While I was thinking of polishing for awhile, a recent trip to Key West now has me thinking paint is the way to go.
I was sitting in a window seat about halfway back on the east side of an Airbus A-320, which ended up being directly in the sun’s reflection from the polished leading edges. I decided to do a little experiment. I put on my sunglasses, and purposefully sat directly in the reflection for about an hour. I pretended I was looking for traffic close to the leading edge, and then got out a magazine (approach plate) and tried to read.
It was pretty brutal. At this point, I believe the cool factor of having a polished airplane is just about the same as the negative from the sun’s reflection.
Knowing I will go back and forth (many times) before I really need to decide, I think at this moment, I am back to painting, but with the same general theme I have been liking (see my previous ideas page for my last thoughts on this).
I’m going to repost some pictures of Tim Davidson’s RV-6 that I really like. Tim’s airplane is currently for sale on Barstormers, so I’m sure he won’t mind the additional traffic, but Tim, if you want, I’ll pull these down.
N65TD - Front left quartering
N65TD - Low Pass
N65TD - Right side
N65TD - Right rear quartering
N65TD - Beautiful in-air shot
I probably won’t do the checkerboard up front, but I definitely like this scheme. Looks fast.
Andrew's RV-7 Build Log 