What's worse than keying a car?

keying a vintage warbird

http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/content/news/articles/bn9/2013/4/23/police_want_informat.html

LAKELAND -- Lakeland Police are asking for the publics help finding the person or persons responsible for damaging an airplane that was part of the Sun-N-Fun event. They say sometime between 6 p.m. Saturday April 13 and 9 a.m. Sunday April 14, damage was done to a B-25 airplane. The damage to the plane is approximately 18" long and 6'1" off the ground. The damage is a deep scratch to the exterior portion of the plane, on the left side, in the area of the fuselage. The plane is named 'Panchito' and was parked near the beer tent. Lakeland Police are hoping someone may have seen something, or may have a photo or video in their possession that shows when and how the damage occurred. The estimated cost of repair to this vintage plane is approximately $30,000. The owners participate in Sun-N-Fun each year. If anyone has any information, they are asked to contact the Lakeland Police Department at 863-834-6900, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-226-8477. To be eligible for a cash reward, you must contact Crime Stoppers.

I was going to say slashing tires or peeing into the gas tank.

Maybe he took up two spots in front of the beer tent.

A-Hole + beer = mega douchebag

That aircraft is local to me, it is in showroom condition, and the owner is a truly awesome guy. I'm seriously pissed off on his behalf.

I was gonna say draining the oil. But yeah, keying a classic plane is worse.

Someone deserves to be bombed by that bird.

Something seriously wrong with someone who would key a beautiful WW2 bomber like that. I have some fun ideas on how they can get revenge on the person, of course with bombs and machine guns.

Not to detract in any way from what an incredibly idiotic, pointless, shiny happy person maneuver that was, but...

$30k? I'm having trouble seeing that figure for two scratched panels, even thinking in terms of having to remove every rivet that overlaps them, and form, polish, and rivet replacement panels in...

Again, of course, the asshat who did this shouldn't have cost the owner 30 cents, let alone 30 large...

NSFW language: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO48Vr4KIc8

wait... Sun-N-Fun was this week? sum beech.... used to go to that every year growing up. I still have the scars to prove it.

Utterly douchebag thing to do and the perp should be locked up.

But it's polished Aluminum, can't they just polish it out with the panels in place? Am I an idiot for thinking so?

@Tom Spangler: Exactly how I feel about it!

They should be taught vigorously and repeatedly that fist can be a verb!

In reply to ransom:

I wouldn't doubt it, it'll have to match flawlessly.

Does anyone else think that this is also an insult to anyone who ever fought or died in one? That may be what's pissing me off the most about it.

My guess the 30k is to remove the old skin and replace it.

spitfirebill wrote: My guess the 30k is to remove the old skin and replace it.

You would be correct, and it appears at least 2 panels, a whole E36 M3 ton of rivets, and it'll all need to match, be the correct spec/thickness, etc. Thats expensive to do.

friedgreencorrado wrote: Does anyone else think that this is also an insult to anyone who ever fought or died in one? That may be what's pissing me off the most about it.

A little bit, yeah.

No WW2 plane could take up enough parking spaces for me to key it, even if the guy driving was wearing a Tapout shirt and playing the douchiest music of the moment on the radio.

SUVs, on the other hand...it just takes 2

In reply to GameboyRMH:

The tapout shirt instantly earns "Stop being such a Bob Costas" jokes. I'd never key a vehicle even, let alone a vintage warbird.

Reminds me of the local toolbag who got himself drunked up and crashed through the exterior wall of our local air museum (Kalamazoo Air Zoo). He went through an armco barrier and a cinder-block wall and smashed up the tail of a very rare bird (P-39 Airacobra). IIRC, up to that point, the P-39 was airworthy, but was damaged enough it could only be rebuilt to static display status. Clearly, caning was called for there, as it is here.

That's not a keying, that's just a scrape. Might be from something carried high by a walking person, but I'm more inclined to suspect mobile equipment, something that rolls on tires.

Made harder to take seriously since the damage value is vastly inflated, as is the severity.

Think I'm gonna post "WW2 aircraft polishing" in the business ideas thread

I was at sun n fun this year and got to see that thing fly. It was a beauty. Hope they get it worked out quickly, it was a rather small turn out so hopefully that narrows it down

dculberson wrote: But it's polished Aluminum, can't they just polish it out with the panels in place? Am I an idiot for thinking so?

My thoughts exactly. Unless we're missing something obvious to more knowledgeable folks, seems like this could be sorted by a decent body guy and maybe an hour's time, to the extent that any evidence of damage is invisible.

alex wrote:

dculberson wrote: But it's polished Aluminum, can't they just polish it out with the panels in place? Am I an idiot for thinking so?

My thoughts exactly. Unless we're missing something obvious to more knowledgeable folks, seems like this could be sorted by a decent body guy and maybe an hour's time, to the extent that any evidence of damage is invisible.

Not sure about this, but I don't think just any "body guy" can work on an airplane. My guess is this has to be done by an FAA cert'd "body guy".

EDIT: Also, its my understanding that the skin on these things is, to a certain extent, structural. Not sure its as simple as pulling a piece off and putting a new one on. If I recall the old assembly line photos correctly, the plane is usually carefully jigged and supported while the skin is being installed.