RVbySDI
Well Known Member
Has anyone out there tried to decide whether they should leave the blue plastic coating on their aluminum parts while being stored? Well, it is my contention that one should remove the plastic from the aluminum parts as soon as is practical to do so. Now keep in mind, by no means am I suggesting one immediately remove the plastic and store the aluminum sans plastic. However, it is important to recognize that the plastic is not doing very much to prevent corrosion. It does help to prevent inadvertent scratching but preventing corrosion; not so much!
Attached are a few pictures taken today of an RV 14A subpanel. A little history on the attached pictures. We received the fuselage kit the first of April (04-01-2022). The fuselage kit has been kept in an environmentally stable insulated shop with A/C. The A/C is not running constantly but throughout the day as work progresses the A/C has run. The rest of the time the insulated shop does a good job of stabilizing the temp and humidity. None the less, when it came time to add the subpanel to the fuselage build, this is what we discovered once we removed the blue plastic from the subpanel today (07-12-2022).
I did not notice the date of manufacture for this subpanel but most all of the aluminum parts in our fuselage kit have dates of manufacture in 2020. So, this part could have been sitting in the Vans warehouse for a considerable amount of time with the blue plastic on waiting for shipment.
The remedy for the corrosion is partially seen in the fourth picture. I had to thoroughly scuff all of the subpanel with maroon Scotchbrite, paying particular attention to all the rivet holes and edges where the corrosion had started. I do not have a picture of the final subpanel but after the scuffing it was painted.
So, if one is planning to paint a corroded part it is not too bad of a problem to solve. However, if this corrosion were to occur on the inside of a large sheet, say a fuselage skin or wing skin that was not going to be painted, one might have to deal with the corrosion some other way, or perhaps have to replace the piece entirely.
For anyone contemplating the decision as to whether to leave the blue plastic on in hopes of preventing corrosion, contemplate these pictures:
Attached are a few pictures taken today of an RV 14A subpanel. A little history on the attached pictures. We received the fuselage kit the first of April (04-01-2022). The fuselage kit has been kept in an environmentally stable insulated shop with A/C. The A/C is not running constantly but throughout the day as work progresses the A/C has run. The rest of the time the insulated shop does a good job of stabilizing the temp and humidity. None the less, when it came time to add the subpanel to the fuselage build, this is what we discovered once we removed the blue plastic from the subpanel today (07-12-2022).
I did not notice the date of manufacture for this subpanel but most all of the aluminum parts in our fuselage kit have dates of manufacture in 2020. So, this part could have been sitting in the Vans warehouse for a considerable amount of time with the blue plastic on waiting for shipment.
The remedy for the corrosion is partially seen in the fourth picture. I had to thoroughly scuff all of the subpanel with maroon Scotchbrite, paying particular attention to all the rivet holes and edges where the corrosion had started. I do not have a picture of the final subpanel but after the scuffing it was painted.
So, if one is planning to paint a corroded part it is not too bad of a problem to solve. However, if this corrosion were to occur on the inside of a large sheet, say a fuselage skin or wing skin that was not going to be painted, one might have to deal with the corrosion some other way, or perhaps have to replace the piece entirely.
For anyone contemplating the decision as to whether to leave the blue plastic on in hopes of preventing corrosion, contemplate these pictures: