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To Blue or Not to Blue

CessnaTPA

Active Member
The July issue of Kitplanes had an article about removing the blue protective vinyl from the skins.
The author is against leaving it on, what do you guys think? Waste of time?
 

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The July issue of Kitplanes had an article about removing the blue protective vinyl from the skins.
The author is against leaving it on, what do you guys think? Waste of time?

Remove it early on. Vans has always recommended this. There is a very reasonable chance for corrosion to form under it.
 
Take it off before you start to assembly the kit, it is easier.. Leave it on only if you want to spend more time fighting with it. The longer it takes you to build the plane the harder it will be to remove.
 
On the other hand, it does an excellent job of preventing small scratches and stuff while you're still building. It hasn't seemed all that hard to remove, at least in strips like I do it. So far the only corrosion I've seen has been very minor and was spotted on new parts that I was working on immediately, but I live in a dry area. I'd say that depending on your general location, it might or might not be an issue.

Dave
With RV-3B parts still in the blue since 2012
 
I left it on and used a soldering iron to remove along rivet lines. Biggest waste of time in my opinion. When I took it to paint, they messed up all that Unscratched surface so the paint would stick. If u are gonna paint don’t leave any of it on.
 
Blue

I left it on and used a soldering iron to remove along rivet lines. Biggest waste of time in my opinion. When I took it to paint, they messed up all that Unscratched surface so the paint would stick. If u are gonna paint don’t leave any of it on.

What he ^ said. Pull it unless you plan to polish.
 
I left it on for my build and I WOULD NOT do it again. It was a serious pain to remove after years, there was corrosion under some of it and all that soldering iron stripping was just a stupid waste of time. Peel it off and build on.
 
I'm a new builder and recently completed my 12 empennage. I have around 8 hrs of "build time" removing the blue strips. Sometimes twice because it wasn't wide enough. Moving forward I'm not wasting my time.
 
I left mine on (except rivet lines). Made a handy mask when fiberglass time came. The exposed skins had light corrosion, the covered one were pristine. Did save me from a couple resin drips, so that was a bonus. I had no trouble with removal.
 
I left mine on (except rivet lines). Made a handy mask when fiberglass time came. The exposed skins had light corrosion, the covered one were pristine. Did save me from a couple resin drips, so that was a bonus. I had no trouble with removal.

+1
Did the same process on all the projects. Also found leaving no problem in removing.
Carl
 
Removing the vinyl and edge prep are the first two thing I do with any part when I first go to use it. The longest any part has sat with the vinyl on has been around 1 year and it came off no problem.
 
I have some parts so old the "blue" is actually clear. Comes off with little excitement or exertion.
 
Little do people know, the blue stuff makes the aluminum 37 times stronger if it is left on long enough. Best to order your kit at least a decade in advance and let it sit, for maximum effect. :D
 
I bought some old aluminum sheets with the older clear vinyl covering. It doesn't take much more effort than the fresh blue vinyl. The old sheet was easier to get ripped up when you remove it hence it took more time, instead of staying together as the big vinyl sheet. The adhesion to the aluminum was a non-event.
 
I've been building RVs since 1987 and can assure you that the longer you leave that film in place, the harder it will be to remove.

The worst was a 15 year old kit that I purchased. The plastic film had to be scratched off in dime sized chunks. Ugh.

If you're painting the plane, you'll need to thoroughly scuff the skins, so leaving the plastic on does exactly nothing for you.

Take it off ASAP and don't look back.
 
OK, so I left the blue vinyl on WAY too long. Now I'm taking it off and I'm finding a residue left after it is removed, almost like glue. I tried a few different ideas to get it off but no joy. I don't see any mention of this residue in this thread - am I the only one with this issue? If I'm not, how have you removed the residue?
 
I had that problem on my rudder and vs, stored up under a garage roof. Very hot during summer. Almost baked the blue stuff on. Was stored there for several years.
After much trial and error I found soaking a rag in mineral turpentine, leave it on the area for a while and work slowly with a plastic scraper (credit card worked for me). Was a horrible job, and convinced me to never leave that plastic stuff on.
Good luck.
Cheers DaveH
 
OK, so I left the blue vinyl on WAY too long. Now I'm taking it off and I'm finding a residue left after it is removed, almost like glue. I tried a few different ideas to get it off but no joy. I don't see any mention of this residue in this thread - am I the only one with this issue? If I'm not, how have you removed the residue?

I have seen this residue, but it came off easily with MEK or Acetone, in my experience.

I left the blue plastic on a lot of parts for a long time. I never had much problem removing it, but some parts did develop corrosion under the vinyl. The worst was a wing top skin--a squirrel had relieved itself inside the crate and the urine wicked between the vinyl and aluminum. I tried to salvage it but the corrosion had eaten more than 1/2 of the sheet thickness away--I had to get a whole new skin from Van's.

I've found the easiest way to remove the vinyl is to lay the piece flat on a table, peel up the edge, and then wrap that edge around a cardboard tube, and roll it off. Over time, that cardboard tube has gotten to be a few inches thicker in diameter--I just keep reusing it and the vinyl already wrapped around it sticks nicely to the vinyl I'm removing from the part.
 
Just a follow-up/update, if anyone is interested. I applied a little heat with a heat gun (aka wife's craft heat gun), and then the blue vinyl peel up and didn't leave much on the skin in the way of residue. What it did leave was easily and quickly cleaned with a cloth with very little mineral spirits applied. So all appears to be good here. Now what I'm struggling with is the vinyl that I removed WITHOUT heat that left a lot of residue behind. So far, it does not want to come off very easily. I'm going to add heat to it and apply the mineral spirits and see what happens.

So on the removal of blue vinyl, applying heat to it right before you pull it off seems to be the ticket to minimal residue left behind.
 
... So far, it does not want to come off very easily. I'm going to add heat to it and apply the mineral spirits and see what happens.

...

Watch out for fire risk with the solvent and a heat gun. A little flash might do more than singe your eyebrows.
 
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