Your description sounds similar to this laser-based rust remover. I wonder if that could find use for stripping paint.
I was just going to mention that. They were indeed stripped of their paint after AA inherited them. Here’s a photo of a TWA MD-80, registration number N9414W, taken in 1999:
And here’s the same plane in 2002:
As for fuel economy, I seem to recall reading that an unpainted plane does indeed save fuel. However, the tradeoff is that the bare aluminum requires more maintenance to prevent corrosion. When you take the cost of the additional maintenance into account, there’s not much cost savings overall with an unpainted plane.
Of course 90% of the pigment by weight is titanium dioxide; that’s the main white pigment that’s used (also used in food such as clam chowder, food coloring, etc). Do you mean 90% of the weight of the paint is titanium dioxide? Or am I misreading what you wrote?
Thanks for the nice pix WildaBeast! I was able to view them on my phone (it pinged me when you replied) but for some reason, they don’t show in my Chrome browser.
Likewise. I get Error 1011 messages for both.
That website doesn’t like hotlinking.
Once enough people request this page they automatically lock down those images at least temporarily.
As an aside, why are all modern unpainted aircraft yellow green?
As opposed to the silver aluminium they used to be?
Yeah, apparently airliners.net doesn’t like hotlinking. Unfortunately it’s too late to go back and edit, but here are the direct links to the pictures.
That was incredibly satisfying to watch.
Yellow-green…I’m going to guess that is a primer / protectant layer, sprayed over the bare aluminum.
They’ve been using stuff like this on aircraft for a long time. In the US, during WWII, we used zinc chromate. They had a different formula in Japan, so the interior surfaces (wings, fuselage, wheel wells) of WWII aircraft like the Zero were a shiny blue color.
(Would edit, but apparently 5+ minutes is “a long time ago”
ETA: This yellow-green shade is no doubt covered up by the final paint layers. For an unpainted look, i.e. silvery metal finish, no doubt they have a transparent primer / final coat they use, we just don’t see it because it’s clear. I can’t imagine them using just bare metal…
Error 1011? That makes sense, because these planes were not Lockheed L1011’s…
Imagine using the hand-held device to shave.
Alright, I’ve posted enough in this thread for a while… 
I kid you not.
“ In the U.S. aircraft industry, zinc chromate was in widespread use by the outbreak of World War II. However, Germany and other “axis powers” didn’t use it at all, relying on lacquer-based protective coatings. ”
(Italics mine), From : https://aerospace.honeywell.com/en/learn/about-us/blogs/2017/04/the-history-of-the-green-aircraft
“Surface preparation for painting begins with using an alkaline cleaner remove the green temporary protective coating from the airplane skin.”
(Italics mine). From : http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/aero_12/paint_story.html
Are you thinking of the “Swoose”? Actress Swoosie Kurtz was named after it.
Or it could be “Half and Half”.
Found it! It was “Little Miss Mischief”, based in England. They grafted the nose from a bare-metal, Vega-built B17 onto the tail of an OD Boeing built bomber.
Your post wasn’t there when I made mine, even though it was 11 hours before. Hmmm… so much for better board performance.
Anyway, yep that’s it!
Thanks, good info!