Tail Flashes

[Khruangbin33]

My squadron gives tail flashes to departing members and I've inherited the job of building these. The inherited process is slow, expensive, and results in a shitty product. I want to improve this.

I know there are one-stop-shop companies that do tail flashes but they all work in plastic or wood. At one point ours were built using real aircraft sheet metal from the maintenance shops. Those days are long gone, but I have still been restricted to using metal for the tails.

Does anyone have experience with companies that make metal tail flashes? Is there a contact for salvage or Boneyard employees who could supply me with aircraft sheet metal? Any and all advice is appreciated.

[Goblin]

We have a really good company that does the wood ones. $50 delivered, delivery within two weeks, all USA made. I've been happy with them.

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Disregard all, missed the "need to only use metal" part.

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[Whiskey_Neat]

My squadron gives tail flashes to departing members and I've inherited the job of building these. The inherited process is slow, expensive, and results in a shitty product. I want to improve this.

I know there are one-stop-shop companies that do tail flashes but they all work in plastic or wood. At one point ours were built using real aircraft sheet metal from the maintenance shops. Those days are long gone, but I have still been restricted to using metal for the tails.

Does anyone have experience with companies that make metal tail flashes? Is there a contact for salvage or Boneyard employees who could supply me with aircraft sheet metal? Any and all advice is appreciated.

I used to run one of those shops that made tail flashes on base and I can give you some advice. It won't answer your question about companies set up specifically to make tail flashes though.

my biggest recommendation would be to figure out who runs the fabrication flight at your base and ask him/her for some advice on how to go about this. They might even be willing to make you one to use as a template for all the rest of them.

Aircraft "sheet metal" could be one of 69 different materials from aluminum to carbon fiber to titanium to fiberglass to a combo of all four. However the skin of the B-1, F-16, F-15, and most of the older planes will be mostly a variation of 2024-T4 aluminum. Any private fabrication shop will know how to order this specific kind of aluminum. It's not realistic to expect the bone yard to strip aluminum off off old planes for you to use.

So now that you are armed with that knowledge, you can take your template to any private sheet metal fabrication business and ask them how much they would charge to replicate your template. They should be able to paint and apply the vinyl decals as well. It might take a while for them to get it perfect, but once they do, you will now have a local company set up to continue making the things long after you go away.

PM me if you have other fabrication questions.

Edited March 5, 2014 by Whiskey_Neat

[Cell Dweller]

If doing what Whiskey said does not turn out to be successful, you may have to bargain with your unit that the metal flashes are a waste. If it is a slow and expensive process with crappy products, leadership may be amenable to switching to wood (sts).

If you had a shit-hot boss that deserved it, then I would go to the local picker/flea market supplier and see if they have any aircraft parts. If you are in a location that has a long history with your airframe, then you might be able to procure an actual part that could be made into an awesome going-away gift. Of course if you did that for a great boss, then every knuckle-dragger in a supervisory position might want one.

[Stitch]

...my biggest recommendation would be to figure out who runs the fabrication flight at your base and ask him/her for some advice on how to go about this. They might even be willing to make you one to use as a template for all the rest of then....

i was "tailflash guy" in my last squadron before retirement and if you can't 'outsource' the tailflashes I second what Whiskey said. Try and sell the idea to the Sheetmetal/Fab flight NCOIC as a 'training project' for newbies and perhaps a way to use up materials that would otherwise go to the scrap bin. If that don't work, you'd be amazed at what a case or two of beer will get you in the MX complex!