First Airplane Jobs

[AlphaOmega]

Well, I`m in the aircraft detailing business now. One of my best customers asked me to do his plane last month. It`s the little Cessna 182 I`m standing in front of in the pics. Then he asked me if I would do his "other plane!"

So that is the twin engine Cessna 421 in the other pics. I found it a little difficult to get the true effects of "before and after" pics. So I just attached after pics on this post. I did however add a before and after of the cockpit floor of the 421. I was pretty proud of my results there.

[Beemerboy]

Nice work I`ve only worked on one plane and that was enough for me


anything on the process, product, etc?

Also if you don`t mind what did you charge and hours spent?

[AlphaOmega]

Yeah, no prob...but I still consider myself far from an expert.

The process of determining the price was fairly non-scientific. I asked the owner what it cost him last time he got the plane detailed (the first one). He said $375. I offered $300. This was for 2 reasons. 1) I have been seriously wanting to get my foot in the door and would have accepted ANYTHING for the opportunity. 2) He`s one of my favorite customers and a great source of leads. It took me about 6 hours to complete.

The second plane, after he walked me around and in it, I realized it would take much longer, so I quoted $400. It took me roughly 12 hours. Keep in mind, most of the time is consumed by moving a ladder around, having to walk around a wing EVERY time to go from one end of the plane to the other, plus I did some extra hand polishing for some oxidation.

Products: When I did the second plane, I was blessed to meet a really friendly mechanic at the hangar who gave me plenty of advice and even some products. Apparently, I committed several no-nos on the first plane.

1) I washed with my normal concentrated car wash fluid. Apparently, normal car washes will corrode aluminum over time. So I was introduced to "Carbon-X" which is made by Arrow Magnolia products. It is aluminum safe, diluted 20:1, and I was shocked at how it cut through some of the greasy belly mess that I was using my strongest degreasers on.

2) One of my common all purpose cleaners is Purple Power diluted by half or 3:1. I also use a product called Brown Royal from Flash Products that is great on cars. Apparently these are VERY bad for an aluminum airframe. So the mechanic gave me some Arrow Magnolia RLP 9000. It`s a citrus based cleaner. On the underside trailing edges of the wings there was this God-awful, thick, thick tacky gunk that none of my products could remove. I still have no idea what it was or what it came from. It was definitely some kind of petroleum type substance. Anyway, this RLP 9000 cut through this stuff like soft butter. And bugs came off in a wipe or two.

3) I started waxing with Meguires NXT polymer wax, laying it on with my PC. No problem there. But the mech handed me Aero-Glaze, which is a cleaner/glaze/wax made by...you guessed it. It seemed to do better at cutting through the light oxidation, but the NXT seemed to give a smoother finish. The Aero Glaze areas still seemed a bit "gritty." This seemed to be the case all over the horizontal surfaces (wings, tail, top of fuslage). I even tried some clay just to see if it would smooth it out, and it didn`t make a difference. I`m still researching to see if there is a polish or compound that would have helped. Plane paint IS NOT car paint, so I was very hesitant about using anything that may have been abrasive.

Process was mainly washing a section at a time, and being VERY careful not to bump into anything. I moved very slow when I was under the plane and made sure I knew where all the tubes, wicks, antennae, etc, etc were in relation to my position. I also had the owner show me the locations of all the static tubes and I taped them over to keep water and wax out of them.

Interior was pretty straight forward. I used the mildest cleaners I had. Poorboy`s Leather Stuff on the seats.


These jobs were long, and I ached the next day. But I had a lot of fun and can`t wait for the next one. I hope to get very serious into the plane detailing. I spent today putting out fliers in area airports. I also have a private airstrip neighborhood just down the street from my house. So I posted fliers door to door.

[sal329]

very cool. How different is the paint then that of a car?

[AlphaOmega]

Well, I`m no painter or chemist. So I`d love to know the scientific answer to that myself. But from what I`ve seen, clearcoat seems to be an option. So everything you`re doing is right on the paint. Also, from my studies, I`ve learned that aircraft paint is very susceptible to solvents - like the ones found in some polishes for cars. And you can definitely tell a difference by feel that it isn`t quite as "hard" as car paint.

[Suzanna]

Very cool.
Which airport?

My brother lives in Lakeland and hangers his plane in Bartow.
I flew Cessnas out of Ridge Air in Winter Haven long ago (never finished.)

[AlphaOmega]

Those two planes were both at Lakeland Linder Airfield. I have a new customer at South Lakeland Airport. I also posted fliers on doors at Eagle`s Landing right next to Winter Haven Airport. Do you know any names of contacts at Winter Haven I can hand some fliers to?

[Suzanna]

I haven`t been back to Ridge Air in years.
It was small back then with one breakroom and counter.
I`m sure whoever is behind the counter can help you.

[AlphaOmega]

So do you still fly? I`m seriously loving the aircraft detailing.