Anna Kistowska
Support Engineer (DMC)
Change of aircraft graphical layout, or – actually – change of the aircraft paint coating, is not always possible. There is a variety of reasons for that, some of these being the high cost of the process, time limitations, project complexity, ferry flights or the lack of slots available in the painting houses performing such service.
An alternative for a swift graphic layout change is placement of decorative foils. This process is increasingly a subject of interest and has an growing number of recipients. For a customer, the placement of stickers on the aircraft means a possibility to express their creativity due to the unlimited design capacities. Therefore it is also a chance to excel from among competitors and to gain recognition. Moreover, the process is entirely reversible and enables for frequent changes on aircraft look without excessive financial outlay, as painting would require.
Seeing an opportunity to grow for our company, the Civil Painting Department (DMC) may proudly present its newly acquired competences. The Painters’ group completed successfully training on placement of aviation decorative foils conducted by the 3M company, being a manufacturer of this kind of foil stickers. The process of decorative foils placement allows to enhance the scope of services offered by Wojskowe Zakłady Lotnicze No. 2 S.A.
The work with decorative foils placement on the aircraft was not entirely strange to our specialists. The first attempts to place decorative foils o the aircraft took place back in 2017 during works at aircraft ATR 72, which was decorated with the colors of SPRINTAIR. In turn, in 2018 a logo was attached to the fuselage of aircraft ERJ 190 AIR BURKINA. Apart from placing foils on aircraft, we do the same with other vehicles – while working on the project of painting coating renewal on the ŻELAZNY Acrobatic Group of the Orlen company, their cars were also decorated with foil stickers.
Recently, together with the training company, we have performed a spectacular metamorphosis of Artur Kielak’s acrobatic aircraft, on which we had before totally replaced the painting coating. During the foils placement, we applied an innovative system of reflective foils, which translated into a very interesting final result, compliant with the requirements of our demanding Customer. It was a very complex project, requiring development of many details – just the foils placement itself took as long as five days. However, the final effect was worth the effort!
