Yeah vinyl vehicle wraps are really good alternative to the re-painting job. I also had a doubt if the vehicle wraps would last longer or not but mine are in good condition event after completing more than a year now.
Yeah vinyl vehicle wraps are really good alternative to the re-painting job. I also had a doubt if the vehicle wraps would last longer or not but mine are in good condition event after completing more than a year now.
Google N35PM, Pete McCoy's RV-9a, and look at the images. I've checked up on that plane three years in a row at Oshkosh, because I was thinking about wrapping and wanted to see how well it held up. It's a full vinyl wrap. I'd say it's holding up very well. The owner has patched a few places on the wheel pants -- tough to see unless you look very closely. The vinyl will rub where there's contact, like under the canopy skirt, but if you identify those places you could put some clear protecting film over them.
I've also vinyl wrapped a few pieces on my own plane. It's not hard to do, looks good and I really don't see any problems with it. Easy to repair, too.
Measure twice, cut once...
scratch head, shrug, shim to fit.
Flying an RV-12. I am building a Fisher Celebrity, slowly.
This is vinyl wrapped. Its a couple years old now. Holding up great.
There was a vinyl wrapped fabric covered high wing LSA at Airventure 2017, fun fly zone (ultralights).
I forgot to get a photo. Looked good.
This was at AV14 and is a wrap - imagine painting this??
Last edited by Jim Heffelfinger; 09-30-2017 at 10:39 PM.
I have a vinyl checkerboard over white Imron on the rudder of my RV-6. It is 16 years old and has >1,000 hours. The airplane is hangared.
The vinyl is holding up well...
But, I'd be scared to do vinyl over bare metal. Paint or prime first, then vinyl is my recommendation. It is easy to get corrosion under vinyl if it is over bare metal...