20 screaming polishers, 50 pounds of polish, 600+ man hours......

Awesome work, what a monster job!



I had a couple of questions.



Do you use metal polish or is it Menzerna or similar?



What is in the grey spray bottles water or QD?



Do you throw away all the towels when your when your finished? :D



Geoff
 
Fantastic work, guys!!! One of the best posts ever.



My uncle flew 11 missions over Germany in one of these. I know he's smiling down on this job!
 
Is that the new museum at the Santa Ana airport? Did you protect it? Otherwise bare aluminum will oxidize fairly quickly.
 
Greg



Other than Joe and I, none of the others participate on Autopia. We were blessed with talent from all over CA, plus one for GA.
 
Dunbar42 said:
Is that the new museum at the Santa Ana airport? Did you protect it? Otherwise bare aluminum will oxidize fairly quickly.
Click to expand...



Yes the Lyon Air Museum at John Wayne Airport, opening to the public in early May.

We offered protection to the museum, but at this time it was not in the budget, also the planes are housed in a climate controlled environment, so that in itself will slow the constant progress of oxidation.
 
Simply Amazing. That is really a terrific transformation of unequalled proportions!



What products are you using and how many steps of compounding, polishing, etc? How many pads must you go through!!!



I love the shot of the guy on the ground under the wing polishing above his head....
 
David Every surface must be treated with care, and consideration for the structural integrity of the aircraft. Some surfaces required only 3 steps, while others required quite a few more, all depending on the levels of oxidation. As for pads, and our now famous Lenny(all this guy did was wash pads, a real trooper doing a job that was to say the least Dirty, and yes we invited Dirty Jobs along for our next job), he washed over 100 pads per day using a Lake country Snappy Clean pad washer. We started the project with 144 new pads.



Jimmie



Unfortunately polished aluminum surfaces start oxidizing the second you stop polishing. That said these planes are in a very well controlled environment, with low humidity, and are very well cared for, so oxidation is slow to return. In the pic below the B25 engine and fuselage in the fore ground were polished in Feb, and so far there are no signs of oxidation. Also the shot of the B25's tail shows no sign of oxidation(exterior shot taken the day we finished polishing, the interior shot taken when we did the B17.



b17dernierjouryvan098-1.jpg


outside_4.JPG


b17joe030.jpg
 
I'm still wondering... were these birds so shiny when they left the factory? Don't think so...



If not, this is NOT their original condition...
 
Bence said:
I'm still wondering... were these birds so shiny when they left the factory? Don't think so...



If not, this is NOT their original condition...
Click to expand...



When the planes left the factories they were bare aluminum, but not quite so polished. While in service many proud crews did polish there planes, while others were painted.



Today these are no longer disposable(I have read that the average life span of a B17 during WW2 was 48 days), but antiques and items of remembrance honoring those who gave there lives to protect our freedom. So yes they are polished better than they came from the factory, and with reason, as a well polished surface has less surface area presented to the air to cause oxidation. I am sure that given the time to so in the factory the proud workers that assembled these would have loved to give them a shine like we had the pleasure of doing.
 
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