QQ on Paint vs Polish

[Sonex1542]

All- dont want to beat a dead horse... Can't find an answer to this question anywhere.

Scratch building, so I have some minor tolerance issues, nothing really bad, but a few dips here and there where the rivets pulled a bit on the wings and fuselage, and hangar rash from moving, and muscling sheets while cutting. Nothing I could have really avoided. I'm hoping polish will HIDE the imperfections. Is this what most have found true, that the polish will look so damn good and shinny no one notices the character, cuts, sweat, and painstaking years scratch building has taken???

I'd hate to give up 30lbs of paint weight with a 4900' ASL field elevation and plans of flying over the Sierras.

Had to miss the SoCal flyin in Lancaster this weekend. But rigging wings... Thanks to Dana Baker for the rigging drills and setup, hope the weekend is great!

[MichaelFarley56]

Try this: polish the airframe to a perfect shine, then rope it off so everyone has to stay a few feet away! :mrgreen:

This is just my opinion but generally speaking, tiny blemishes can be seen regardless of how the plane is finished. Even if it's painted you can still see imperfections, so if you like the look of a polished finish and don't mind the work it takes to obtain it, save the weight and polish.

You are right; people love the look of a polished Sonex! And no airplane is perfect, so don't worry about it. Finish it how you want it to be done. Believe me, mine is no trophy winner but when I'm up for a relaxing evening flight, I'm not worried about tiny dings and scratches.

Build on!

[Bryan Cotton]

I have been going to a "build quality" polish. My intent is to get most of the hard work done before riveting. I still have some swirls & scratches. It looks better in my pictures than in person. Still, I consistently get compliments in person about how awesome it looks, even outside. Though I see the imperfections I feel the same way. I know the polished Sonexes and Waiexes I have seen are not perfect but I don't see that.

[LarryEWaiex121]

Sonex 1542,

First off, there rarely are such things as the "perfect" airplane. When you do find them, their mostly hanger queens because the guy is scared to death, he or someone else is going to screw up and scratch something. That's because in the mind of every builders there exists a wide difference of opinion as to "what's the coolest". Same thing in the car world. I wouldn't walk across the street for 69 Camaro. I'd rather have the cash for a new airplane kit.
I built my plane in 3 yrs with barely a helping hand. Flipping wings and fuselage with no help. Yes, you get some hanger rash before she ever see's a hanger.
I have both paint and polish on my Waiex. I don't have pictures posted on here but there are a couple good ones taken by someone I never met on Airliners.net. Search the photos for Waiex and 121YX will pop up. I tried to find balance between paint and polish. I didn't want to polish big wings and I didn't want glare in the cockpit. From where I sit, there is no polish showing. That's by design.
Back to the point. At Arlington, WA, Northwest Fly-In, I was told over and over I had the best polish job and the most unique paint "color" on the field. But I knew where the crappy spots were. I have a huge ding in the bottom corner of my left ruddervator where the F9 combined with my Polisher and probably the second beer, conspired to make the ruddevator "fly" off the sawhorses and stick in the sheetrock in the shop. Now that sucked! I wanted to stomp on it and have a temper tantrum but thought twice about the neighbors calling 911 for the crazy guy next door.
I fly it with all the warts and dings because, I built it, its fun and everyone else can go build one their way. LOL
That said, polishing does NOT hide the warts. On the flipside, a little filler and paint will make her what she ain't.

Larry
Waiex121YX, Jabiru 3300 solid, going Camit in January just because, 449hrs.

[Rynoth]

Here's a pic of Larry's plane, very nice indeed!

[Sonex1542]

Thanks for clearing my head a bit on sticking with the polish finish. For me, I need the weight savings, which honestly is the only reason I'm not painting everything, it was just knowing where the oops spots are.

I have to tell this story... Because on a flyin- one of you will ask and it explains it all for me now. I know I'm the only sonex built with 20 or so extra rivets in the left side. When working on the cockpit, and riveting the chanel supports to the side I had a measurement problem, the kind that makes scrap parts. I ruined 2 full left cockpit sheets already, not sure if it was alcohol fueled, stupidity, my job, wife, kids or what, an entire 4x12 sheet was now used up. On the 3rd attempt I measured from the wrong side of the sheet, then the channel flipped the wrong way. Finally got so frustrated and realized what I did and decided to just keep the side finished with a boat load of extra rivets. Called the Sonex tech guys and explained what I did and asked if it was safe. We had a laugh about it, but i got the feeling im not the only one whose called with doing something, lets call it 'creative'. They said just plug the holes with rivets, you'll be good to go. At this point cooler heads should have prevailed, and I should have rebuilt the cockpit AGAIN! But all I could think about was getting past this point in the build. I've tossed so much aluminum that another sheet wouldn't have made a big difference. But nope, I stuck with the extra rivets. That can be explained away, and there are people out there who will think "what an idiot, now he has to live with this". Yup I do, and I'm ok with it. It's a scar that reminds me of the thousands of hours invested. I guess putting this out there makes every ding, pull, bump... OK! And as one of you noted about hanger queens, mine is not... But she's not a pig i need to try and put lipstck on either, and I'm OK with that too.