Starting mostly gutted-Flying Cloud

[rumrunner]

Thanks all for the interest. as you can easily tell this is a complete gut job. Isnt that an awesome shade of green? there was also an equally amazing shade of pink under some of the light fixtures. cant imagine what they were thinking. the good news is that the paint is all gone-a month of cold evenings and 2 gallons of citristrip and the interior is a clean slate. this stripper works slower in cold temps but is really easy on the skin. paint it on tonight and scrape tomorrow, still a lot of work!
None of the woodwork was salvageable but i saved every piece of hardware i could find. This is a completely blank slate at this time so I expect to steal everyone elses great ideas as i go along.
My big holdup now is that somebody dropped a 25 ton beam on my welder, and yes i mean the guy-not the machine. amazingly he is almost back to normal after 4 months of hospital and rehab time. i promised him the frame would wait till he is ready and he is really looking forward to it.
Meanwhile i am placing orders with VTS for window and door seals, ordering clecos, searching for parts and reordering my wheel wells- they missed the fact that the wall was curved! So I am keeping busy enough not to feel like I am getting behind.
More pictures!

[InsideOut]

WOW! Looks like you've made great progress so far! It IS a clean slate now that all the bits are gone and you can actually see what you have to work with. This look reminiscent of our '56 Safari project...I'll enjoy following this thread to watch the progress and relive our resto!

Good luck!

Shari

[pbearsailor]

Brings back some memories for me too.

Looks like you've got a really good shell to work with. Some nice work going on there.

cheers,
steve

[rumrunner]

thanks again for everyones support, I'm not sure I would have attempted this without the forums. Kaneable991- thanks for your very generous offer, I will pm about details. Shari and steve, I have followed your resto threads religiously, you are my heros!!!
This old Girl was a complete wreck inside but all original except for the plumbing mods, apparently for prolonged parking- the PO torched a 3 inch hole through my 4 inch tall frame for the toilet drain! Guess were gonna hafta fix that. Move and replace a couple of frame crossmembers for adding gray and black tanks and probably replace 2 or 3 outriggers that are damaged. Not a huge amount of rust though, got lucky on that one.
The shell is in pretty good condition overall, 1 dent in the rear next to the whaletail but I think I can iron that out ok.

I do have one small question that could become a huge project- the frame on this unit is of mild steel folded into a 2x4 tube and left open on the bottom, the seam was not welded closed. It seems to me that the frame strength would benefit immensely from running a bead and closing this.
Anybody done this or given it some thought?
Going shell off and flipping the frame to run 40 feet of bead would add some time to this project for sure but if it is really worth it I am certainly up for the challenge.

Believe me, I do appreciate all the input and help I can get
Tim

[webspinner]

I am not a welder, but it seems to me that beam strength is a function of the height of the beam not the solidity of the underside. Also, that gap in the bottom would prevent standing water and keep rust at bay.

[utee94]

It might make sense to box the frame in around where you'll be adding your black and gray tanks, but other than that I'd say it's gone 50+ years and from your pics, the frame still looks to be in very good condition, so is there a real reason to address it? Wally would say, "Make no changes, only improvements" or somesuch.

Anyway, love the whale tail.

Good luck!
-Marcus

[55-ArtStream]

Just found this thread. I’m looking forward to your progress. Looks like you’re moving right along with it, keep up the good work. We’re only about 3 hours south of you. I might try to stop in for a firsthand look this summer sometime. We’ll be diving into a complete redo of our ’55 Overlander in about a month.

I agree with Marcus on the frame welding. Do some reinforcing as needed regarding what you might be adding to it, tanks etc. I’ve been using my trailer for 34 years now and nothing has been changed from the way it came from the Airstream factory… YET! We just completed an 11,000 mile trip to Alaska and back last November and didn’t have any problems, but it’s now time to bring her up to today’s standards and pay her back for a great lifetime of travel.

[beckybillrae]

Wow, all the green is GONE! That was a ton of work! It looks fantastic so far. Keep up the good work!

[FC7039]

When/if you take the ceiling down, take the time to add ribs/bracing around the center vent for an AC, even you you have no plans for the AC. I wish I had.

[rumrunner]

Thanks for the reminder about the AC. I dont really have plans to add one at this point but I already have some sagging of the inner skin around the center vent that needs to be addressed and I will plan for both when I get the ceiling down for inspection. I do plan fore and aft fantastic fans, should I maybe consider some reinforcement for these also?
I suppose I should plan power runs for AC also?

[FC7039]

Originally Posted by rumrunner

Thanks for the reminder about the AC. I dont really have plans to add one at this point but I already have some sagging of the inner skin around the center vent that needs to be addressed and I will plan for both when I get the ceiling down for inspection. I do plan fore and aft fantastic fans, should I maybe consider some reinforcement for these also?
I suppose I should plan power runs for AC also?

I just put in a Fantastic fan this weekend. No need for reinforcements.

[Flysoncloud]

Memories...............I have fantastic fan front and back also and they work great in cool weather. I found they did not do well in our mid summers here in the mid west. When I had my skins out I took the time to run power wires for a a/c and vent fan for the center hole. I also added some beams to hold a a/c just in case. It did not take me long to put a low profile a/c on the roof.

The amout of rivits you are about to use is crazy!