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Removing the blue plastic film

Corrosion?

Snowflake said:
I'm up to about 10 years on some parts, blue plastic still in place, no corrosion, and the plastic still peels just fine (I check it occasionally). These have been stored in an unheated, but dry, garage.
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My storage situation is similar, so the plastic should be fine. (Hope I can finish in less than 10 years, though).
Have you seen any filoform corrosion under the factory markings, as one of the other posters mentioned?
 
Same here. I've left it on until I was working on that part. Know about 3.5 years. Just hit it warm it a little with a heat gun and it peels right off. No corrosion problems at all.
 
rgmwa said:
My storage situation is similar, so the plastic should be fine. (Hope I can finish in less than 10 years, though).
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That's what I hoped too...
Have you seen any filoform corrosion under the factory markings, as one of the other posters mentioned?
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Just checked, and none present on any of the parts. I also tried peeling one of the blue sheets back a bit, and it was stuck better than I remembered, but if I went slow it peeled just fine with no residue. I only peeled back about 4", then pushed it it back down again.
 
Removing Plastic Film

Thought I would pass this on to anyone who is having problems removing the blue plastic film on the RV parts. Take a heat gun and raise the surface temperature to about 115F (hot to the touch). The plastic film will peel right off with no hassle. This is especially helpful in winter.
 
I'm just taking the blue plastic off the wings and fuselage after 2-3 years. It's all come off cleanly except for one side of one wing. It wasn't hard to peel off, but for some reason it left behind a lot of sticky residue. Acetone will take it off, but it's slow work. I've tried a few other solvents, but acetone seems to work best. Are there any smart ways of getting this stuff off?
 
rgmwa said:
I'm just taking the blue plastic off the wings and fuselage after 2-3 years. It's all come off cleanly except for one side of one wing. It wasn't hard to peel off, but for some reason it left behind a lot of sticky residue. Acetone will take it off, but it's slow work. I've tried a few other solvents, but acetone seems to work best. Are there any smart ways of getting this stuff off?
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To answer my own question, it took me about 2-3 hours to clean up the wing using a mirofibre cloth, a litre of acetone and wearing a respirator and gloves. Took a fair bit of elbow grease, but was fairly straightforward.
 
I just got around to reading all the posts in this thread. What a hoot. So much made out of so little, but it's kind of funny.

(Old man story coming.....)

I remember when I was building my -6. There was no VansAirforce to go to, not even much in the way of instructions. Back then we used the Justice instructions to build from. I was uber careful to protect the aluminum, only remove the rivet lines, prime everything, keep work area super clean of metal chips, etc. After four years of building, I got around to thinking about paint. First thing I read was "Get yourself a good supply of pads and start scuffing the surface. WHAT!!!!! I'm gonna do what?

I thought back to all the time I wasted. Oh well, live and learn. RV-12......no primer, no plastic. Done in 8 months.
 
Blue plastic removal team for hire, $1 a girl per wing! Finally removing the remaining plastic. Should've done it as it was built, only discoloration was under the loose blue plastic.
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peeling clear plastic on 1999 empennage

I have started a youth built program and the RV-6 empennage kit dates to 1999. The plastic on the HS skins is coming off in fingernail sized pieces and the kids are rebelling on spending 6 hours to peel. Heat helps very little. Any suggestions on getting the plastic off any easier?
 
Some suggestions ... that might help

Jimmy Cox said:
I have started a youth built program and the RV-6 empennage kit dates to 1999. The plastic on the HS skins is coming off in fingernail sized pieces and the kids are rebelling on spending 6 hours to peel. Heat helps very little. Any suggestions on getting the plastic off any easier?
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1) Don't expect kids to have patience.
2) Try ear plugs.
3) Turn up the music they like.
4) Smile a lot and nod knowingly.

;)

Tell them 'old guy stories' about when you were a kid and dreamed of being anywhere near an airplane. I have a 1997 QB and still have a few pieces of plastic to remove on scraps. Tough at times, builds character.

:cool:
gary
 
Wet Rags

Try wetting towels dripping wet with solvent and lay them under a vapor barrier like siran wrap for about 30 minutes. Try a progression of IPA, mineral spirits, aceton, xylene until you determine which works.
 
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peeling plastic

We finally found out how to get the plastic off. It was breaking in fingernail sized pieces as we tried to peel it and was taking forever. It was so bad I considered buying new skins.
We tried a power washer and it gets it off. It took three hours to do a HS skin, but that was way faster than anything else we tried. It leaves the glue, but that comes off easily with mineral spirits.
 
I've got 5 year old vinyl on my airframe.

I'm far enough along to start removing it, which is encouraging in and of itself, but it sure is tedious. To make matters worse, the sun has worked it's magic so much of it is cracked. To make matters still worse, there's residue all over everything.

I'll try the heat gun to loosen the vinyl.

for the residue, I've tried MEK, Mineral Spirits, and Goo Gone. All are different degrees of marginal. Any other suggestions?

Thanks,
Harry
 
I have a 1996 RV-6 kit and some of the plastic film has been tough to remove, particularly where it has been oversprayed with primer.
I tried soaking the parts in a bath of water with a little detergent for a week or so and it softens things up significantly. Any remaining glue comes off easily with what we call "Prepsol", which is used by paint shops to clean surfaces before spray painting.
Hope this helps.
Mike
 
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