Gravel Shield Material

[miamiair]

A year ago I was looking at two ex-RAF C-130Ks at Bruntingthorpe,and noticed the forward lower skins of the pods that house the APU and landing gear had a rubberized sheet bonded on. I am looking to add it to a modification we plan on doing. Does anybody know what this material is? Google in this case has been of no help.

The material itself looks like it is some sort of rubber/silicone sheet with very small holes to allow the passage of trapped air. It was also painted in the aircraft camouflage scheme.

Thanks.

[aintsaying]

miamiair,

20 odd years ago I was involved with one of our C130's that suffered lower skin damage due to excessive stone chips, just behind the nose wheels.
We used an 3M product, it was self adhesive, came in 3 meter wide rolls, grey colour. it had small pin holes as you described.
Thats all I remember about it, its a 3M product.


aintsaying

[miamiair]

Thanks,

I'll have to give them a call. All they are showing is a self-adhesive tape which we use on the leading edges of the Airbus Stabs.

[aintsaying]

This stuff was in rolls of 50m long by 3m wide. It had and adhesive backing and we prc'd the edges. The edges of the roll did not have adhesive from about 1/2 inch. The material was multi layered and no more than 1/4" thick.


aintsaying

[cockney steve]

Sounds like the stuff that's stuck to the insides of car-body panels to damp out drumming.

[munster]

Found this in 3Ms website -
3M aerospace and aircraft product catalog ? 3M US:Aerospace OEM3M? Polyurethane Protective Tape 8641 RAF Green Perforated with Skip Slit Liner, 24 in x 36 yd, 1 per case

[tech-line]

A few years ago now we tried a special paint originally designed for ute/truck trays/bed liners, depending on where you come from.
It was called Rhino paint had to get a DoA special approval to try it.
We had a never ending problem with erosion on the vertical stabs and other leading edge surfaces ie fairings.
We also applied it to to the lower fuse on the aircraft.
Was great till it needed repairs as it couldn't just be touched up but it lasted a fair while and saved us many many hours with costly repairs.
Getting the old stuff off was a lot of fun!
I don't know if the company still uses it as I have long gone but worth a try if you are constantly flying into dirt strips, rain and other unfavourable weather conditions.

[miamiair]

Munster, thanks. That's the stuff. Thanks.

Fiberglass gravel shields don't work that well, we had a mod where we sprayed PRC on the lower inboard edges of 727 flaps, never had any more problems.

[munster]

You're welcome miamair.

[MC5Wes]

Erosion Covering

We used the 3M covering on our external F-16 parts. Check this web page for more info and videos.

Polyurethane protective tapes and boots ? 3M US:Aerospace OEM