Polishing Bare Aluminum

Rob Mears · **Posted:** Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:30 pm

This is for you guys who are dedicated enough to actually polish your planes vs. painting them silver.

1) How difficult is it to polish a bare metal warbird to a mirror finish?

2) What products do you use (polish, powered buffer, etc)?

3) If the plane remains hangared and essentially out of the weather, how long does the finish last before oxidation begins to set in and noticeably change the appearance of the finish?

Chicoartist · **Posted:** Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:37 pm

I've used "Nevr Dull" with a buffer (use new pads!) - works great!

http://www.nevrdull.com/index.htm

Wade

PS: Ha - thought I had misspelled it, didn'cha?

Tinker51 · **Joined:** Sun Feb 11, 2007 2:08 am **Posts:** 164

To answer your questions.

1: Not difficult, just time consuming.

2: Ask 20 people and get 20 different answers so I won't bother.

3: Not as long as you would think. A once a year polish is pretty much required. It is very noticable if you are somewhere with very wet damp winters.

Let me save you time and aggrevation. Paint it silver.
I love the look of a polished airplane but I will never have one again.

chico · **Posted:** Mon Mar 05, 2007 9:08 pm

Rob Mears wrote:

This is for you guys who are dedicated enough to actually polish your planes vs. painting them silver.

1) How difficult is it to polish a bare metal warbird to a mirror finish?

umm.....real easy. just swing by the hangar and we'll show you :twisted:

Quote:

2) What products do you use (polish, powered buffer, etc)?

Every year the Yankee Air Museum has a "Polishing party", (open to the public! click here for details!) those in attendance are asked to bring Mother's Mag and Aluminum polish.

Quote:

3) If the plane remains hangared and essentially out of the weather, how long does the finish last before oxidation begins to set in and noticeably change the appearance of the finish?

Our aircraft, which are hangared when not on the road, can certainly use the annual touch up they get.

TAdan · **Posted:** Mon Mar 05, 2007 9:09 pm

Chicoartist wrote:

I've used "Nevr Dull" with a buffer (use new pads!) - works great!

http://www.nevrdull.com/index.htm

Wade

PS: Ha - thought I had misspelled it, didn'cha?

I am a big fan of Nevr Dull...although I havent used it on an aircraft. It works great on aluminum and chrome.

Mothers Mag polish is also good, but I prefer the Nevr Dull.

Elroy13 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 05, 2007 9:56 pm

Come down to Lone Star and practice on the B-58!!

One round of polishing,..and you wont even want to polish you truck wheels anymore!!

chico · **Posted:** Mon Mar 05, 2007 9:56 pm

Just a note on power buffers. My understanding of aluminum polishing is that you can "burn" the metal by heating it too much with a buffer, permanently damaging the finish you're trying to achieve.

bdk · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 1:16 am **Posts:** 11324

I've heard that Nuvite and a Cyclo polisher is the best way to get a polish.

http://www.cyclotoolmakers.com/cyclopolishers/cyclopolishers.html

These guys have pretty good prices: http://wingwaxers.com/orderproducts.html
http://www.nuvitechemical.com/categories.asp?CategoryID=1&IndustryID=1
http://www.tompatterson.com/Trailers/Polish/Nuvite.html

You'll have to sand out all the scratches first though to get a mirror finish.

I've only done some polishing "experiments" on my T-6 though. Want to get it closer to flying before I start working on the final finish.

This is a pretty deep topic with lots of tips and techniques.

Canso42 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:15 pm

Amen on the B-58 Elroy13! I'm glad I missed that one. Did the plane captain put the reindeer antlers on the pointy end again this year?

Canso42

C170BDan · **Posted:** Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:44 pm

bdk wrote:

I've heard that Nuvite and a Cyclo polisher is the best way to get a polish.

I have been polishing aircraft for over 10 years. Hard work... shine looks good when you are done! Told myself never to own a polished airplane... went right out and bought one! Would I recommend someone go buy one? No... But when I pull up on the ramp full of painted airplanes mine is the one that stands out!

Nuvite is the polish I like the best. You dont have to use very much product to get an amazing shine. All the info and techniques are shown on this web site...

http://www.perfectpolish.com

Pictures of my polished 170 are on my web site. If you have any other questions just drop me a PM.

Elroy13 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:42 pm

Canso42 wrote:

Amen on the B-58 Elroy13! I'm glad I missed that one. Did the plane captain put the reindeer antlers on the pointy end again this year?

Canso42

Im not sure! I just know that they appear every Christmas! :wink:

plankwings · **Posted:** Tue Mar 06, 2007 4:38 am

Never, NEVER use BRASSO. Works OK but sets you up for chemical corrosion; there is a great product which gives a mirror finish used here in Australia from "FLITZ"

Sorry I don't know of any local distributor.

Good luck

tom d. friedman · **Posted:** Tue Mar 06, 2007 7:43 am

i carry an industrial grade alum polishing kit made by enkay corp. check out my web store on ebay under the the ebay name cargogifts, or email my computer tech at work & she'll send you the details. it runs between 25 & 30 bucks + shipping. great on planes, boats, harleys etc. comes with large to small bonnets & polish heads. ask for pam at martinsons@centurytel.net tell her i sent you, i own the company!! great kit for all details large & small.

skymstr02 · **Posted:** Tue Mar 06, 2007 8:23 pm

plankwings wrote:

Never, NEVER use BRASSO. Works OK but sets you up for chemical corrosion; there is a great product which gives a mirror finish used here in Australia from "FLITZ"

Sorry I don't know of any local distributor.

Good luck

Flitz is also available in the USA, I've used it on a polished BT-13, works well. Top it off with the power buffer and common kitchen flour. The flour takes the black swirls out easily.

bdk · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 1:16 am **Posts:** 11324

skymstr02 wrote:

Top it off with the power buffer and common kitchen flour. The flour takes the black swirls out easily.

I've heard that corn starch works well for this too.

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