Spinner

[The-sky-captain]

My spinner is currently painted and in descent shape but I would like to strip and polish it. It seems to be a fairly easy project that I could do myself. If anybody has any knowledge about this please chime in with any suggestions.

[KSMooniac]

Bodie, I just did this before my paint job, sorta.  I had a spare spinner thanks to ebay that had paint.  I stripped it myself and took it to a local polishing shop that does parts for hot rods, our local aircraft industry, etc. and they polished it for $55, plus I paid an extra $20 to expedite since I waited until the last minute before going to the paint shop.  I bet they could do yours as a mail-order job if you're interested.  http://www.cardinalbuffing.com/  It would have taken me many hours to get the result they did, so I was happy to pay that modest fee for the pros to do it.

[The-sky-captain]

Sounds like a plan... I plan to get started on it next week. Thanks for the heads up Scott.

[The-sky-captain]

Scott-

What product did you use to strip the spinner? Thanks...

[KSMooniac]

Bodie, I got some generic "aircraft stripper" from Lowes or Home Depot.  I've seen it in auto body paint shops as well (or auto parts store).  It brushes on, sits a bit, and then the paint will bubble off a bit.  It took a few applications with some scraping/brushing in between but overall went fairly quickly.

[piperpainter]

I am going to be doing this so I am glad you mentioned that places will polish it for you! I'll have to find a local one to do when I get home. Thankfully I have a few months till painting!

[Guest Anonymous]

Mine has a chrome spinner, Brian.  I will give you a PM next time I have it over and your in town.

Only down side has a up side too.  You get lots of exercise polishing it to keep the oils and stuff off of it.  You also get lots of practice saying, "not on the spinner" to anyone who wants to help .

RFB

 

[The-sky-captain]

Well I finally took the bull by the horns and stripped and polished my spinner last weekend. Over all it took me about three hours to strip, sand and polish it to my liking. The materials I used were Aircraft Stripper, 1000 grit sandpaper and Mother's polish. Everything was purchased at the local auto parts store. I polished it by hands a few times before moving on to a power buffer to really bring out the shine. Pics are posted.

[The-sky-captain]

What's a good product to keep it shiny and get rid of fingerprints and bugs? Windex??

[piperpainter]

Thanks Sky Captain! Im going to do this right after I get home!

[The-sky-captain]

No problem Bryan. I look forward to seeing the finished product. Good luck.

[Hank]

I keep my spinner shiny with Mother's polish from K-Mart. Should also be available at your local National Airplane Parts Association store.

The bugs disappear from my spinner the same way they do from my cowling and leading edges, and everywhere but the windows:  Mira cloth wipes. Wet it, wring it out, wipe it off, with an occasional rinse. Visit www.theultimatecloth.biz for details; I buy mine at (614) 337-0519, Columbus, OH. I suggest the five-pack for $20. No more chemicals, no more sprays, and very little elbow grease.

                   --Hank

[The-sky-captain]

Bryan-

Looks like you have the hard part done and the fun part on the way. Looking good.

[piperpainter]

Actually the paint...this time...was easy. I had stripped it a while back and repainted it cause it looked bad. That was the frist time I was "going to polish it." But didn't know how to go about it. Thanks again for your help, I have a ways to go to make it real pretty but just the polished/silver look on the plane looks better already.

[hansel]

Bodie- I think you’ve started a movement. This really was a cheap and easy way to improve the look of my 201.

The plane is in for it's annual, so I snagged the spinner from my mechanic (who was too busy counting how much money I owed him to care), stripped the paint and dropped it off at a local shop to have it polished. Certainly surprising that aluminum can shine up this well.

[The-sky-captain]

Eric- The spinner lookes AWESOME! Can't wait to see it on the plane.

[piperpainter]

I think i need to find a shop! haha That takes alot of work haha