1978 Travelux President 31'

[jonplayers]

In my line of work I meet a lot of trade guys\gals. Plumbers, electricians, dry wallers, tile setters, tin bashers. Each trade is unique in its on way. It takes years to master a trade no matter what it is!

It is nice to have friends in these high places!

I met a guy a year or so ago who was a very talented "tin basher"
I was amazed by his work! You can always tell when someone takes pride in their work!

I ran in to him again this summer, as he was installing the heating system in a house I had just built. I had told him about my project figuring he would be interested.

I called him today and he showed up within a couple hours.
He was impressed with the project and had some great insight.

He is going to fab me up 4 new wheel wells! The idea is that they will slip over the old ones. I will then be able to add material to the underside/exterior of the wheel well, and kind of sandwhich the old wheel well.

He was excited to take it on. I am excited to see it!

Oh ya he also has a 4 ft shear!

I got the first to panels in this morning!

I think I will take the rest of the week off and keep poking away!

[jonplayers]

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[PaulnGina]

Wow, this is going to look stinkin' awesome(er) as time goes on. Beautiful!!

[jonplayers]

Originally Posted by travelux29

Hello Jon, I love what you have done so far. The travelux looks beautiful. I own a 1973 29' travelux trailer that I am modernizing and restoring. If you have any questions on them feel free to ask. I have all the original documentation, ie brochures and specs. I look forward to seeing it complete

Hello! I just seen this post! Thanks! I would love to some pics of yours. Feel free to post them on this thread if you like. Or start your own.

Thanks for the offer to help. Once I start building the inside I would like to see what some of the old cabinetry looked like, as mine are long gone.

[jonplayers]

Originally Posted by PaulnGina

Wow, this is going to look stinkin' awesome(er) as time goes on. Beautiful!!

Thanks! I am excited to finally start the "skinning."
I seem to avoid starting something as long as possible.

[jonplayers]

I got the first two bottom end cap panels in, as well as two more big bottom panels. It takes a while to install a panel.

I had a bit of a goof up with one. The hole for a plug a had cut was a bit off.
I was able to unscrew the plug box and sneak it down a 1/4 of an inch.
Be more careful I will. Said in my best Yoda voice.

I bought my aluminum sheet about two years ago!
The nice thing about that is I have it!
The sting from the price is long gone.

The bad thing about it. I vaguely remember driving around with it in the back of my truck for a week or two. I have a canopy, but still.
When I did finally put it away in a corner of the shop. I remember it was a bit stormy and the paper that separates the sheets was getting a few sprinkles of rain.

I think you know where I am going with this!

Corrosion! The enemy of shiny trailers everywhere!

Some of the sheets look like they have animal print the way they corroded.
Others have some worse corrosion where it had gotten wet from the doors being open. I had since covered it all with plastic.

I will be painting or something anyways I guess. There is no way I could get the skins in without mucking them up a bit. Fingerprints, light scratches.
To bad because I really like the look of the bare aluminum.

Ah well what are you gonna do!

[jonplayers]

The corrosion.



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[jonplayers]

Attachment 233352
The "jigs"Attachment 233353

I used hanger board to make this jig.
The stuff you would put on your shop wall to hang your tools. I used duct tape to cover all the holes, and the drilled through the duct tape in the pattern I wanted. I have 4" spacing on one side and 2" spacing on the other. The bottom of the jig starts at 3 5/8. I did this so that I will avoid the old holes which started at 4".

I use this jig for marking. I line it up where I want and use a marker in the hole.




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[Evalu8r]

Lookin good Jon.

[mimiandrews]

Originally Posted by jonplayers

Attachment 233337
The corrosion.

Clean it off with a rag and something mild (water, etc.) and then try a little polish. If it's not too deeply corroded it should come off.

Good luck.

[jonplayers]

Originally Posted by mimiandrews

Clean it off with a rag and something mild (water, etc.) and then try a little polish. If it's not too deeply corroded it should come off.

Good luck.

Thanks!

I am scared to go the polishing route. I am afraid once I start I will have to do the whole inside. I would descend into madness I think.

For the most part it is not that bad. I have been hiding the bad spots close to the floor. It will eventually be covered with cabinetry.

The finger prints and light scratches are probably gonna be more of a problem.
I have started wearing gloves, but once the kids get in there!

Maybe once I am done skinning. And I have the layout marked out. I could polish the bit of walls that are left showing and clear-coat or somthing.

I don't know. I guess I will have to cross that bridge when I get there!

[Gene]

There's a corrosion thread that may answer your question, but it is very long—start at the end and work back. http://www.airforums.com/forums/f142...ams-31743.html

Congratulations on working with metal. I'll try a lot of things, but metal work is something I avoid. Wear gloves—metal cuts are nasty.

Gene

[jonplayers]

Congratulations on working with metal. I'll try a lot of things, but metal work is something I avoid. Wear gloves—metal cuts are nasty.

Gene[/QUOTE]

Thanks! Thanks for the link I will check it out!

I was a little nervous to start working with the metal. I have zero experience working with it.

I have found that it is a lot like wood.
Well at least a little bit.





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[jonplayers]

Cut the last bottom panel today!

This is a real milestone for me! I know I am not even half done putting the skins in, and the next run is probably gonna be harder to do.
At least it feels like I have made some progress!

The last panel was the most complicated one thus far.
Lots of wires and plugs and windows and a vent...sheesh!
I still have to finish drilling it and rivet it on.

The next order of business is the segmented end caps.
I had transferred the outside layout to the inside with marker, so I have something to go off.

I have already tweaked it a bit on the front, as I wanted to use up some cut offs.

I will have to draw it up and measure it out how I want it, and then go to the "tin basher's" shop to use his shear. I want nice cuts on the endcaps!
So far I have made out alright with what I have to work with.

When I want a straight cut for a seam I use a jig with the circular saw. I then palm sand the burrs. It does a decent job, but not perfect.

Plugs get cut out with a jig saw after the corners are drilled.

I have started using my air shear again. It works better than I remembered.
I think it may have been the operator and not the tool! A little oil on the blades helps too.

The worst panels to install were the front and rear ends.
I had to scribe the bottom on these ones to get entire bottom of the sheet to touch.

Anyways I got to start back at work tomorrow.

Ah well I got a good start on it!

[jonplayers]

I thought I would post a few pics of the progress!




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[jonplayers]

I had the day off, so I tackled the front end cap. I was able to use factory edge straight pieces for the first two segments. The next ones needed to be curved for the look I wanted.

I basically just eyeballed it and tweaked it until I was happy with it.
I used a good pair of hand shears to cut the curved pieces.

I made a template out of cardboard so that I could trace out the next ones. This one template worked pretty well for all the segments.

I kinda goofed with the 13th and last piece. I went with my reference marks rather then keeping the same reveal I had on the other segments.

Now the last two pieces on either side of the big center one look a bit bigger than the rest!

It is far from perfect!

Ah well!


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[PaulnGina]

Very nice!

[Evalu8r]

Awesome work Jon, I'll be attempting mine shortly.

[jonplayers]

Originally Posted by PaulnGina

Very nice!

Thanks!

[jonplayers]

Originally Posted by Evalu8r

Awesome work Jon, I'll be attempting mine shortly.

Thanks! I have been riveting the end cap panels together this morning. I will try and make a detailed post on this part of the project.