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Advice needed on small aircraft graphics please?
Hi All,
Have been asked to cut & fit registration numbers onto a small private aircraft, to which I initially thought, no problem.
The customer wanted a specific colour to match his paintwork & the best match we could find was an Avery Supreme Wrap film metallic. Great!! a quality vinyl & customer happy to pay for it.
The surfaces are all relatively flat, bar the odd rivet which again should be no problem.Vinyl was ordered & scheduled to fit before his inspection at the end of this week.
Tuesday he calls & says his painter had been delayed & would not be respraying the aircraft till Wednesday (yesterday)!! So I explained that he might need to check what the curing times for the paint are before we go fitting. He also then mentioned that the idea was to have the painter lacquer over the stickers after fitting to help protect them.I had checked the data sheets on the supreme vinyl & it ticks every box although it doesn’t mention aircraft under the "Common Applications" section. Just trucks, trains, vans etc.
I also had spoken with another local signwriter who had mentioned the need for post heating the vinyl even though on a flat panel, due to the air release channels, which, he said, if not heated, could stay open & allow moisture/dirt ingress!!
So just thought I’d better ring Avery & talk to someone with a little tech knowledge on the subject.At this point I’m beginning to think I may be opening a can of worms….. Turns out Avery would not warranty use on an aircraft & he suggested testing of the vinyl with lacquer & if possible getting a lab to do speeded up ageing. This can take around 8000 hours!!!! Oh wow!!
So after a quick Google this morning in which I found a US Sign Industry website which stated regular vinyls are ok to use on small Cessna type aircraft as they don’t exceed 13,000ft. After that, highly specialised vinyls are required to stand up to the expansion & contraction under different pressures etc etc.
So now I’m here to see has anyone had experience in this field of lettering small private aircraft? Would Supreme wrap be ok? Could it be safely lacquered?
Thanks in advance, Myles
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6 Replies
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Don’t have a clue however:
I doubt a light aircraft like a cessna would exceed 12,000ft as at that point wouldn’t oxygen be required as the cockpit on most light aircraft isn’t pressurised.
Why don’t you make a stencil and the painter, paint the numbers on?
Speak to an aircraft painter, they should know what will best?If you proceed with the order, I hope you have substantial insurance just in case it comes back to bite you.
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I’m sure this can’t be a major issue on small planes as like it said in the Sign Industry article, most small planes get very little wear & tear as they spend most of their life in a hangar & very few hours actually flying. Far less than a train, bus, truck or car which are all subject to far more weathering without any issues. Apparently Cirrus use vinyl graphics on their planes where Cessna use paint, so it must be possible.
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OK, just a quick update.
The plane is a custom stunt plane which apparently as such avoids some of the stricter regulations which may apply to some other aircraft (& obviously is very unlikely to be going above 13,000ft).
The owner has said he is very happy to sign any waiver I may want to absolve me of any responsibility if the stickers were to peel & also added that even if they did, they could not pose any real danger as there would be nothing for them to interfere with.The inspection has been delayed slightly & the plan is now to have the stickers just ready for the inspector to see but to fit a few days later when the paint is fully cured.
So my questions would now be, has anyone ever lacquered over the above film & if so were there any issues?
And just out of interest has anyone out there had any experience fitting cut vinyl graphics to small aircraft or even helicopters come to that, & if so which vinyls were used & how did they stand up?Myles
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Just give the guy a piece of vinyl and get his painter to spray over it in the lacquer he’s going to be using then you will have a 100% idea what’s going to happen to the vinyl instead of 2nd guessing from comments on here.
There are many types of spray lacquer that can be used and all will give different reactions. Someone could spray over vinyl in water based lacquer and nothing will happen to the vinyl, yet your guys sprayer could be using a cellulose laquer and will react differently.
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That will certainly be done Alan, & may rule out any immediate reactions, but without simulated ageing it would be hard to know long term what may happen, as the vinyl is porous & presumably over time it may be possible for chemicals from the lacquer to transfer through the vinyl & theoretically affect the adhesive.
Unlikely maybe, but presumably possible.Anyway, the owner is fully aware & is happy to take full responsibility.
There must be other guys out there though that are putting cut vinyl onto light aircraft on a regular basis & have a good knowledge of this sort of thing.
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I don’t know anything about aircrafts but almost every race style motorbike has the brand on the petrol tank and then it’s lacquered over so I don’t see why it would be any different on a plane to cause problems.
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