Argosy lower front valance repairs

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by mayco

Really great to watch the mold process. Very educational and fun. Thank you Brad for sharing the process. Really appreciated.

Mike

I enjoyed it as much as you did Mike!

I was a little apprehensive due to the shear size and shape of the valance but we got lucky and found someone that takes a real interest in his work. I'd recommend Fiberglass Solutions in Corbin Kentucky to anyone needing fiberglass work done.

Brad

[bkahler]

I just received a couple more pictures of the finished valance from Fiberglass Solutions.

Needless to say I'm quite impressed with the quality of the product. Let's hope it looks as good once I go pick it up!

[bkahler]

Well we've just about reached the end of the story for the reproduction valances

This morning I drove down to Corbin and picked up the two new reproduction valances and my original valance.

On the whole I'm very impressed with the quality of the reproduction pieces. Are the perfect, no, but they are so much nicer than the original that the flaws are minuscule by comparison. My original valance was extremely wavy on the flat surfaces. The vast majority of that is gone. Tim spent a lot of time taking as much of the waviness out that he could. The mold making process actually took him more work than original hoped for due to the waviness.



There are minor flaws in the surface in some spots but those flaws are correctable with very minor body work. The biggest flaws are in the edges that are overlapped by the aluminum body trim so even if the flaws weren't fixed they wouldn't really be noticeable.



Personally overall I would give the job an A or A+ rating mainly due to quality (or lack thereof) of the original valance that he had to work with. With computers there's a saying "garbage in, garbage out". In this case it was "garbage in, and a pretty decent valance out"





Brad

[mayco]

Awesome!

[Gregsch]

Bravo!

[martin300662]

Well today is the day the valance goes onto Bella. The first issue is that the bumper supports have been worked on since Bella last had a valance, so some metal work is needed to get everything lined up.

The guys at AS NE have temporarily removed the side arms whilst they work on getting everything level.



Seems drastic but at the moment we trust the position of the valance over the location of the bumper.

The bonus is a glimpse of Bella's new wheels in one of the photos!

[bkahler]

Thinking about it I hope they make those end supports removable so the valance can be removed if need be in the future!

Have you seen the new wheels on Bella or where you in and out of there before they were remounted?

[martin300662]

When I picked the 'spare' wheels up to run down to Kentucky, the new wheels were on Bella but she was locked away in the paint booth.

She was out of the booth but locked away in the workshop whilst I was in over the weekend (only sales is open on Sat/Sun).

So that photo is literally the first look I have of the tires, on rims, on Bella.

[bkahler]

So close yet so far....!

I hope the wheels look as good in person as they do in the sales pictures. I now four of the ION wheels sitting in boxes in my shop. As you can see I have high hopes of finishing mine some day

[Jjona5]

What ever happened with the valence? I'd love to get one for the front and back!

[martin300662]

Originally Posted by Jjona5

What ever happened with the valence? I'd love to get one for the front and back!

The valance is done/available but is only suitable from the early wrap around bumpers, the later models use a three piece 'front bumper fairing assembly'.



All three parts are listed as available from the regular Airstream suppliers but the three parts will set you back around $1200 and require you to remove the wheel trims (not an easy task). Also make sure you get a matched set; Airstream changed the design on the later models to include a deeper chin spoiler and fog lights, and if you try and use a miss-matched set they don't line up - check the photos from the suppliers, as so far I have not found anyone having a complete matched set.

The first photo below shows the old style center with the an old drivers side; the second photo shows the difference with the new passenger side and old center section.





These photos are from Peanut where Ernie is trying to rework the old style center section to match the new sides, because we could not get a matching center section.

[shepherd57]

Martin I might have one off the 78 that I scraped I will check

[martin300662]

Originally Posted by shepherd57

Martin I might have one off the 78 that I scraped I will check

Thanks John.

I got two ends/wraps (passenger and driver) new from Airstream Supply, but as you can see they are the newer, chin spoiler, design for Peanut. The old ones are NLA and yet the only center section that is available is the shallow, non-chin spoiler type - and not in ABS.

Someone has obviously had a mould taken from the old style center and new style wraps and now reproducing in FRP. As a community we need to take a mould from old style wraps so that a full set of old style replacements are available (which would fit 1977-early 90's), if not a lot of folks are going to be in trouble next time they ding their wraps/spoiler!

[bkahler]

Martin,

If someone wanted to make a mold there is still a "spare" right rear corner wrap sitting here in Kentucky form your 78 donor

And sometime in the near future the left front will be removed from Peanut so it would be available for having a mold made as well......

Brad

[shepherd57]

Martin that wrap with the spoiler on the bottom did not appear until 89 and up my 85 32.5 still has the the older style center section with no spoiler.

So it looks like everything up to 1988 used the old style wraps and center section

[martin300662]

Originally Posted by bkahler

Martin,

If someone wanted to make a mold there is still a "spare" right rear corner wrap sitting here in Kentucky form your 78 donor

And sometime in the near future the left front will be removed from Peanut so it would be available for having a mold made as well......

Brad

Seems that the majority on motorhomes (1977-1989) used the same parts (front and rear wraps, and center front) and of those only the center front is available. The wraps from the last few years are available (when the design changed) but the center from that style isn't. We really need one of the commercial suppliers to step up and get the molds made whilst there are still some originals that can be used as plugs.

I know the suppliers read the forum so made they will take notice????

[martin300662]

Originally Posted by shepherd57

Martin that wrap with the spoiler on the bottom did not appear until 89 and up my 85 32.5 still has the the older style center section with no spoiler.

So it looks like everything up to 1988 used the old style wraps and center section

I agree John and apart from the center, all the other wraps, are now NLA. For example these from Airstream Supply and Inland RV are the new type with the chin spolier

http://airstreamsupply.com/Airstream...wrap-201340-01

http://www.inlandrv.com/catalog/prod...roducts_id=101

[bkahler]

Martin,

My guess is the front wraps that you bought for Peanut (post 88 style) were probably what's left of the original Airstream stock and once they are gone there won't be any more available for any year coach.

It sure would be nice if a vendor would step up and have them remade, either in ABS or fiberglass. I doubt that will happen though

Just as a reminder I still have the long left rear wrap sitting up in the barn.

Brad