Did a little polishing

Needed to do something else today, spent an hour or so sanding a polishing. 120, 180, 320, wet 400, 600, 1000, polish. I put a soft finish on it, I didn’t want to go full mirror.

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Over time, I began to dislike a high mirror finish on the aluminum bits: fussy to keep that way, and just doesn’t look correct.

Now, on a Lockheed Electra?

image

:drooling_face:

I did the same thing today, but the left one :laughing:

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I finished the other. Tomorrow I’ll do the intake.

I did a bit of study when polishing the TC/Q Special. I was wondering why I couldn’t get that Electra-like shine. I even took a piece to an aviation museum to check. Well, aviation alloys are not used for automotive fabrication, it’s too hard to work. But because it’s tough stuff, it takes on a very deep shine. Aviation alloys can be formed for sure, but it just doesn’t need to be that difficult if it’s just getting painted. Only knuckleheads like me and a few others polish their aluminum bodies. By the time I finished the car, you could tell which parts had been polished first and those polished 6 months later. Now, it’s getting a cool haze as an old race car should.

This is the best I could get out of the alloy used:

I’ve learned a lot about polishing aircraft aluminum in the past few months… a labor of love that once started its hard to stop. image|375x500

There’s a bare aluminum (unpainted) Lockheed L18 Loadstar sitting on the tarmac at Bowman Field in Louisville, KY that would wear you polishers out. It has not moved in about 35 years. They say it was the Gulfstream 5 of its era.

Ooooh! Do tell more about that aircraft!!!

It’s about 2 miles from my house. I was up there just last night.

Dropped pin
Near Louisville, KY 40205
https://goo.gl/maps/BzJBjnVxVXELCWUu8

And, because none of us need a better excuse:smile:

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About 15 minutes ago.

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That alone tells you the fuselage is likely red flagged or should be. One of our club members had his Beechcraft grounded for excessive rot at the spars. It’s not worth fixing.

Yeah, but as yard art?

:smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

Never forget, “Glacier Girl.

:grin:

It is considered abandoned. Local lore says it was sold to a group in Massachusetts who intended to restore it. They paid for it, but never took possession and it continued to sit. The engines were sold off decades ago.

Lucky its a long damn way away from me…!

It is a 1957 Cessna 172, with an 0-360 Lycoming 180 hp conversion. It is a creampuff and a beautiful airplane to fly. Here’s a photo before the polishing begin.

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Mike: I received (yesterday ) the alternator that you recommended for S 681324. It is amazingly tiny and is a beautiful piece of efficient design.
Thanks again
martin

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