I almost have the 170 all the way stripped and I'm wondering whats the best method and products to use to polish the aluminum. I'm still a little ways out but I figured I would ask now. What have you guys with polished airplanes found out that works best for you?

Two growlers of your favorite microbrew and send your wife on a shopping spree. I don't think the compound matters.

Only 2 growlers!? Sweet! It won't take long at all then. I think I'm already into this project about 1000 beers already.

Lots and lots of elbow grease. I've got pictures somewhere of me stripping the paint and polishing my Luscombe. It is a big job. Nuvite is the best by far and their polisher is awesome but it is expensive. I couldn't afford it so I bought a regular single pad polisher. The part I screwed up on is I didn't compound it enough. You have to use the rubbing compound enough to remove all the etching from the paint job and the scratches from stripping the paint. I didn't get all that stuff out so when you look at my plane even after a fresh polish job it doesn't have a mirror finish, but it looks great from 20ft on a running horse.

This is my plane after stripping the paint and polishing it:




This is a friends liquid metal Luscombe (he did a lot of compounding and uses Nuvite):

Sorry, I know this isn't a very good answer, but The Swift forum had tried and true polishing techniques listed. I haven't been to that site in years, and it might not even but up any longer, but if it's down I suspect that you could get the details from most any Swift owner who has a polished plane.

Once you get it polished up right with Nuvite or Rolite etc. then you just wanna keep it protected with a good polish. IMO California Customs "Purple" is the winner hands down. The Purple has a protective polymer in it and will keep you safe from things like salt air etc. After getting super dirty and dusty I just wash my plane with clean water and wipe dry, looks like I just polished for two days

I use a cheap orbital buffer with microfiber cloth, takes about 8 hours n at least 4 beers to get the job done solo, once or twice a year and its good to go. Good luck with trying to keep people from touching it and wanting to smear their greasiness all over it, look but don't touch dammit

Here's a couple of good summaries. It's a labor of love, perfect for those days you can't fly.

http://www.popav.com/Luscombe/ListTechA ... .asp?id=67

http://www.popav.com/Luscombe/ListTechA ... .asp?id=23

Al
NC1199B

whee wrote:This is a friends liquid metal Luscombe (he did a lot of compounding and uses Nuvite):

Holy cow, that's beautiful!

Oh yeah, the trick to removing the polishing compound is regular old white baking flour, just put some in your rag and it comes off like magic!!!

I've tried a lot of polish on 3 planes, Nuvite is definitly the eay to go, imho.nuvite's web site has a very good tutorial, so does the globe swift assn website, and perfect polish.com. they all say basically the same thing. Plan on spending at least $400.00 for a pair of polishers, and the first polish after you strip the paint will take at least $300.00 worth of polish, pads, etc. Also plan on 100-200 hours for the first polish job, then 10-20 hours once a year after that. The good side of a polished plane is everyone knows the plane, even if they don't know who you are. The bad side is that polishing a plane is one cause of AIDS, aviation induced divorce syndrome.

Never a plane, but an Airstream and a Traveleer. Try this out,

www.perfectpolish.com

This is a friends liquid metal Luscombe (he did a lot of compounding and uses Nuvite):


If the Hour/Beer/Polish formula holds true, this guy must be ready for the Betty Ford Clinic.

I've hand polished a lot of wheels on the Yamaha Racing rigs over the years. The very best product I found that was easy to work with is call Zepher and be found at most truck stops and some truck dealers or online. Not sure if its ok on planes, though.

Once you get all polished up, I highly suggest (if you can) using De-Ionized water for washing the plane. I tried to stay away from the truck washes and washed our rigs by hand using De-Ionized water and the polished aluminum wheels would stay nice and shiney for over a year. And it looked like the rig was polished and waxed every event. Made my job easy!

Years back I stripped the paint off my airplane - then used Alumprep to clean down to alclad .Saw a 180 polished and ask the owner what I should do - he reccomended clean the whole 182 with Bonama - witch is old time window cleaner - white power mixed in water pail ,scrub skin with green Scotch bright pad - by hand . really shines. Should do some of the chrome wheel polish like Pat mentions. Lot of work but 40+ pounds lighter and really pots.

Think I found the product you were talking about. I'll have to try it out if it ever warms up around here.

http://www.bonami.com/index.php/about_bon_ami/

Be VERY CAREFULL about using scothbrite pads on a plane, there are many different grades, colors, manufacturers, etc. If you use the wrong one you can do a lot of damage very fast, and may end up painting the plane to cover it up.

Thanks for all the tips everyone. I think I'll try the Nuvite. That's a nice looking Luscombe for sure, at least he has fabric wings!

I've read through all the good info on perfectpolish.com now my only question is how do you polish areas next to paint? I plan on putting red trim on my plane but I'm worried about taking some paint off when I'm polishing the aluminum along the edges of the paint lines.

I used Nuvite and the Cyclo polisher for our 140. I masked off the paint with blue painters tape to keep from ruining it. Lots of work, but it worked great.

I'm drooling over that 140.