Cleaners and Polish For Fabric Covered Pipers

[Schwarz]

Thank you Steve!

[walt.buskey]

Schwarz-- yeah, I was surprised, too, at how good it looked. As far as I know, it hasn't been touched for several months, unless somebody else got in there and polished it (not likely). At least she's not dripping oil like she used to! Fortunate that the sun was shining that day.

Anyway, I'll stick with plain ol' Pledge. Walt

[J Ryd]

As a newbie to fabric airplanes and first time owner, what is everybody using to wash their planes? Mine is Poly-Fiber covered. The hangers where it's kept has no water spigot. I could haul a 5 or 10 gallon container over there but not enough to wash like a car. What cleaning solutions are safe?

[kevbot]

My Pacer is Poly-Fiber as well. I use 409 for spot cleaning (leading edges, cowling, etc.) Simple green for nasty areas on the belly, only if I have water to fully rinse. I periodically give the plane a full wash at my airport's water spigot and use dawn dish soap. What airport are you located? If you're around the front range, I think Erie has an aircraft wash pad and at Longmont, you used to be able to throw Elite a couple bucks to use their water source.

[dgapilot]

When I had the Howard, mineral spirits on a rag to wipe off the oil, then Pledge to polish. The only problem is that pledge will get milkey if it gets wet. Each year, I’d do a good wash and wax, then the rest of the year after each day flying, the MS and Pledge. If the bugs were real bad, a coat of paste wax on the leading edges before flight, and wipe it (and the bugs) after flight. Likely you won’t have as much oil as the R985 deposited, so your mileage may vary.


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[J Ryd]

Kevbot, I'm hangared at Platte Valley (18V). So Erie and Longmont are definite possibilities. Thanks for the heads up. In the mean time it looks like hauling some water and buying some product for a spray on, wipe off sequence. I just got done with a cross country and it's pretty peppered with bugs.

[moe2goe]

I have water available but.... I use soapy water in one 5 gal container, rinsing water in another bucket and just hand wash one section at a time and rinse. When done wipe dry with another towel. On the belly I use a citrus based cleaner or simple green followed by a rinse towel. My Pacer has poly- fiber. After flight for bugs I use simple green or pledge on leading edge. It works fine. Moe

[CamTom12]

For my in-between-flight wipe downs I use Honda spray cleaner and polish (https://www.google.com/search?q=hond...obile&ie=UTF-8) and blue shop towels (https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C...10.2u5KxqKzUO4).

I use dawn and water for full-on bath days.

Neither works great for the oil/lead buildup on the belly. That usually comes off with clean blue shop towels and elbow grease, followed by dawn and water. I’m going to try some of the cleaners mentioned here next time though.

[andya]

noticed several post use simple green for clean up.
If the standard "wallmart" simple green in used, I have
heard it can be corrosive on metal. Not sure if it effects
anything on the fabric covering.

I have used the aviation simple green which does not have those
characteristics. It is the best thing I have found for the cowl and belly
to clean up exhaust and oil.

I have water available so Dawn dish soap and a good rinse is my option.

[walt.buskey]

Thanks... it does look pretty good,from about 15' away, LOL. Painters did a lousy job on the red stripe masking, lots of visible roughness if you get close.

Since that pic, wings have been off, gone through, back on... now working on root fairings and firewall forward refurbish. (Still languishing in almost the same spot,
unfortunately)

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