Rescued a paintball covered Avion Travelcader...

[upstateart]

We can never resist a challenge ! Memorial Day weekend we added to the Airstream 'pack'. The newest is a 1968 Avion Travelcade. The poor soul had become a target for paintball hoods ! OR possibly, a flock of Seagulls had overeaten mint chocolate chip ice cream with bad GI results. The exterior had stickey blobs of residual paint. The rear bath had broken windows and the bright florecent blobs were also here and there in the interior. Lots of elbow grease and plastic razor blades later, the majority of the baked on paint is off... Someone had also used a power washer ( at least that looks like the root of the stripes in the finish).

This is one well built trailer. The rubber spring axel system was amazing. Used to the rough ride throwing EVERYTHING not stowed away around in our various Airstreams... There was a resin Bear statue on the kitchen counter, we left it there being of no value.... after at least 70 miles several killer railroad tracks and multiple corners, I was amazed to find the light weight Bear right where it started the trip. Quite a smooth ride!!

If anyone has any suggestions how to remove the remainder of the paintball residue, it would be appreciated !

Will add photos as we dive into the interior ! Photos are before and after the scrubbing.... Also, the little bear who survived..... Maybe because it's an Angel Bear ?????

[VIKING]

The paint used in those is pretty tame stuff as far as what it is made out of. You should be able to remove it with mineral spirits, lacquer thinner, or citrus based paint remover. I recommend them in that order, as the mineral spirits is safest to use on the aluminum, and the paint remover should only be used very briefly if it comes to that. If the whole thing has remnants of clear coat on it you should just go right to the paint remover and get all of the clear off of it.
It will require polishing to really make it look right again but it appears to have only one small dinged corner, so it should clean up & shine really well.

Good luck with it,

Rich the Viking

[Silverwanabe]

Why would anyone want to paint ball a classic RV?
Or anyone for that matter.

Careful with strippers. Bon-Ami is one way to clean them with out scratching or damaging the skin. That year uses anodized aluminum which will not polish like the Airstreams.
Anodized Avions have a matte finish, not shiny like AS's.

Good Luck.

[Kevin245]

Congrats of the Avion.

I hope you're able to bring some life back to this one and enjoy some camping adventures soon. The Mor/Ryde suspension system works quite well. You may need to check the condition of the rubber springs as they tend to stretch with age causing the rig to sit lower.

Beginning in 61 or 61 (can't remember the exact year) the Cayo Brothers switched to an anodized aluminum skin. Unless someone has altered the finish you should be able to strip the paint off as Viking indicates but unless you are prepared to strip the hard coat you won't be able to develop any kind of shine to the skin.

Congrats again,

Kevin

[bobfowler]

That's going to be a sweet trailer when it's all fixed up. Too bad about the paint-ball massacre, but look on the bright side, at least the yahoos didn't use shotguns...

[upstateart]

I guess I forgot to mention it looks like 2 shot gun slug holes by the entrance door.. didn't go thru the foam insulation, sturdy stuff.

It's nice to have foam board insulation under the flooring, nothing worse than the pink fluffy stuff getting water logged and rotting out the frame . Had a soft spot in the front curb side, unlike the Airstream, the floor is not a support.... The side walls are directly connected to the frame, floor just fits in a groove. Did I mention that the front bottom trim is held on by the lightest weight screws, could they be aluminum ???? We thought we may need to drop the belly pan to do floor repair, but the way the belly pan connects to the side walls is not something to try and disconnect.... Frame was fine no rust.... Leaking water tank most likely the cause of floor damage... Avions even have wood above the frame to connect the flooring to. ( Now I still love my 2005 Airstream 'Project' , just impressed by Avion's construction....)

Bad news is some plump black ants have taken up housekeeping.

MAYBE, the paintball attack was in order to scare the ants out ???

[bobfowler]

Originally Posted by upstateart

I guess I forgot to mention it looks like 2 shot gun slug holes by the entrance door.. didn't go thru the foam insulation, sturdy stuff.
<snip>

Bad news is some plump black ants have taken up housekeeping.

MAYBE, the paintball attack was in order to scare the ants out ???

Bummer about the shotgun blasts...

The ants should be the least of your problems. When I was in college, we had huge, and I mean HUGE, cockroaches in the dorm. We used to sit in the dark with pellet pistols, quietly waiting, then turn on the lights and shoot them as they were scurrying for cover! A practice not recommended for the ants in your Avion...