Logo in the sky: Southern DC3, the application

Brent and Raylene Brownlee coordinate the application of the two layers of vinyl, dark blue and metallic silver to the DC3 in precise register and to a seamlessly smooth standard of finish.

The Southern DC3 landing at Omaka aerodrome, Blenheim, during the Classic Fighters Airshow 2011.

Air-to-air shot of the Southern DC3. Image Credit. Gavin Conroy.

This is how the Southern DC3’s streamlined moderne livery was applied to the reigning Hangar Queen of Wigram ZK-AMY

The Southern DC3 brief was for a quality “retro” design to makeover AMY with the minimum of effort and cost while delivering the maximum power of visual communication to my client’s business.

While working as in-house Creative Designer at Pionair the opportunity presented itself to design a retro moderne livery for the DC3 aircraft ZK-AMY to compliment the logo I designed for the SDC3 Charitable Trust. The Southern DC3 livery brief was for a quality “retro” design to makeover the aircraft with the minimum of effort and cost.

The Southern DC3 brief was for a quality “retro” design to makeover the aircraft with the minimum of effort and cost.

As I had designed the logo for the Southern DC3 I extended my airline branding consultancy to correctly position the look of the aircraft type to fit its design-led brand strategy. The DC3 concept had to allow for the vertical stabiliser graphics to be variable, to adapt to future private aviation contracts, as a space being offered for sponsorship as part of the initial fund-raising drive and to generate on-going earnings.

Applying vinyl products to the aircraft

You don’t need special vinyl’s on aircraft types like the McDonnell Douglas DC3 as they fly below 13,000 feet and therefore the cabin is not pressurised, so the aircraft does not breathe as it pressurises and depressurises.

The task of applying the vinyl product to the aircraft was carried out on a Saturday afternoon. As the signwriters and the rest of the crew involved were donating their time to apply the graphics it was a good idea for me to turn up with my camera to document the event. It was the sort of event that would make a good article in the SDC3 Trust newsletter.

Application temperature considerations

For the best fit and finish, and a speedy application job it is best to apply the vinyl graphics when the air temperature is between 10–35°C. To speed application in the cool hangar and ensure the smoothest fit and finish you can see Brent Brownlee uses a hand held heater in the application gallery. Raylene and Brent got stuck in and completed the application of the Southern DC3 name to both sides of the fuselage in about 90 minutes. Impressive!

Credits

Design firm: Pionair Propellor in-house studio
Signage and vinyl product application: Brent and Raylene Brownlee of Art Fetiche signage
Font credits: Raceway, Futura font family