Shoot me, but I have to ask...

[rowdyATX]

Has anyone considered painting their airstream?

I went to the Austin airport today in hopes to find a company to help with finding rivets, sheet metal, etc.

In addition to meeting several helpful people who steered me in the right direction for supplies, as I walked through Nevitt Aircraft's hangar to leave, I was stricken by the beautiful, well serviced planes. My thought...because the paint is polyurethane coated, why not paint part of the shell, maybe the top, with a similar paint?

Just a thought...obviously it will take away from the aluminum polished finish, but it could be a nice touch...
Thoughts??

[SeeMore]

The late model trailers come with paint on top

[vswingfield]

Bang!

If you look up at the top, there is a "Search" function.

A search for "Paint Airstream" returned over 9,000 results.

(Some of which are actually what you want)

[AIR-Quarius]

Rowdy, you might get boo'd and hissed at! ha- but if it's your trailer, then do what you want to it, I figure the worst thing that would happen is that the alteration would affect the value during a resale. As far as coatings- it would be very hard to match the shine of true aluminum. You ought to get up there and clean and polish it. Those older model have the very best alclad coating of the metal Aluminum...a very thick coating - unlike what the newer models have. Yours would be awesome to polish. Now I am going to sneak out of here before the hissing starts...Bill

[rowdyATX]

Originally Posted by AIR-Quarius

Rowdy, you might get boo'd and hissed at! ha- but if it's your trailer, then do what you want to it, I figure the worst thing that would happen is that the alteration would affect the value during a resale. As far as coatings- it would be very hard to match the shine of true aluminum. You ought to get up there and clean and polish it. Those older model have the very best alclad coating of the metal Aluminum...a very thick coating - unlike what the newer models have. Yours would be awesome to polish. Now I am going to sneak out of here before the hissing starts...Bill

I appreciate your comment, Bill. And thanks for the info. I wasn't aware of the alclad coating, so thanks!
It was just a thought while walking through the hangar...

[Bob Thompson]

My project: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f474...5-a-10522.html

[rowdyATX]

Originally Posted by Bob Thompson

My project: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f474...5-a-10522.html

Thanks for sharing Bob.
That is very helpful and Andy's comments support what the guys at the hangar told me, be sure to prep it correctly, etc.

And since I have somehow wound up with 2 airstreams, I might polish the '59, 22' Cloud since the shell is in excellent condition and paint the 28' Ambassador. However, I might get a little crazy and paint it white. Not sure yet.

[hissilver]

Have you seen the AS with the shrink warp coating depicting various commercial interests?

[dwightdi]

We had one guy in out unit paint his 1993 34 footer silver with automotive paint. From a distance, it looks about the same as other non-polished Airstreams. If you are in the high sun area of the country, it does hold up better than the clearcoat.

[Skater]

Here's one that's painted blue.

[Lily&Me]

I have to say, that is really, really stunning!


Maggie

[andreasduess]

That looks amazing.

The clearcoat on our 1984 International is beginning to look a little tired. I never considered painting an option, but hmmm. The examples I've seen look great and an added bonus appears to be better leak proofing.

[polarlyse]

Most of what we see as aluminum alloy wheels on cars & trucks are painted and clear coated. I bought a set of wheels a few years ago for our former AS and they had a lot of the filiform corrosion. Cleaned up and sanded then painted they came out looking great. I suppose there's no reason you couldn't do that and still have it look original. But then again the blue one above is a real head turner isn't it.

[DKB_SATX]

Originally Posted by Skater

Here's one that's painted blue.

Except that's an Argosy that someone has put Airstream lettering on.

Note the one-piece endcap and the deep-wrap panoramic windows.

Very pretty though.

[Antique Pedaler]

Originally Posted by DKB_SATX

Except that's an Argosy that someone has put Airstream lettering on.

Note the one-piece endcap and the deep-wrap panoramic windows.

Very pretty though.

Looks like the old "Airstream Life" magazine project trailer.

[pmclemore]

If I had the scratch, I'd do it in a heartbeat. My 98 Limited has the clearcoat rot all over the upper part of the rig. My PO tried several times to have it repaired - with no sucess - so I have not bothered. Also, I saw a painted rig just like mine at the Balloon Fiesta several years ago and it looked great.

Pat

[dwightdi]

P&S does a nice job of stripping and restoring the clearcoat, if you live convenient to take it to Ohio. Chemically speaking: it is much more difficult to formulate a clearcoat that will have the exterior durability and uv resistance of an opaque paint. Automotive or Marine paints have had the most development and testing to develop the best paints.