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vinyl wrap in Ca, Or, or Pacific NW

I am considering vinyl wrapping my plane. Does anyone know of a wrap company in Northern Ca, OR, or Western WA that has done planes and does a good job? They are hard to find at a reasonable price.
Thanks
Michael
954-540-3151
 
I'm wrapping my plane myself. Vinyl is so cheap compared to paint I can afford to screw it up a few times learning before I get it right.
 
Can't help on a full wrap or a wrapper in your area but can tell you what I did.

When I wanted to trim my 7 I contacted a couple local auto wrappers in my area. I found one that did a lot of high end sports cars. He hadn't done a plane but was willing to come out to the airport and do my trim. This was 3 years ago. At the time he said 3M and Avery were the 2 best vinyls out there. Said it was best to stick with the manufactured colours rather than the printed stuff since printed would fade over time. He also was the only one that mentioned using a clear sealer adhesive on the edges to keep them from lifting.

My plane has the black and yellow in paint and the red, roundels, and registration are all vinyl. Would not hesitate now to do a full wrap if I was doing it again. I also have a checkerboard in black vinyl over the yellow paint under the flaps.

https://www.amazon.ca/clouddrive/share/nZ4G39z4EEJ4qfn4Z0AXkP9oBBfRPf4ZI3XPVdRYMzQ

Hopefully you can see the pic.
 
I'm wrapping my plane myself. Vinyl is so cheap compared to paint I can afford to screw it up a few times learning before I get it right.

Our sentiments exactly. If you have the time & patience, self wrapping can be a real possibility.
I had no prior wrapping experience, with a bit of learning screw ups (easily re-done), it took a friend & I 80 hrs (2x40) to wrap the latest 6A. Our installation guide was YouTube. We feel our results were definitely comparable to that of another friend's pro-wrapped plane.
 
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I am considering vinyl wrapping my plane. Does anyone know of a wrap company in Northern Ca, OR, or Western WA that has done planes and does a good job? They are hard to find at a reasonable price.
Thanks
Michael
954-540-3151

I?m in the Puyallup area. Very interested in this. Would love to check out your bird when and if you get it wrapped. If you are ok with it!!
 
Thanks for the encouraging feedback. My home base is Tacoma, WA but the plane is being rebuilt in Chino, CA. When it is airworthy, I'm headed North and can have a wrap done most anywhere. But first the "airworthiness certificate"!
Michael
 
It?s not too hard to learn to do a full wrap. I did it in 100 man hours using solid colour 3m1080 vinyl. 5 years and about 300 hrs airtime later it still looks great. Contact me direct if you would like to have a conversation about it or receive pictures.

Bevan
 
I am in the process of wrapping my plane--well portions of it. I will be polishing a lot of it initially. If I get sick of polishing, then I will wrap the rest or paint.

It won't be perfect, but will look good from 5-10 ft. I am putting lots of seams to mitigate some of the curved areas in the cowling and wheel pants. The seams are where I transition colors. The other interesting thing to do with vinyl is underlays. On the cowl, I put a pattern under the top layer to make a solid area have some pop. My wife also bought a Cricut which can be used to cut out patterns. She will be cutting out the N number for the plane with it.

The nice thing, other than it is cheaper than paint, is that I can sit in the living room and watch TV while I wrap various parts. I did this with the vertical stabilizer, elevator, rudder, wheel pants, cowling--which are all leaning up against the walls in the bedroom. If you this, the watch out for dog hair.

I am starting on the fuselage and canopy next.
 
RV6 Wrap Plans

I am currently stripping my 12 year old paint and plan to prime before wrapping with Stewart EkoPoxy. Did most of you who wrapped prime before wrapping or just apply to bare aluminum?

I would like to hear more details on how others have done theirs.
Did you wrap the aileron attachment brackets?
What width of wrap did you use on wings vs fuselage?
How did you wrap around ends of tail feathers?
What lessons did you learn?
At back of wings did you cut vinyl even with the edge of the sheet or wrap around, and if so how much?
Did you overlap wing wrap sheets and use knifeless tape to insure tight fit up?
Where did you make joints in fuselage?
How much and where did you use knifeless tape?
Did you seal the wrap butt joints?
Did you do a full wrap of one color then add graphics over the base color?

Thanks for your input
 
I am currently stripping my 12 year old paint and plan to prime before wrapping with Stewart EkoPoxy. Did most of you who wrapped prime before wrapping or just apply to bare aluminum?

I would like to hear more details on how others have done theirs.
Did you wrap the aileron attachment brackets?
What width of wrap did you use on wings vs fuselage?
How did you wrap around ends of tail feathers?
What lessons did you learn?
At back of wings did you cut vinyl even with the edge of the sheet or wrap around, and if so how much?
Did you overlap wing wrap sheets and use knifeless tape to insure tight fit up?
Where did you make joints in fuselage?
How much and where did you use knifeless tape?
Did you seal the wrap butt joints?
Did you do a full wrap of one color then add graphics over the base color?

Thanks for your input
Frank,
I vinyl wrapped the wings on my -8. The fuse is partially painted and partially polished. The wingtips are painted due to the compound curves. I'll attempt to answer what I can.
Wrapped over clean bare aluminum.
No wrap on aileron brackets.
60" wide for the wings.
I could not wrap the compound curves of the horizontal stab and rudder caps. Therefore, paint.
Lessons? Have a helper. Better yet, a wrapper for a helper.
I cut the vinyl even with the back edge of the wing skins.
I did overlap the vinyl 1/4" and used knifeless tape.
I used 3M edge sealer around the fuel fillers and all penetrations under the wings. In my application, the most needed areas for edge sealer are the end of the vinyl where the wing meets the belly (due to oil) And the fuel fillers. I had no butt joints, all overlap joints. My reasoning was, my butt joints were clearly visible, as were the overlaps, and I believe the overlap to be a better joint.
Remember, if you use edge sealer it is visible. I masked off with tape for nice clean edge seal under the wing.
I chose 3M 1080 Satin White Aluminum for the wings and applied vinyl Army Air Force roundells over the vinyl on the wings.
Overall, I'm pleased with the results.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/oQFJR4h1GSrNgBdt7
https://photos.app.goo.gl/TjsYudND4e3H86G57
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Vsum73Azr5Nt4rWa7
 
I posted a few pictures of some of the parts on my FB page. I have 4 colors going at this point. I would do a few things different if I wrapped again or rewrap. Nothing too major.

Matte dark gray
Gloss Bright yellow
Semi gloss black
Carbon Fiber black.


Send me a PM if you want to talk on the phone about my experiences so far.
 
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