On 2006-04-20, Papa3 wrote:
The thread on aluminum trailer painting prompted this question. I've
seen a number of Blanik L-13s in the "original" factory finish of bare
aluminum with blue trim stripes.

Be careful what you're letting yourself in for!

I used to have a half share in a half polished, half painted Cessna 140.
We used Nuvite on ours (it comes in several grades - you start off with
a coarse grade and finish with a very very fine grade that also
supposedly protects for a while). It was very, very shiny.

However, to keep it that way it needed doing once every month to 6
weeks.

The aircraft only was polished from halfway down the fuselage, the
vertical stabilizer and the flaps. It took 8 hours to get it nice and
shiny each time (but I think the result was worth it - it looked
beautiful - the finish was like a mirror).
I suspect just doing the wings of an L-13 would take at least this long.

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