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Thread: Vinyl Graphics Instead of Paint?

  1. #11

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    Hi all,

    Just joined the forums after seeing this question.....I can definitely answer. I am a Instrument rated PPL and next in line to be owner of our family sign shop - and what we deal with is 99% cut vinyl and digitally printed graphics. To answer your question.....yes it is possible to wrap a plane with quality results. Our shop does about 25-30 full wraps a year - mostly on commercial vehicles, trailers, cars, kiosks, walls, & even a Harley Davidson. I would LOVE to wrap a plane. There are a variety of manufacturers out there for wrap vinyl. Everyone knows of course - 3M, which is the MOST expensive out there, however have worked with enough other materials that have the same or better results at literally almost half the price. We typically use Arlon DPF6000XRP. Most all wrap vinyls nowadays have air egress technology built into them which allows the vinyl to breathe and not have any bubbles or wrinkles when applied properly. It works very well with very complex curves, rivets, corrugations, etc. It has a repositionable, pressure-sensitive adhesive that has an outdoor durability of 7-10 years and clean removability of 4 years without heat, and with a little heat after 4 years still comes off cleanly.

    Wrap material in general is about 4-6 mils in total thickness. The printed Arlon with UV lamination is only 4 mils thick. Unless the material has lifted for some reason, it will not "just come off in flight." Do a search on Youtube for an airliner wrap....you will find several.....mostly using 3M - handles high speeds, high altitudes, cold temps, pressurization, etc. A recent article I read in a trade magazine, a wrap was done on a solar car and it shaved off 15lbs versus the weight of a paint job. It will adhere to raw aluminum, steel, other metals, etc. Sealed fiberglass, I have not tested myself....if it was coated with a decent primer, should adhere perfectly fine.

    Being left outside in the sun daily is not an issue. I have my personal car wrapped and it has no issues. It will be 7-10 years before it starts to peel, crack, or lift. The printed parts have a durability of 5-7 years before they start to fade with proper lamination. There are no "touch-ups" with vinyl. If it's not new.....it's replaced when it fades, peels, or cracks.

    In terms of someone installing it, find a wrap or sign company that does wraps. And is either comfortable working on a aircraft, has some familiarity of one, or has wrapped a plane before. In USD, you can expect in the neighborhood of $12-17/sq ft depending on material, coverage, installer, etc for a complete wrap installed. Generally, design is handled separately. And if you're considering trying it yourself.......don't. It will be one very expensive mistake and should be left to a professional to install.

  2. #12
    Anymouse's Avatar
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    My Tango is painted all white and uses vinyl for the numbers and stripes. It's been on there for five years and over 300 hours of flight time. Most people don't realize it's vinyl until I tell them. I cruise at about 180 KTAS and haven't seen a hint of peeling. All that being said, the person that printed the stripes/numbers insisted on applying them himself as improper application can cause problems.

    Unfortunately, that fellow sold his business to a big conglomerate and they're not interested in the aviation market at all.
    Someday I'll come up with something profound to put here.

  3. #13

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    Just to clarify, like many here have stated, my registration marks and miscellaneous stuff are vinyl and have proved to be problem free after many hours of flying. But wrapping the WHOLE airplane is somewhat different.

    I am very pleased by what N1ska has added to the conversation. I think him (her?) and I are going to have a long conversation when it comes time to redo the basic white scheme that my, and many other, fiberglass airplanes end up with. I think I would probably take the plane somewhere and have it stripped and primed by a professional and then meet N1ska to have the graphics applied. I love it when a plan comes together!

    Thanks again to all for the input. This kind of forum just reaffirms my belief that some of the nicest people you'll ever meet are airplane people!

  4. #14

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    A friend was a crew chief on a Red Bull Air Race airplane. He reports that one of the competitors had their whole airplane wrapped in vinyl, including the propeller spinner. He reported being pretty impressed that they could wrap the spinner.

    The vinyl had no problems at 300mph and 10G.

    Best of luck,

    Wes
    N78PS

  5. #15
    rwanttaja's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by WLIU View Post
    A friend was a crew chief on a Red Bull Air Race airplane. He reports that one of the competitors had their whole airplane wrapped in vinyl, including the propeller spinner. He reported being pretty impressed that they could wrap the spinner.

    The vinyl had no problems at 300mph and 10G.
    And how was it holding up ten years later?

    Ron Wanttaja

  6. #16
    Mike Switzer's Avatar
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    My 2000 F350 has vinyl graphics & there are a few places where it is trying to peel at the edges. I wish it was paint.

  7. #17

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    "And how was it holding up ten years later?"

    That actually can be an upside to using vinyl, Changing paint is expensive and painful. With vinyl, if you decide that you don't like a stripe or want a checkerboard, or perhaps the name of the spouse on the side of your ship is no longer appropriate, it is comparatively easy to peel the vinyl up and try something different. I wonder if vinyl on the leading edges of a wing will suffer less flying in rain damage, or be easier to repair?

    And if you try some different graphics and decide you really really like one, you can take the vinyl off and do paint.

    Think outside the box.

    Best of luck,

    Wes
    N78PS

  8. #18
    rwanttaja's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by WLIU View Post
    "And how was it holding up ten years later?"

    That actually can be an upside to using vinyl, Changing paint is expensive and painful. With vinyl, if you decide that you don't like a stripe or want a checkerboard, or perhaps the name of the spouse on the side of your ship is no longer appropriate, it is comparatively easy to peel the vinyl up and try something different. I wonder if vinyl on the leading edges of a wing will suffer less flying in rain damage, or be easier to repair?

    And if you try some different graphics and decide you really really like one, you can take the vinyl off and do paint.

    Think outside the box.
    I'd rather have a durable product in a scheme I don't like than one that forces me to "repaint" the aircraft every several years whether I want to or not.

    Heck, that *exactly* describes my current situation. I dislike the paint scheme on the Fly Baby I bought sixteen years ago. But more than thirty years after first flight, it's still looking good. Would have loved to have changed it in 1997, but not if I would have had to have re-done it in 2002, 2007, and 2011.

    I like vinyl for trim. I'm skeptical of the long-term impacts for whole-plane applications. As Mike mentioned, he's got a truck where the stuff is peeling off.

    One of our Fly Baby crowd painted his plane with latex house paint about five years ago. It's still holding up, and he can do touch-ups with a foam brush and some windshield-washer fluid. See: http://www.bowersflybaby.com/tech/latex.html

    Ron Wanttaja

  9. #19

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    Sorry for the delay in response, didn't have any notifications turned on and have been incredibly sidetracked with work lately. My name is Adam - We are on our 17th wrap of the year at the shop.....the last one was a 26ft box truck with over 800 rivets on the sides of the box. I pushed every single one of them down myself.....took 2 days to wrap this truck. If anyone is interested in flying in locally, there are several airports that are local to Springfield MA, that we can arrange something to meet and apply graphics or even a partial or full wrap.

    When I do any kind of vehicle wrap, I only use premium wrap vinyl. It conforms to all types of complex curves without any lifting or issues at all. Here's a picture of my own car that we wrapped a few months ago...see below.


    Quote Originally Posted by TaelDragon View Post
    Just to clarify, like many here have stated, my registration marks and miscellaneous stuff are vinyl and have proved to be problem free after many hours of flying. But wrapping the WHOLE airplane is somewhat different.

    I am very pleased by what N1ska has added to the conversation. I think him (her?) and I are going to have a long conversation when it comes time to redo the basic white scheme that my, and many other, fiberglass airplanes end up with. I think I would probably take the plane somewhere and have it stripped and primed by a professional and then meet N1ska to have the graphics applied. I love it when a plan comes together!

    Thanks again to all for the input. This kind of forum just reaffirms my belief that some of the nicest people you'll ever meet are airplane people!
    Attached Images Attached Images  

  10. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by rwanttaja View Post
    And how was it holding up ten years later?

    Ron Wanttaja
    Vinyl is not paint.......it never will be. So if you're expecting it to last 30 years.....don't count on it. However, there have been vast improvements in vinyl over the years. There are still different varieties of manufacturers out there that make different qualities. Just like paint - intermediate vinyl or digitally printed vinyl with proper lamination will start to fade at 5 years out.....that's why if someone has vinyl lettering and they remove it after 5 years, you get a ghosting effect because the UV rays have started to fade the paint around the letters but not behind the vinyl. However, if we go into the paint wrap vinyls, which are solid colors including metallics like anthracite or metallic silver, they have an expected outdoor life of 10 years, have air egress technology built into them, and clean removability with a little heat. Digitally printed wraps again will start to fade around 5 years out up here in New England (that also depends on your geographic location), but the material I use is a 10 year vinyl.

    There are lots of options out there, but just make sure you do your homework or use someone who is reputable and knows what they are doing.

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