PSA & shill for Vince’s ecosystem. Vince you may want to mention 3m paint protective film for critical areas. Paul I noticed on your angle/oil change article your upper gear leg fairings are rubbing gear legs. Quick & easy to apply 3m film (that FlyBoys sells) to protect on gear leg under fairing. Put a strip aft of cowls on fuselage & cowl on/off is a one person job with no scratching. Flaps are another candidate. DOESN’T yellow with age & quite thin. You’re welcome Vince.
Van's Air Force
The definitive Van's Aircraft support community! Buying, building or flying an RV? Join our exclusive family of mentors and enthusiasts!
3M paint protective film.
- Thread starter [email protected]
- Start date
How thick is that tape without backing?
Just a couple of mils, it’s very thin and tough
Its on my list - just have to find the list, and then get to DOING the things on the list….
I was hoping for an actual measured thickness, but thanks for the reply.
I did the same - put it on the canopy rails after I painted them, as well as on the flap motor housing. I'm not flying yet, but I've climbed all over the plane since painting the interior and the PPF has kept those areas pristine. Definitely worth it. I don't want to add loads of weight, but covering part of the wheel pants would probably pay off as well.
I like PPG teflon infused urethane paint for these surfaces. Nothing against the films, but the teflon paint is really nice. It's not cheap, but well proven on the big jets.
I’ll put the calipers to it at the hangar, have faith
I was off by 6mil. Rocket Bob would have been crestfallen at my lack of precision
No problem. I had some from automotive vendor and it measured the same. I thought there was a version that was 2-3 mil. and I've been looking for that. Thanks for checking.I was off by 6mil. Rocket Bob would have been crestfallen at my lack of precision
Laird
FYI…..
Do not apply 3M paint protection film on the inside of the canopy skirt. Last year I went through and refreshed all of the canopy hardware. I had applied UHMW tape to the inside of the skirts when I originally built the airplane. Over the ensuing 20 years it had yellowed and had also started coming off in places. While I had the canopy off, I removed all of this old stuff and decided to put the paint protection film in its place. I’m pretty lucky that my wife was at the hanger when I tried it out for the first time. I got in the airplane, closed the canopy, and could not get it open. To make matters worse I had left my cell phone on the outside. The paint protection film is great but one of the reasons it works so well is that it is slightly squishy. This squishyness also adds quite a bit of friction when things are placed against it. Once my wife quit laughing and let me out, we pulled the canopy off and replace that stuff with Teflon tape. It opens super easy again now.
Do not apply 3M paint protection film on the inside of the canopy skirt. Last year I went through and refreshed all of the canopy hardware. I had applied UHMW tape to the inside of the skirts when I originally built the airplane. Over the ensuing 20 years it had yellowed and had also started coming off in places. While I had the canopy off, I removed all of this old stuff and decided to put the paint protection film in its place. I’m pretty lucky that my wife was at the hanger when I tried it out for the first time. I got in the airplane, closed the canopy, and could not get it open. To make matters worse I had left my cell phone on the outside. The paint protection film is great but one of the reasons it works so well is that it is slightly squishy. This squishyness also adds quite a bit of friction when things are placed against it. Once my wife quit laughing and let me out, we pulled the canopy off and replace that stuff with Teflon tape. It opens super easy again now.
