I joined Ashley’s rank today by joining the Plane Polishers Society with afew other Tiger Squadron members to clean the OFMC’s aircraft. Boy that La-9 was a mess, Lee Proudfoot took it up for his 1st ride and then left it to us to clean. That thing gets a thick covering of oil all over it, i think it was the wingtips that were clean. But after we had finished with it you could eat you dinner off of it. It don’t ‘alf go though.
By: Eddie - 28th August 2003 at 20:18
Well, you can burn off the dirt, surely? 😀
By: DIGBY - 28th August 2003 at 19:56
Use Avgas don’t be daft and think about it ie using any kind of fuel for cleaning:rolleyes: :rolleyes:
By: Mark9 - 28th August 2003 at 00:04
Sounds like hard work. But to be with OFMC aircraft, Well worth the sweat
Anna:D 😀
By: Arabella-Cox - 28th August 2003 at 00:02
Not at UK fuel prices though!!! 😀
By: Olivier Lacombe - 27th August 2003 at 23:57
To remove oil, nothing beats good old Avgas though!
😎
By: David Burke - 27th August 2003 at 23:57
Alexis – I guess to the bugs it’s like hitting a brick wall at 300 mph
so I guess they get into the painwork well!
By: Yak 11 Fan - 27th August 2003 at 23:54
Mr Sheen works wonders for polishing, cuts through anything. Although if you keep on top of it it’s no effort at all, the oil and grease simply wipes off.
By: Mark9 - 27th August 2003 at 23:41
Yes but you get to polish the best and best kept in the world? many would love that.
Anna:D 😀 🙂
By: Olivier Lacombe - 27th August 2003 at 23:21
I don’t think there’s something bad in it, since the guy who told me that has been washing his Grob-Slingsby glider with that for at least 10-15 years, and other gliders before that. I didn’t spot anything bad on the wings either.
😉
By: futurshox - 27th August 2003 at 23:18
I thought dish washing liquid was bad for paintwork? Too much salt in it or something. They always say not to wash cars with it. Of course, that’s probably the same ‘they’ as wants you to buy their car wash fluid. (Me? Cynical?) I’d make sure it wasn’t eating your aircraft, though…
By: Olivier Lacombe - 27th August 2003 at 23:02
Alexis, to remove the bugs, use water with a little soap in there, dish washing fluid will do. Wash the leading edge with a rag (preferably cotton) and they should go away very easily.
I found that out while cleaning up the Focke-Wulf last week.
😀
By: AlexisLambert - 27th August 2003 at 22:56
A big box of T-shirts with some potent smelling chemical to remove the mess, that was pretty fast at eating paintwork too. You’ll never believe how hard those bugs are splattered onto the airframe and they’re even harder to remove.
By: Seafuryfan - 27th August 2003 at 21:53
Alexis – what do you use to clean it? A load of kim-wipe? Oily rags? Just wondering…..
(I would have been tempted to walk up with a piece of metal scourer, just for badness 😮 😀 )
By: Der - 27th August 2003 at 21:39
Well, its only a small ambition, but I’d love to get my duster out on a Spitfire-or one of those highly polished aluminium finished beasties. Sadly I have to content myself with my old Rover 218.
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August 27, 2003 at 9:34 pm