The Murphy Builders Site

Has anyone used a decal on their fuselage? If so, how did you deal with rivet heads? I'm getting ahead of myself and thinking about paint schemes.

Thanks,
Jerry Folkerts

I have pictures of a full plane decal that a buddy has. Professional job. Every individual rivet has to be carefully addressed. If I recall correctly, schemedesigners.com might be the company he used. In any case, I can find out if you're interested. I will try to post pics tomorrow.

My registration letters are decals. They went on easy and haven't budged for 14 years. I did have to press down the decal around each rivet with a tongue depressor. A job that's easiest on a hot sunny day.

I had painted my Moose pure white, then clear coat, and added the colors with vinyl. An automotive sign shop / Print store, in Folsom CA, made all the "decals" and came 30 miles to my house and put them on the plane, all for about $500.00. They did a beautifull job, this was a 12" away good job, not the average 50 foot job I have seen on some planes! Had I tried to apply the long tapored stripes it would have been disaster!!! They put in about 15 hours and guaranted the work. the trick over the rivets was to use a very sharp punch and allow the air to escape along with the use of a plastic squeegee and a heet gun.

Jerry contact me off line at rwampach@att.net for more info---if you want Dick

Dick,
Thanks. After I posted this, I did some on-line searching and there are quite a few articles on covering rivets. I guess its a problem on larger truck trailers and smaller trailers. It said basically the same, must be clean, no moisture hidden in or underneath rivet heads, a good squeegee, a method to let air escape around each rivet, and a heat gun to lay it down over each rivet.
I'm probably like most others on this web site, and hate to pay anyone to do something I should be able to do myself. That said, there's probably some technique involved and I'll likely do a few small test decals on a mock up first. Then make a decision on whether or not I need help!
Best,
Jerry Folkerts

Another builder asked me to pass on the following:

A company, planevinyl.com, which was at Oshkosh last year (and perhaps several recent years), has apparently done entire aircraft--not just stripes or sections. Check out their website.

Ted