rocketman Posted November 6, 2011 Report Posted November 6, 2011 I am in the process of removing all the yellow stained plastic side and ceiling panels and would like to know who are some of the experienced and friendly shops around the country that can repair the occasional cracks as well as to paint it to like new condition. I have been looking into a paint made by Sherwin Williams called "Jetflex" which is a specialty paint for plane interiors. Does anyone have any experience with this product or are there any other paints available for our interiors? Thanks. Quote
jetdriven Posted November 6, 2011 Report Posted November 6, 2011 (edited) SEM also makes a paint called aerospace color coat. Consider that as well. http://semaerospace.com/cms/COLOR+COAT/80.html Talk with whoever you are considering to repair your plastic. There are a lot of improper repairs out there, if they start talking about epoxy, cyanoacrylate, "plastic glue", or fiberglass resin, hang up. ABS plastic must be solvent welded with ABS glue. Fiberrglass tape can help reinforce it, but there is only one way to properly repair ABS plastic. The replacement panels sold by Plane Plastic wil require quite a bit of labor from trimming and fitting. They often come just as out of the mold and take hours to work. EDIT: since this post I have found 7781 fiberglass cloth and aircraft structural epoxy to be the thing to fix royalite ABS interior panels. I have used MGS and Aeropoxy with 781 or 7781 aircraft fiberglass cloth ideal for panel repair and refinforcement. Edited February 20, 2018 by jetdriven Quote
jbreda Posted November 6, 2011 Report Posted November 6, 2011 The problem with repairing cracked roaylite panels is that they are 40 years old, and that is why they are cracked and brittle. I think a much better repair is to make fiberglass copies of the panels, but you will have to use a Class I flame retardant resin. This can be done by vacuum forming and your friendly EAA Experimental builder can probably help. The parts can also be made by hand lay-up but this is alot more work. John Breda Quote
jetdriven Posted November 6, 2011 Report Posted November 6, 2011 There are two reasons the plastic cracks, one is UV damage and eventual disintegration. Cessna's get this a lot. This really can't be repaired if it's significant. More common on our plane is stress cracks from screws and in the corners and edges of panels from not fitting exact. After 5000 hours, vibration tears the plastic. This is an easy fix. Quote
scottfromiowa Posted November 6, 2011 Report Posted November 6, 2011 Looks Great Jim. Did you mix and spray yourself or take them to a shop? Where is a good source for the interior trim replacement screws? I would like to go new and paint like Byron suggested in another link in the plane plastic color I choose. Anyone know the number of washers/screws needed...Thanks, Scott Quote
jetdriven Posted November 6, 2011 Report Posted November 6, 2011 Scott: I went to West Marine and matched to what they had. I believe most of the small philips screws are #2 x 3/8" or 1/2" sheet metal screws. you can go to a local hardware store, get the correct size, and order them in stainless. I had some panels out for repair and doing the seatbelts, and replaced a few screws. EDIT: posted same time as Jim. He may be right, they might be #4. Quote
scottfromiowa Posted November 6, 2011 Report Posted November 6, 2011 Wow! Very good on both paint and screws. Thanks again Byron and Roger. Scott Quote
PTK Posted November 6, 2011 Report Posted November 6, 2011 Excellent work and even better results Jim. I did mine a year or so ago and I utilized the SEM Colorcoat product in the sailcloth white color. Check my gallery. This is relatively easy work which pays huge dividends every time I open the door of my Mooney! I'm sure you feel the same way. Don't know why people actually pay thousands of $$'s for something so easy. You agree? Wanted to ask you where do you get that clip that holds the shoulder harness in place on the side wall. Any info is appreciated. I have shoulder harnesses on all seats and need these clips to hold them neatly in place when not being used. Thanks! Quote
PTK Posted November 6, 2011 Report Posted November 6, 2011 Quote: JimR Thanks, PK. I did visit your gallery and yours looks great too. I do like a lot of the professional interior jobs that I've seen lately, particularly Aero Comfort's work. If my interior was absolutely trashed I'd probably suck it up and let them work their magic. But as it is a little elbow grease seemed to be the appropriate course of action. My seats, carpet, and sidewall carpeting were all in very good condition. Only my royalite needed a little bit of freshening up Oh, and did you notice that my interior is RED? I'm kind of a minimalist at heart, too, so keeping the interior more or less stock appeals to me. The shoulder harness clips were on the plane when I bought it. No idea where they came from, but I have flown Cessna R182s that had the same hardware. They do come in handy. Jim Quote
rocketman Posted November 6, 2011 Author Report Posted November 6, 2011 I like the products on semaerospace.com as noted above. But who would I send the panels to for painting. There are only two small craks on my royalite that need repair. Alternatively, does anyone have any experience with covering the royalite in leather? Quote
DonMuncy Posted November 6, 2011 Report Posted November 6, 2011 I'd love to find that clip somewhere! Google chevelle ,camaro,seat belt shoulder harness clips original gm parts cutlass Is this what you are looking for? Quote
PTK Posted November 6, 2011 Report Posted November 6, 2011 Quote: rocketman I like the products on semaerospace.com as noted above. But who would I send the panels to for painting. There are only two small craks on my royalite that need repair. Alternatively, does anyone have any experience with covering the royalite in leather? Quote
fantom Posted November 7, 2011 Report Posted November 7, 2011 Quote: allsmiles Don't know why people actually pay thousands of $$'s for something so easy. You agree? Some obtuse judgements never change... Try this stuff: http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cmpages/polyfix.php?cr=adcopy&kw=Flash Quote
Parker_Woodruff Posted November 7, 2011 Report Posted November 7, 2011 I had to buy 2 brand new round front window panels for my M20J when my interior was redone. Each side was $300, IIRC. Not sure how much you're spending to refurb yours. Quote
jetdriven Posted November 7, 2011 Report Posted November 7, 2011 Thats some slick advertising but that is a cyanoacrylate product and WILL FAIL. ABS plastic must be solvent welded, IE, melted with a solvent and bonded back together. I cannot stress this enough. There is only one way to fix it. Solvent glue. I used some 5$ Oatey ABS black pipe glue from Lowes, and the plastic will break in a different place if stressed after the repair.. MEK is also a solvent you can actually dissolve some ABS in it and make a putty. The pipe glue is thick and perfect for the application. I actually had a piece of fiberglass and resin holding part of my glareshield together. Some ABS glue and some fiberglass tape the glareshield is not only normal looking, but stronger than new. Quote: fantom Quote
74657 Posted November 7, 2011 Report Posted November 7, 2011 Are you guys using the fiberglass cloth followed with resin over the top or using the ABS glue in place of the resin???? Quote
scottfromiowa Posted November 7, 2011 Report Posted November 7, 2011 http://mooneyspace.org/index.cfm?mainaction=posts&forumid=2&threadid=3595&postid=43796&page=2 Link to previous thread. ABS then Fiberglass covered in ABS... Quote
jetdriven Posted November 7, 2011 Report Posted November 7, 2011 Scott, it will look fantastic. Screw the screws into balsa, paint, and bake them as well. Same look as the 450K turbo 206 we saw at OSH this year. Evidently they are doign the same thing as Mooney did in 1966. Quote
scottfromiowa Posted November 7, 2011 Report Posted November 7, 2011 Quote: jetdriven Scott, it will look fantastic. Screw the screws into balsa, paint, and bake them as well. Same look as the 450K turbo 206 we saw at OSH this year. Evidently they are doign the same thing as Mooney did in 1966. Quote
PTK Posted November 7, 2011 Report Posted November 7, 2011 Quote: Parker_Woodruff I had to buy 2 brand new round front window panels for my M20J when my interior was redone. Each side was $300, IIRC. Not sure how much you're spending to refurb yours. Quote
jetdriven Posted November 8, 2011 Report Posted November 8, 2011 here is some more info on the process. You can do it as sloppy as you want, because its covered anyways. http://www.aya.org/s/358/aya.aspx?sid=358&gid=1&pgid=1021 Quote
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