Visit our Popular Forums

2vets · 01-13-2013, 03:10 PM

Hey everyone-check out what Reinergirl/sister did with my plates....

This is Reinergirl doing a guest blog on my sisters site.... yes, I have permission!

So my sister asked me a while back if I'd be willing to redo their SS# plates. "Sure" I said, thinking I'm an old pro at this having done mine, not once but twice (story here and here!)

Somehow I managed to forget that she has a 1960 Airstream that had vastly different plates than mine. Back in the day there were more curves in everything... women, cars and evidently fonts too!
Here's what the 1960 plate looked like:

Barely a straight line in the whole thing!

This is what mine looked like in 1963:

In three years Airstream went from the equivalent of a Marilyn Monroe to a Twiggy!!!

I actually like the flying Airstream logo, very cool. Look at the detail though, there was no way I was going to be able to use my original method of green tape and a razor blade!!

I started by stripping the plates and polished them up exactly how I did mine. I used green frog tape to mask off the edges

Here's where the tedium starts. I coated each letter with Vaseline, using very small brushes like these. The one on the right I could get down to a very fine point, basically a couple of hairs. This was a great time to listen to The VAP, not such a great time to have that third cup of coffee, steady hands are a must!

At one point my daughter's Border Collie who is friendly..... seriously friendly without mercy

..decided to ambush me, and I had to start all over. Fortunately for him, he's too cute to be mad at for long! He's particularly cute when sleeping ( I think he needs a bigger bed, that one is my dachshund's!)

I then sprayed both plates with Duplicolor adhesion promoter and a couple of coats of Duplicolor Ford Blue.

Then what? Well, with this highly specialized tool I scraped off the top of each letter.

Yup, a toothpick. Each letter, one by ever luvin' one. Tedious, as tedious as planting crops in Farmville. Those were dark days, thank goodness I snapped myself out of that addiction!

But I was lucky I had my friends at The VAP to keep me happy. A couple of episodes and Voila!

I need to wait 7 days for them to cure, then I'll clean the remaining Vaseline off and clearcoat.

There ya go sis! Now I'm off to update my own blog!

Midnightmoon · 01-13-2013, 03:24 PM

Very, very nice work.

Colin H · 01-13-2013, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2vets

Hey everyone-check out what Reinergirl/sister did with my plates....

This is Reinergirl doing a guest blog on my sisters site.... yes, I have permission!

So my sister asked me a while back if I'd be willing to redo their SS# plates. "Sure" I said, thinking I'm an old pro at this having done mine, not once but twice (story here and here!)

Perhaps you'd like to do the round "International" plates from my 59 Ambassador

Colin

reinergirl · 01-13-2013, 03:29 PM

Ah sis,

Don't think the "cut and paste" worked very well

. You have to hit preview cause the formatting is different on your blog lol

Glad you liked them tho...

reinergirl · 01-13-2013, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colin H

Perhaps you'd like to do the round "International" plates from my 59 Ambassador

Colin

I suppose those are even harder?

I'm always up for a challenge!

Colin H · 01-13-2013, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reinergirl

I suppose those are even harder?

I'm always up for a challenge!

Harder, of course, plus they are multi colored.
Colin

Someday'59 · 01-13-2013, 05:49 PM

Oh my stars! I missed the part about you being a guest blogger, Shelly. I thought "I know they're twins but how crazy that they both have a dachshund and daughter with a border collie!" Hahaha!

Great job on the badges!!!

P.S. That pup sure is cute!

Ariz-Pacer · 01-13-2013, 06:43 PM

I showed this to my wife and she said, "I thought you were the only one crazy enough to do this"

I have to admit you are very good at it and apparently have a great deal of patience. I did mine rather roughly but you have given me inspiration to attempt them again and how to do them properly. However mine are still on the Airstream and will have to be done in place.

before.....

Not buffed out yet....

I did do the rear banner and here's what the front looked like before and after...
The only problem was I forgot to do the center of the first A. (Since fixed)

Thanks for the inspiration and the method of accomplishing this......

AZP

reinergirl · 01-13-2013, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Someday'59

Oh my stars! I missed the part about you being a guest blogger, Shelly. I thought "I know they're twins but how crazy that they both have a dachshund and daughter with a border collie!" Hahaha!

Great job on the badges!!!

P.S. That pup sure is cute!

Hi Lynetta!

You wouldn't recognize Finn, he's gotten so big since you were here! My sister is doing something far worse, this Saturday she's picking up a new Jack Russell who's going to make Finn look calm!

Happy New Year to you and the family!

reinergirl · 01-13-2013, 08:18 PM

Ariz-Pacer

Thanks! I think your plates came out fine! I can't imagine doing them on the trailer! My interior skins are off so I even took the long Aistream ones off (the one that is buck riveted to each end).

The ones by the doors are just pop riveted so you could take those off easily, trust me its worth it to do it on a flat surface. Post your results!

I was glad I took mine off, there was tons of sealant , dirt and pine needles behind them.... no wonder they leaked!

Wish I had a Pacer......

Someday'59 · 01-14-2013, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reinergirl

Hi Lynetta!

You wouldn't recognize Finn, he's gotten so big since you were here! My sister is doing something far worse, this Saturday she's picking up a new Jack Russell who's going to make Finn look calm!

Oh my! They ARE a little... what's the right word? High strung! I guess she knows what she's getting into though.

reinergirl · 02-09-2013, 07:47 PM

Just an update, the duplicolor spray paint I used says to wait 7 days before clear coating, well I waited about 2 weeks and yet the Tradewind emblem still hadn't cured. All the painted lifted up and bubbled!

Had to do it again, sigh, but I'm getting pretty good at it!

Anyway, learn from my mistake and wait longer. At least the Airstream plate was okay!

2vets · 05-05-2013, 03:45 PM

Finally got the plates on the trailer today! Below are before and after shots! Also, we put our screen guard on our door. We got it in August of last year for our anniversary since we are both Ohio State Buckeyes. We could not resist the Buckeye leaf on David Winick's screen guard. Makes our lowly Tradewind look very fancy!

SteveSueMac · 05-05-2013, 07:42 PM

Wow!!! :-)

Those look fantastic! I really love the flowing Airstream logo....you do beautiful work!!

911Patriot · 09-06-2013, 11:33 PM

You did a fantastic job on your badges! Thank you for sharing your artistic talent. You were blessed with the virtue of patience. :-)

911Patriot · 09-06-2013, 11:37 PM

Once my nameplates were removed I spray painted them entirely with a blue automotive paint that was to match the new stripe decal they would be placed upon.
After they were dry I used an electric sander over the tops of the letters which removed the paint on the raised parts of the letters. My third step was to clear coat them and voila!