Charles Talleyrand wrote:
On Jun 26, 10:45 pm, "Mike" wrote:

"Charles Talleyrand" wrote in message

...


My kid and I just washed the plane. Even after washing it, there are
still chips of paint missing, a bit of rust, a drip-stain of fuel, and
so on. The panel looks like it has been modified every once in a
while since 1966. My plane is relatively nice compared to the other
ones on the field, but it's still in worse cosmetic condition than my
car.

None of these problems is a safety issue, and none of them could be
fixed without spending significant time and/or money.

One of the reasons we own airplanes is pride of ownership.

This makes me sad. Makes me want to sell and rent.

It's possible to restore old paint. You'd be surprised what you can polish
out. Older planes were actually painted with very high quality paint that
can be restored. Chips can be polished and filled with paint. There's not
much you can do with rust spots other than remove it and have the paint
matched, but it should at least be tended to before it gets worse. You can
either have all that done professionally or you can do it yourself. The
following web site would be a great place to start:



It's not old paint. The paint is probably only six years old. My car
is also six years old, but I know I can replace my car when ever I get
sick of it. Planes are not so easy to exchange, and I would just get
another old plane anyway. At least this one has very few non-cosmetic
squawks (dang nose wheel shimmy).

I could rent and save money and still fly the same amount, but then I
would not have pride of ownership. I have a $20,000 Cessna 150. It
flies just fine but the cosmetics just don't touch a $20,000 car.
This reduces the pride of ownership and makes me more likely to sell
and rent. Of course renting is a pain in the butt here (there is one
plane; everyone must share it).

-still sad

Touch up paint works wonders, my old paint was a perfect match with Ford
Engine Blue, but we repainted. I should find a "match" for the "new"
paint as there are a few spots that could use a touch up. We either
have to stop wearing wedding rings or deal with the fact that the paint
will be chipped off the handle we use to get up on the wing.

Margy (spent the day polishing the spinner!)