Oxford Aviation president Jim Horowitz is obsessive about high-quality aircraft maintenance and that dedication extends to the cleaning products used by his company. In addition to maintenance, Oxford Aviation specializes in aircraft painting and interior refurbishment, and a big part of keeping its customers' aircraft looking good is proper cleaning. So Oxford launched The Proper Aircraft to market a line of in-house-developed cleaning products. I recently tried some of The Proper Aircraft products and found that they do work as advertised. Power Clean Gel is useful for difficult dirt problems. I tried it on a cowling whose white paint was marred by deep scratches filled with dirt. Ordinary cleaners had no effect on the scratches, but when I rubbed on some Power Clean Gel, the dirt inside the scratches came right off, and the cowl looked much better, although the scratches are still there. The Windshield Gel is another useful product. Just spray on, clean with a soft cloth, then polish with a dry soft cloth, preferably 100-percent cotton. I found the Windshield Gel helpful because I didn't need to use more than one product to get clean, polished static-free plastic. As always, if there is a lot of dirt on the window, it should be washed off with water first. The airplane with the scratched cowl also had some old autogas fuel stains on the belly, dark brownish marks that were impervious to soap. I tried The Proper Aircraft's unique Aero Clay to remove the stains, and it pulled the tough stains off without damaging the paint. After cleaning the stained area to remove grease and surface dirt, Aero Clay, which looks like a bar of green clay, must be lubricated with Aero Bar Lubricant then rubbed on the stain. Aero Clay removes deep stains and also can be used on paint overspray. Dirt is suspended in the clay so it won't migrate back onto the paint. The Proper Aircraft makes many different cleaning products, including one for leather care, a new three-in-one deicer boot product called Tri-Guard, and aircraft cleaning kits like the Appearance Kit, which comes with new Socata TBM-700s. The Proper Aircraft, 207-539-8671, www.theproperaircraft.com

McAviation's Laser Timer

Piston-engine mechanics are familiar with the challenge of timing magnetos. On Lycoming engines, the timing mark on the ring gear must be aligned with the split in the crankcase. One way mechanics check the magneto timing is to use a straightedge aligned with the crankcase split, held so that the edge points at the correct timing mark on the ring gear. This can be difficult and prone to error, if the edge is not held perfectly in line with the crankcase split. McAviation's Laser Timer tool is perfectly suited to helping mechanics set magneto timing accurately. The Laser Timer mount attaches to the ring gear, with a mark on the timer lined up directly with the timing mark on the ring gear. Then, the laser is pushed into the hole in the Timer mount, so that the laser shines onto the crankcase split. The engine can be turned to make sure the magneto points open exactly when the laser illuminates the crankcase split. This is a much simpler method than the straightedge and far more accurate than eyeballing the timing mark's alignment with the crankcase split. I tried the Laser Timer recently on a Lycoming engine and found that it worked great. It is easy to use and frees up the hand that used to try to hold the straightedge in place. The Laser Timer Tool can be used with Continental engines, too, by marking timing marks on the propeller spinner backplate to correspond with the timing marks on the alternator pulley. McAviation Services, phone, 908-850-3722 www.mcaviationservices.com