What can I do to improve the appearance of the black wing-walk areas of my plane?
Search strings: wing walk, wingwalk, walking area
Technical Editor:
The main difficulty lies in getting off all of the old junk, when it is too far gone to simply touch up. I can’t predict what will work the best in your case.
Step 1, which is the easiest and safest to try first, is heat from a hair dryer (not a heat gun). See whether you can soften the old material enough to get it off using a heavy-duty (fairly rigid) plastic or phenolic scraper.
Step 2, assuming Step 1 has failed, is to VERY CAREFULLY mask off all the surrounding areas using very heavy-duty aluminum foil, and metal-based foil tape. This is the foil tape used on HVAC duct-board; not common duct tape. Then apply aircraft paint stripper, or some commercial alternative that is safe on aluminum. Again, a rigid scraper will be needed. Rinse very carefully to remove all traces of stripper, before any foil is removed. Make sure the foil doesn’t get torn.
Step 3 is to complete the clean-up using mineral spirits. MEK can be used on more stubborn spots, as the risk of lifting the base paint.
Step 4 is to reapply metal-prep, primer, and topcoat to the stripped area.
If I ever get the opportunity on my own Sierra, I plan to replace the conventional wing-walk area using the tape material. One of the old design-team engineering guys once told me that the drag from the wing-walk area is significant. He recommended using some of the 6″ or 12″ wide wing-walk tape, running front to rear, and spaced a couple of inches apart I would also place the front edge further aft, as much as possible, for drag reduction. I have seen this tape in 1″ and 2″ widths as well, but Spruce may not carry those sizes.
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/wingwalktape.php
I suspect that the tape approach will generate more of a recurring maintenance need, to tape off and repaint shoe scratches between the wing-walk strips (or even replace some tape). But that is easily done owner maintenance; and I have seen the tape in both white and black.
If the original wingwalk area just has chipped-out areas, but is not lifting from the base coat, it can be touched up as described. Use conventional wing-walk paint from Spruce, and apply it using a small, fairly stiff disposable brush (like the commonly-seen ‘acid brushes’.
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/randolphwingwalk.php
Dab it on the low spots using a stippling approach, not a painting approach. KEEP IT THIN! The tendency is to build it up above the surrounding area, which gives a lumpy appearance (so often seen). If necessary, you can try very course (40-60 grit) sanding cloth on a block sander, to level the area. When complete, mask it off (remember the strip in fromt of the flap reinforcement), and spray it with the commonly-available Bumper Black spray paint (Advance Auto, Auto Zone, etc.).
This really does do a lot to spiff-up the appearance of the plane.