{"id":3278,"date":"2015-04-02T15:38:21","date_gmt":"2015-04-02T21:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.velocity-xl.com\/blog\/?p=3278"},"modified":"2015-04-05T10:11:34","modified_gmt":"2015-04-05T16:11:34","slug":"5-1-4-window-scratches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.velocity-xl.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/02\/5-1-4-window-scratches\/","title":{"rendered":"5.1.4 Window Scratches"},"content":{"rendered":"
This entry is part 15 of 16 in the series 05 - Doors \/ Windows<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Since taxi testing is hopefully going to be happening soon, I decided to remove the plastic covering the windows.<\/p>\n

I’ve been pretty diligent about keeping the windows covered.\u00a0 I make sure the window is spotless, then use a fresh sheet of plastic and tape it down tight with good duct tape.\u00a0 The only time I remove the covering is when I needed to work on the window\/fuselage interface.<\/p>\n

But when I removed the plastic, I discovered some areas that I first thought was dust, but turned out to be scratches. My guess is that there was just enough loose plastic that during transport it was able to rub on the windows.<\/p>\n

\"2015-04-03<\/a><\/p>\n

I had purchased some Scratch Off<\/a> a couple years ago (just in case) and was getting ready to try it out. Scott Swing dropped by one morning while I was still trying to get un-bummed about the whole window thing and I showed him the state of the windows. He was totally nonchalant about it.\u00a0 He said that windows get scratched all the time. I told him that I had some Scratch Off that I was going to try and he told me how he does it (and I’m pretty sure he’s done a few). 2,000 grit sandpaper and Meguiar’s PlastX<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To say I was doubtful would be an understatement.<\/p>\n

I already had some 2,000 grit sandpaper for knife sharpening so I went to Walmart and picked up some PlastX for about $7. But I didn’t want to test this on the actual windows.\u00a0 So I went over to the factory and got a piece of scrap window material.<\/p>\n

It didn’t have any scratches so I made my own… with 180 grit sandpaper.<\/p>\n

\"2015-04-02<\/a><\/p>\n

The marks on my window weren’t nearly that bad but I felt that if I could come close to fixing scratches that bad then my windows would be a piece of cake.<\/p>\n

Because these were some serious scratches, I decided to start with 1,000 grit then 1,500 and finally finish with the 2,000 grit sandpaper. That definitely removed the deep scratches.\u00a0 Then I used the PlastX with a paper towel (I left my good microfiber towels in the Cessna). After a minute or two polishing:<\/p>\n

\"2015-04-02<\/a><\/p>\n

I didn’t do as good a job as possible with the sandpaper and putting on the polish with a paper towel isn’t even close to the correct way, but the results indicate that this is going to work just fine.<\/p>\n

Later I told Scott that I tested it on some self-inflicted scratches created with 180 grit sandpaper.\u00a0 He said “ONE-EIGHTY!!!”\u00a0 Hilarious. Hey, go big or go home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This entry is part 15 of 16 in the series 05 - Doors \/ Windows<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Since taxi testing is hopefully going to be happening soon, I decided to remove the plastic covering the windows. I’ve been pretty diligent about keeping the windows covered.\u00a0 I make sure the window is spotless, then use a fresh sheet … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"series":[29],"class_list":["post-3278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-47","series-05-doors-windows"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.velocity-xl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.velocity-xl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.velocity-xl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.velocity-xl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.velocity-xl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3278"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.velocity-xl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3282,"href":"https:\/\/www.velocity-xl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3278\/revisions\/3282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.velocity-xl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.velocity-xl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.velocity-xl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3278"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.velocity-xl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=3278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}