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PeterH-350LE · 12-01-2002, 03:10 PM

I had to fill the urge for riveting and bending aluminum this weekend, so I removed two dinged up skirt panels and installed some new ones.
Now I am in the process of repainting the entire lower section of the motorhome, but those 2 panels look so darn good in Aluminum that i am tempted to leave them like that.
Can I still come to our Motorhome rally like that or am I really crossing the line.

The wife thinks it looks real cool, kinda like there is sunken Living room.

I am just worried, Fred is going to give me a real hard time.

Pahaska · 12-01-2002, 03:31 PM

Can't wait to see your beauty at the Vintage Get Together next month.

Silver Bullet · 12-01-2002, 03:46 PM

How did you form the roll, by hand or machine?? Oscar

PeterH-350LE · 12-01-2002, 04:14 PM

John I, looking forward to vintage meeting myself. Just don't inspect the front right too closely. I still have a few dings there. I keep them for memory sake.

Oscar, I used flat panels (cut-outs from my windows) and talked them into bending.
To get a straight bottom line, I used a square
3/4" aluminum stock and riveted it behind the panel. There is nothing behind it to fasten it to. It took over 100 Olympic rivets to do a little repair like that.

ALANSD · 12-01-2002, 06:43 PM

Peter- looks great to me! Makes me wonder about painting mine, I have plans to respray the greay lower panels, but wonder how aluminum paint would look? The Dupont grey is not bad but...

Larry Brown · 12-01-2002, 06:56 PM

Its like washing the walls, minds well do the whole thing. Paint looks good and is probably is the practical answer due to rocks and road hazards but It looks cool in shiny new aluminum. Now polish the whole darn thing.

74Argosy24MH · 12-02-2002, 06:25 AM

Aluminum!!! I didn't have a lot of choice because of my caps and some of the work I did. I like my paint, but looking at your pictures aluminum is awesome, I should have held out for an Airstream.

John

ALANSD · 12-02-2002, 08:19 AM

Believe me Larry- the stripping and polishing thing has crossed my mind many times, however...my plasticoat is in pretty good shape, and I wonder if the shiny polished look would be too much for the campers at the KOA to handle

Even now my rig is kinda bright in the sun- you need shades to get close.

Larry Brown · 12-03-2002, 05:59 PM

Yes we are in the same boat. mines kinda bright also .I would'nt want to cause a wreck. Ive' been stuck behing some of those big rigs with the polished rear trailer doors and I could'nt see a thing. kinda unsafe but it looks good.

zamboni · 12-05-2002, 06:46 PM

I like the look...perhaps you could add a smaller piece to the bottom of the step so that when closed it continues the rolled aluminum edge look forward. Maybe someday do the whole thing with the Aluminum color rocker panels...you'd be one if not the only with this custom look!

PeterH-350LE · 12-11-2002, 04:47 PM

Making progress, two more doors left to strip and polish on this side. The aluminum does polish out nice. One of the panels had pretty rough sanding marks, which I wet sanded and steelwooled before polishing.
The plastic end caps will be painted.

PeterH-350LE · 01-19-2003, 04:04 PM

Got the end caps painted, used a metalic pewder.
Now I want to paint some silver metalic flames on the rear endcaps to make a transition from the aluminum to the pewder.
The left rear was in such a poor condition that I decided to use a water base paint stripper to remove all the paint. The water base paint remover are usually not as potent as the solvent base types, which assured no damage to the plastic itself.

evan · 01-19-2003, 08:28 PM

Very classy just like the big bus conversions. My AS MH has stripes and painted sections and it kind of looks rinkydink. I did notice that there is a silver painted section on the rear corner. The previous owners fixed a dent and then painted the area silver. It blends right in and you really have to look closely to see it. I think this might be a good way to go for the top panels when the clear coat goes. The roof always gets it the worst from the sun. For those considering stripping off the clear coat. The fully polished rigs I have seen look great but the upkeep is a daunting task.