Polished aluminum

[EvanS]

I’m polishing an aluminum 61 M20B for the first time and was wondering what the best way to protect the polished aluminum is once I’m done so I can minimize how often I need to polish it? 

[RLCarter]

Paint works the best 

[Hank]

I find that California Gold, purple, works well and lasts a while. It works best on smooth metal that's already been polished. They have a second product (green?) for use on the initial polish.

Edited November 7, 2020 by Hank

[EvanS]

Yeah I hear ya RLCarter but that’s just so boring.

[EvanS]

Thanks Hank, appreciate the feedback.

[RLCarter]

@EvanS Like Hank above I use the California Custom polish (the green is a deoxidizer) on my spinner, works really well but I don’t think it would be economical on a whole aircraft. There’s a guy on the field that has a BT13 that is polished that looks really nice, I’ll try and see if I can find out what he uses. Unfortunately his son was involved in a midair collision this past tues both pilots survived but we’ll see if I can find out for you

[hammdo]

Hum. Plane look familiar;o)

-Don

[EvanS]

@RLCarter that’s horrible, glad to hear that the pilots survived. I’d appreciate any info to help with it and I’m not in any rush.

[47U]

Keep it out of the sun and keep it dry.  Depending on your climate/location, consider wing and fuselage covers to keep the air from getting to it as much as possible.  

[jaylw314]

4 hours ago, EvanS said:

I’m polishing an aluminum 61 M20B for the first time and was wondering what the best way to protect the polished aluminum is once I’m done so I can minimize how often I need to polish it? 

The whole plane?? That's a lot of elbow grease!

Check Van's Airforce, a lot of people there have had polished aluminum as their RV finish.  Many swear by using a cycloid polisher rather than the standard orbital polisher, and there's a whole discussion on what types of polish to use.

[carusoam]

Where is our wild horses guy?   @Wildhorsesracing

He has a full collection of pics of the process of polishing his beautiful Mooney!  This just happens to be one of them...

Best regards,

-a-

 

[EricJ]

7 hours ago, carusoam said:

Where is our wild horses guy?   @Wildhorsesracing

He has a full collection of pics of the process of polishing his beautiful Mooney!  This just happens to be one of them...

Best regards,

-a-

 

He flies a Hatz bi-plane now and no longer has his Mooney.  

I use the purple stuff on my spinner and it is great but doesn't really last very long.   It's just a polish and I don't think is intended to be a protective finish.

Everybody I've known that had substantial bare area on an airplane that needed polish said it took a lot of work to maintain it.

[cliffy]

When you are done polishing  and wiping off the black stuff sprinkle on some plain old baking flour and rewipe with a clean cloth. Takes off all the black stuff you can't get off otherwise.  Corporate jets drivers do that all the time on their leading edges after polishing so folks don't rub up against them and get black all over their suits. 

Look into the Airstream trailer forums for polishing aluminum. 

 

[Prior owner]

Although it was some time ago that I had a polished Luscombe, Back then I had tried every product out there and Mother’s mag and aluminum polish kept the plane shiny longer than anything else. ....and it lived outside. I used to call the factory and buy it by the quart. Surely, there are superior products out there now. Maybe not?

[steingar]

Polished airplanes are just never done.  There's always fingerprints, grease, oil, and Odin knows what.  I read a piece by a guy who owns and maintains a polished Spartan Executive.  Gorgeous airplane, shines so in the sun you can barely look at it.  He said polish and contaminants built up around rivets, where it's hard to polish.  He claimed getting rid of all that on the Spartan took 4000 hours.  Just the rivets.

I'll take paint, thank you.

[RobertGary1]

Wonder how American Airlines did it for all those years. 
 

-Robert 

[M20F]

18 minutes ago, RobertGary1 said:

Wonder how American Airlines did it for all those years. 
 

-Robert 

They did it to save weight, not look pretty. 

[RobertGary1]

9 minutes ago, M20F said:

They did it to save weight, not look pretty. 

Although that is 1/2 true, they must have had some magic other than hundreds of man hours polishing every month.

-Robert

[Hank]

1 hour ago, RobertGary1 said:

Although that is 1/2 true, they must have had some magic other than hundreds of man hours polishing every month.

-Robert

Can't you just polish it up, then wax it?

[RobertGary1]

7 minutes ago, Hank said:

Can't you just polish it up, then wax it?

At least the way I know how to do it would be very time consuming. Curious if they came up with a short cut.

-Robert

[steingar]

Actually, most polished airplanes spend most of their time looking awful.  At least that's been my experience.  Haven't seen that many owners with the wherewithal to really keep up with the polishing.  It really is a lot of work.

[cliffy]

American's polish job looked great from across the runway but up close?  BTDT

[Ragsf15e]

It’s pretty easy to maintain.  When you finish polishing it, go back to where you started and begin again! 

[cliffy]

Just like painting the Golden Gate Bridge

When you're done - start over again. 

It's the song that never ends. 

Ask any Airstream trailer owner with polished aluminum that tries to keep it that way.

[LANCECASPER]

Can you clearcoat it after you polish it?