Six days of polishing "the generals b25"

Superior Shine

Superior Shine

New member
I had the opportunity recently to polish a historically significant artifact of American history! I was trusted to shine a WW2 B25 Mitchell medium bomber.



She had been polished sometime in the 80s but had faded somewhat. She had also been stored outside for a awhile and the elements did a number on her.



Air Force One (Read Air Force One post here ) was a cake walk compared to this one. The aluminum wasn't in the best of shape.



She now has a home to sleep in and the new owner wanted her to SHINE!



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I assembled a crew that collectively had over 100 years of polish experience. She would be in good hands.



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Polishing aluminum is dirty work. And polishing upside down and at odd angles is hard on the body. I am proud of my crew as they held tough and did a great job.



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For awhile it seemed like we weren't getting anywhere. Everything was covered in black, body was hurting, the whine of the buffers was defining ................ but slowly she gave us some shine, then some more. She was coming back to her former glory.



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On our last day, day 6, she was pulled outside for some final touch up work.



The day couldn't have been nicer. Blue skys, temps in the 60s and a brilliant B25 proudly glistening before us!!!





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Wow that is simply amazing. I could not even believe the amount of work that must have been. Pretty nice addition to your resume :2thumbs:
 
Excellent work! I know aluminum can be a real bugger to polish. I've often thought if I had the money I'd buy an old fighter plane and keep it nice. That plane is in A-1 shape!
 
wow ... i would never imagine that someone will polish a ... plane!? ... bet this job involved some serious back pain ... great job!
 
that is amazing - huge job and superb results :D



I cant even imagine working on something like that for 6 days straight!
 
I wouldn't have known even where to begin on that monster.. Excellent job there! Just out of curiosity... Exactly how many pads did you guys go through on that one? over 100?
 
Awsome work Joe! That's a very special accomplishment that should go high up on your resume!!!



Can you list the names of all the people in the above picture that helped you with the project? It's always nice seeing the faces behind the screen names/names.
 
The scope of this job is just incredible !!, to administrate the logistics of the people let alone getting the work done..... and getting someone to pay that bill.





I remember the post asking for help on this job great save. Also the level of skill to polish metal with wool pads is high otherwise the holograms would be really bad and to finish down takes forever.................................. one of the hardest correction jobs you guys will ever see.:wow:
 
I woulnt think you would be able to see a noticble difference after polishing but you really did bring out its natural high shine. Excellent work and im glad I dont have to pick up the bill on that one.!
 
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