripped the ailerons yet - but in talking with the local A&P he suggested I go ahead, strip and polish then remove them for balancing.

I had planned a few stripes for accents, will use the original green to make the stripes more subtle.

I was more suggesting the paint to avoid continuous polishing around all those trailing edge rivets than for balance reasons.

Patrick

[Shadrach]

On August 10, 2015 at 7:59:50 AM, Yetti said:

I have one or two spots on the leading edges that look like that.   Someone prior painted over them with another color white paint. Then that paint came off kind of. I am afraid that one day, I will just start polishing the spots and then suddenly the whole leading edge will become bright shiny and pretty.  

 

The interesting thing about the Mooney paint jobs is that they were very thin.   The current repaint jobs seem like a very thick coating.   I would not be surprised if new paint jobs do not add a great deal of weight to the plane.

The original paint on our bird is so thin you can see the primer through the paint on the under side of the fuselage aft of the cabin.  One thing I will say for the factory paint is the quality of the adhesion. My paint is not flaking anywhere.  The leading edges are chipped a bit from abrasion, but that is it.  My local paint guy said that the existing paint is adhering as well as any primer he could use on bare metal and said a scuff and shoot would last a very long time. 

[Steve65E-NC]

Shadrack, I think I agree with your guy.  When my original paint was about 28 years old it was looking threadbare and dated (but with no adhesion problems) so I had it stripped and repainted with Jet Glo..  I loved my new design.  However, within a decade I was begining to see areas that were losing adhesion, and now I have many such spots with chipping, peeling and aligatoring.  I would have scoffed at the idea of a scuff and repaint then, now I wish I had done that.  Be sure that my next paint job will not be Jet Glo.

[RobertGary1]

What do you do about the balanced control surfaces?

 

-Robert

[Wildhorsesracing]

There is a fairly complete explanation of balancing them in the mooney maintenance manual.

[HRM]

I am finding that I do not like the stripped and polished Mooney.

 

It's just personal preference, but to me some planes look good and others don't.

 

I think a polished Ercoupe is gorgeous.

 

I guess I'll wait for the final photos outside in the sun.

 

 

[Wildhorsesracing]

I wasn't a big fan of polished airplanes until I started polishing mine, it has grown on me, looking forward to taking out into the sun soon and seeing what the shine looks like.

[Hank]

looking forward to taking out into the sun soon and seeing what the shine looks like.

So are we!