You are absolutely right here. I have a cradle for the fuselage tat is padded and has microfiber cloth on the padding. The wing bag is also lined in microfiber. Not only do you need to prevent dents, but if you polish the aluminum like I have, you really have to take measures to prevent micro scratches from forming.

Really not hard. Tedious maybe but not hard. You may want to review the repar video I shot as a follow up to and incident at an event. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bLWWdMh-07DMk30.html

While this is true, that application of a spray can of any can will create something most commonly referred to as "orange peel." The highly polished surface would not look mirror-polished anymore defeating the entire effect. Further still, the aluminum is already adding a bit of weight to this model, To get a COMPLETE seal of this would require many coats to seal out all the oxygen to the surface to prevent this from happening again... There is a reason why this is never done on full-scale restorations and they are my same reasons. I had the chance to fly in Aluminum Overcast a while back, the airplane looks grey from afar but up close you can tell it is raw, oxidized aluminum. The hours needed to polish it are immense but fighter aircraft would be much more manageable by comparison.

@@JoshuaOrchard What proof do you have that it would orange peel? I've done shiny metals many many years ago and have never experienced that. Like I said today's lacquers are amazing.

You can but I highly suggest you review my 3-part series on how to do this if you have not done so already. Application onto foam will require a harder substrate than the foam itself unless you are OK with the foam texture showing. Even wood grain comes through so regardless of material that the airplane is built from, a perfectly smooth finish requires a lot of surface finish and prep work.

In a word: perfection. It still requires maintenance since it’s raw aluminum but worth the annual spit shine. 😜

@@JoshuaOrchard Glad to hear it, it looks beautiful.