Hello beloved friends of glossy varnish
Today I have the honor to present you the exceptional / airborne report, “show it off� in this forum ever. Let me begin the story from the scratch. I had this crazy idea in my mind for quite a long time and it just needed a good opportunity to get it realized. It raised in one of my workshops for orbital car polishing and the polishaholic forum mates participating (Novma, Jones, Himmel, Team-Jet and MonaLisa_22) jumped on the bandwagon without hesitating. "We will detail a Lear Jet"!
First of all, we need a proper victim. The airline, Silver Cloud Air (www.silver-cloud-air.com) owns 3 private Jets and due to some contacts, we got an commitment for one of them. Time wise, we had to decide on a period between Christmas and New year’s eve. During this time the jets are usually not fully booked and we had enough time for our detailing project.
After we got the commitment for the Jet, we started to select several user from the forum, to form the further organisation team. We send them messages and asked them, if they are interested to join the team. I have to point out that some of these guys had 400km (one way) to drive, just to reach the Jet location. Some even had to make arrangements with their holyday plans. I was quite impressed by the reactions. Most of them signed in without hesitating. Heli (CEO of the Forum) was involved from the first minute and supported the team quite a lot with his knowledge and connections.
<span>The Orga Team was founded with:
Himmel, Jones, MonaLisa_22, Novma, Team-Jet michaelp23, Elchbier, AndreasF, Skally, LeRookie, Dieselrenner (Photograph), Heli and me Cybershot
The date was set, jet booked, team founded and highly motivated…… but how the hell you polish an jet? Foam lance and give it to the baby? Wheelbrightener? 40 buckets wash? Wax on top and what will the wax do in traveling height and -60 degrees Celsius? Which kind of paint we have? Same as on an ordinary car? What about the rivets? There is thin aluminum under the paint, that’s clear, but is there anything special we need to take care of? A lot of questions and always in mind, the jet value of millions of €uros. You can not just repaint the bumper. If you need to repaint the plane, you need to balance the entire plain again…. Costs €€€€€ and on top of that, the plane travels in the air. If something’s happen, they can’t pull over and check. Lifes are in danger if we do major mistakes. The key questions in our mind raised…. Who knows can tell us, how to detail a Jet? We don't want to damage the airplane.
About cars, probably we know everything. How much of the paint we remove from the surface during polishing, how much grams of wax we apply, detailing clay, polishing compounds, seals and coats, different polishing pads … all these kind of things are tested already in the Autopflegeforum.eu and we are well aware of it. But how to detail an airplane? We needed to start from the scratch and look for new sources of informations.
In principle, you are just allowed to do what has been approved by the manufacturer. In our case, this was Cessna from Wichita, Kansas, USA. We studied manufactures repair and maintenance guidelines and specifications. We had calls and email exchange with Cessna in USA and the distributer in Germany. We had to learn a lot of things and reconsider our usual practice of detailing. Detailing a Jet wasn’t that easy as we thought!
Quite depressing. We have a highly qualified team, which can run an rotating polisher while sleeping, guess any wax brand by its smell and if it comes to airplanes, there are a lot of questions which we can’t answer. So first we got the Idea to ask pilots, maintenance engineers and private plane owners, how they handle it. The idea failed. It was like when you ask in the Volkswagen agency “how long das an Optimum Opticoat 2.0 needs to evaporate, till you can remove it with a microfiber towel? You will get now answers! Or call Volkswagen in Wolfsburg (headquarter) and ask them if they allow to use Dodo Juice Supernatural Hybrid on your paint surface….? You will not get any answer either. But still you will not do any experiments on an plane with this risk behind.
So first we tried to find out which kind of varnish has been applied? Bingo…. an ordinary water based varnish, which are used on many American cars like Dodge and Jeep as well. One problem is solved. We can polish that car with our compound and machines. The rivets have been discussed with some technicians. The body is deforming due the pressure difference between standing on the ground and reaching traveling height. This causes some cracks in the paint around the rivets and in some areas the paint above the rivets are lose already. We need to take care at certain areas, to not make it worse then it is already. Except this few special points, he can proceed just like any other car. As surface protection sealant we decided for the well known Cairbon CB 33. The application is very easy and the protection time very good. You can’t clean an airplane with a high pressure cleaner. There would be a risk that the water reaches areas, which it not supposes to, freeze in traveling height and causes unexpected damages. The Cairbon CB 66 (dry wash system) is the perfect solution for these kind of jobs. Together with the Caibon CB 33, be got our perfect combination. Thank again to Cairbon for the support and sponsoring. The products, which we want to use has been approved from qualified individuals and experts from the aircraft industry. We also wanted to get an official approval from Wichita USA but to get this we would need several certificates and tests. We could not deal with this. For us, it was important that the materials we use are working and we can use it at the aircrafts.
At this stage, we are done with the theory. In principle, we know now what an how to detail an aircraft. About static ports, avionic, weather radar and all sensors I will come back later on. For us it was clear, for the polishing stage we need more support / manpower from our forum members. People which you don’t need to show how to handle the polishing machine etc. I send some messages to several guys and again they signed in without hesitating…… even if they need to drive over 500 km by car to reach the jet location. I was quite impressed with such a motivation!
<span>Team support for the polishing / finishing stage was:
Ninjagonzo, Nobman, Muskelkatermann, rts1990, Friedel, Carlocat, Flash-shark, Leon-Ryan, Handwäscher, PoIIy, Jochen.b, Pfostenkicker, crick, tösi,v2.moto, carshot and 8ball (8ball got sick and could not show up).
<span>Jobs to distribute ..... you guys manage very well!
Supervision right wing: Elchbier & Novma
Supervision left wing: Team-Jet & jochen.b
Catering Manager: LeRookie
Human Resurces Manager: v2.moto & AndreasF
Eventmanager: Himmel & Cybershot
Interior : michaelp23 (who else?)
Financial manager: Skally
Thanks again guys. You made an very good job!
So far the preparation, I hope it wasn’t to much for you. Now to the project itself. The aircraft was an Cessna Citation CJ 525. We call it Lear-Jet but actually Lear Jets are produced by Bombadier and the name for Cessnas are Citation….. but who cares, we name it Lear Jet.
Just to remember. We are 2 teams. 1 Team will stay for both days and the second team joints for the polishing / finishing stage at the second day. At the first day our target was the setup of the working place, erect the scaffolding, washing and cleaning with the detailing clay.
The aircraft was in a hangar which has no heating. We arranged construction heaters and gas bottles, in case the temperature drops to low. The rear wing has an height of around 4,50m. You can’t reach this with an ladder. Therefore we arranged a movable lightweight scaffolding.
Professionally erected and leveled. Thanks to the spirit level app and an iPhone
Hoist our "flag".
Fuel for 2 days is stored in the hangar.
Each one of us got his vest with "Autopflegeforum.eu – Grenzenlos" (means our Webpage Autopflegeforum.eu (Carcareforum)& unlimited) stitched at the back and front.
Preparation done and actually we could start detailing. If we would have an car in front of us, everybody would know exactly what he needs to do and take care of. Most of the present persons made more than 50 cars and know every nip and trick about getting an good result at the paint surface. But here we have a jet with a value of millions of €uros. Therefore we decided in advanced to invite an expert and professional person with knowledge about aircrafts to our event.
In our case the Pilot and maintenance engineer from the Silver Cloud Airline Florian B. (with the black jacket). There are several openings and sensors for the avionic on the plane. These openings are often so small, you won’t see it immediately. Tiny little (3-4 mm) holes in the surface which the aircraft uses to measure the height / speed and so on…… If this openings would be closed with polishing compound or detergent, the pilot would not be able to navigate properly. Crucial for us, first listen carefully and try to understand and bear the words of the pilot in mind.
At this spot just below the cockpit are numerous small openings with sensors underneath. Just cover it with some special masking tape and that’s it. Nothing can happen.
Next to the entrance door is a light. This light is for the passengers to get in the plane during the night. At the lower side of the light is an opening for water to get out. If it would be closed or blocked, it can stay inside a freeze during the flight. This would cause unwanted damages.
On the opposite side is the emergency exit. Below the emergency exit door is a special anti slip coating, which should not be treated with anything.
The steering gear of the wings is working with asynchrony. If you press the left side down, the right will go up. Not that funny if one guy at the other side has his fingers in the gap. The pilot locked for us the steering gear in neutral position.
Even underneath the wings are some things to take care of. Drainage points, grounding connection points, movable parts with grease and should stay with grease. These areas you better don’t touch during the washing procedure. Also you need to be sure that the stuff you use to clean the aircraft does not damage it. There are everywhere small gabs and below are /for example) hydraulic hoses. If they get damaged, it won’t be in the advantage of the aircraft.
Here at the turbine for example is a small flap. The pilots use the flap to check the oil level. If you cross the flap with the polishing machine, it will move back and you might cause damages to the edges. In this area, it is recommended to just polish by hand only.
Thanks again to the pilot and maintenance engineer Florian B. for the superb briefing! This is necessary in order to do for each aircraft again. Even if you have already knowledge about plane detailing, each aircraft is different and you need different things to bear in mind. The pilot is always a good source of information.
Let's get the "party" started!
First to cover the sensible areas with proper masking tape. We got the hind, to not just place a small piece of tape at the area. Leave it longer and make it obvious. Otherwise you might have the risk that you will not see it at the end before the plane takes off again.
Protect the turbine
Static ports are full with measuring devices and need to be protections as well. Usually the protection comes with the aircraft and you can get those cover from the pilots. You won’t have them blocked with polishing compound etc.!
To wash the aircraft we decided for the CB66 from Cairbon. This solution is without aggressive ingredients and already tested and honored for car detailing from many persons. One thing I can say in advance, it works perfect at aircrafts as well. Better than we thought.
Doesn’t matter if you use the Cairbon CB 66 on the bottom or on the high tail wing. It just works great. The dirt gets dissolved and encased. With this method you have reduced the risk of scratches in the paint surface during cleaning. Spray on, leave it to dissolve for a few seconds and wipe it of with the blue towel and get the rest off with the white towel.
In detail it looks like this. There are some major stains from the turbine opening below the turbine itself.
Here is an area underneath the wing.
Left side cleaned with CB 66, right side untouched.
The opinion from the entire team for the Cairbon CB66, shown in one picture.
Here you can see that several areas are really difficult to reach and clean, due to the overhead position.
After the washing procedure, the surface shall be generally clean. As car detailer we know that there is still contamination at the surface like tar, dried old dead flies etc. This surface contamination should be removed with detailing clay before polishing. Otherwise this dirt would stick with the polishing pad and affect the result in a negative way. We cleaned the entire surface with the detailing clay.
…. underneath as well. Not that easy to handle due to the needed clay lube.
Again surprising how much dirt you still get off the “clean� surface with the detailing clay..
The Jet has approximately 50 square meter varnish surfaces. Several areas are just reachable with a ladder or scaffolding.
To be prepared for the next day, we made an “test spot� at the wing. With the test spot we tried to find out how are different polishing compounds are working and which results you get. Scratch shall disappear and the surface shall be glossy at the end.
For the test spot, we fixed an area of 40x40 cm with masking tape and tested several different polishing compounds.
Always keep an eye on the complete varnish thickness (shown in µm, 1000µm are 1mm - so it's 0.161mm thick)
Unfortunately the difference is quite hard to catch with the camera. We are satisfied and the result told us, we are on the right way.
Yea, that’s the way it works
50 / 50
DAY ONE is successfully completed. Targets and milestones have been achieved and we could relax and spend the evening at an Italian restaurant.
At the SECOUND DAY we got support for the polishing stage from: Ninjagonzo, Nobman, Muskelkatermann, rts1990, Friesel, Carlocat, Flash-shark, Leon-Ryan, Handwäscher, PoIIy, Jochen.b, Pfostenkicker, crick, tösi,v2.moto and carshot.
To get a proper result you may need to polish an area several times, till you get the gloss and defect / scratch remove you expect.
We started informing the new arrivals about what the pilot told us on the first day
The big group has been splitted in small groups and each group was in charge for on a particular area.
To prevent misunderstandings, we placed a list inside the hangar.
The materials have been placed near by the aircraft. Thanks again to Cairbon for the support. Getting all materials from one company and in “one system� assured that the materials themselves are working with each other and we had an proper workflow and the best possible base for the sealant.
Here an impression during the polishing of the jet.
I was amazed with how much passion each one of them worked at his particular part. Doesn’t matter it was upside down below the body or 4 meters in the air on the rear tail wing. But have a look and get your opinion yourself…..
Part 2 below
