Tale of a '55 FC Whale Reno

[steinVT]

The Head Lockers look great. I have similar in my Safari, but with the perforated board for the doors. I like the finished wood look very much. I think I will spray the perforated doors when I paint, but also make all new solid doors finished with shellac and poly. Just another task added to the list.
Mark

[55AS]

Originally Posted by Bubba L

The front sconce lights were original, so we rewired painted the bases and converted them to DC.
Attachment 335090Attachment 335091Attachment 335092

The circular light was also original; we had it chromed and converted it to use a DC circular LED light we got from m4LED.com.
Attachment 335093

The PO had torn out the bath, so we never had a light fixture there. We believe there was a small sconce similar to the ones in front, but couldn't find one. Alternately, we did find a small porcelain 50's sconce that fit perfectly. We had to rewire and convert it to DC.
Attachment 335094

Here is where I put the small DC switch under the medicine cabinet to operate the original reading light over the bed.
Attachment 335095

We never had the kitchen light which was mounted under the headlockers. I've seen one in photos, but they are pretty vague. If anybody has a good, close photo of a mid 50's kitchen light, we'd appreciate seeing it. Better yet, if anybody has one laying around, let me know.

Here are the headlockers I just finished above the kitchen counter.
Attachment 335096

All is not rosy. I am still trying to figure out what to do about a shower pan. I also am having a hard time with the original kitchen sink faucet. The stems are so rusted that I cannot take them apart to rebuild. And tomorrow I start buttoning up the belly pan.

Hi Bubba,

Not the greatest photo, but this is the original light in my 55 FC.

[Bubba L]

Originally Posted by Jeremy9107

Bubba. Very clean and bright look in the front. The fixtures are a great accent.

Let me know what you come up with for the shower pan. I have built 2 so far from fiberglass, but don't like either one. I figure third time is a charm but am welcoming any ideas on how to build a fiberglass pan.

Jeremy, I think the shower pan is the largest problem yet to solve. But I’ll keep you posted on what we come up with. The other two issues we’ve yet to resolve is the bath sink (one small enough to fit) and rebuilding the original kitchen faucet. The faucet is an old Pfister but the stems are frozen and will not come apart to rebuild. Not surprising.

[lonewolf1977]

It's beautiful!!!

[55AS]

Originally Posted by Bubba L

Jeremy, I think the shower pan is the largest problem yet to solve. But I’ll keep you posted on what we come up with. The other two issues we’ve yet to resolve is the bath sink (one small enough to fit) and rebuilding the original kitchen faucet. The faucet is an old Pfister but the stems are frozen and will not come apart to rebuild. Not surprising.

I installed this corner sink from VTS

[Bubba L]

Originally Posted by BambiTex

I installed this corner sink from VTS

Thanks Chris. Our location is the straight curbside wall between the shower and toilet. A corner sink may not work there. That’s a perfect size. I may wind up lengthening the shower footprint and installing the corner sink in the shower. I looked for a vintage Pullman flip up sink, but none available.

[Bubba L]

Originally Posted by lonewolf1977

It's beautiful!!!

Thank you for the kind words. Now if we can just finish I would have time to enjoy it. Some day soon, I hope.

[55AS]

Originally Posted by Bubba L

Thanks Chris. Our location is the straight curbside wall between the shower and toilet. A corner sink may not work there. That’s a perfect size. I may wind up lengthening the shower footprint and installing the corner sink in the shower. I looked for a vintage Pullman flip up sink, but none available.

That would be sweet!
VTS makes the same sink in a straight wall mount:
https://www.vintagetrailersupply.com...-p/vts-072.htm

[hajash]

Bubba, everything looks fantastic as I knew it would. Can’t wait to see it in person.

[Bubba L]

Originally Posted by hajash

Bubba, everything looks fantastic as I knew it would. Can’t wait to see it in person.

Thanks Andy. I only get half the credit, Stephanie gets the other half. Things are going well. Nothing left but to finish. Hopefully the next time we see y’all it’ll be complete.

[Bubba L]

When we polished the '66 trailer, we used Nuvite. Thanks to many Forums recommendations, we have since found the Caswell bars to be easier and more effective. That being said, we had some water spots appear on the skin that would not come out no matter what we used.

Caswell customer support suggested acid. Normally I would never consider acid, but after polishing a whole day without luck, we decided to try it. I got some Aluminum Brightener from the auto supply store. Instead of spraying it on, we sprayed a rag and wiped it on in order to control where it went and how much. After letting it sit for 20 seconds, we wiped it off with a rag soaked in baking soda and water to remove and neutralize the acid. The acid dulls the finish quite a bit, but it could easily be brought back with the Caswell brown/white bars.
Everybody has to establish their own polishing technique, but here are some things we found helpful:

• We were told by Caswell customer support to never clean with mineral spirits; it's too oily. Use lacquer thinner instead.
• Caswell CS also told us not to clean with thinner so often. After a pass, wipe off excess polish with a clean, dry rag. We only clean with lacquer thinner before and after the white bar polish.
• We have more luck with the Caswell sewn pads; we didn't have much luck with the vented wheels and the sisal wheel scratched too much.
• To prevent the white (rain?) spots from returning, we are applying the NuFinish no wax car polish at the end. It's easy and seems to keep the spots off.
• In tight spots where we cannot get the polishing wheel, we use Diamond Brite Truck Box Polish.

Note the 1955 vintage TX trailer license plate I got from Santa a couple of years ago. It was an easy process to register at the courthouse and is finally in use.

Now that the back is polished, I will start adding a bumper trunk.

[islandtrader]

What I find interesting is the little differences between years and models of the same vintage.

Your Airstream blue plate on the back is below the license plate. On mine the Logo plate is below the escape window

[Bubba L]

Originally Posted by islandtrader

What I find interesting is the little differences between years and models of the same vintage.

Your Airstream blue plate on the back is below the license plate. On mine the Logo plate is below the escape window

Maybe it was an Ohio versus California thing. Looking through pictures trying to rebuild our 55 close to original was a challenge. They were all basically the same, but as you said, with oddities. Maybe they got to work that morning looking forward to the $.75 per hour and said, let’s put the logo here today.

[Jeremy9107]

Going to save this thread to refer to when it comes time to cleaning up my skins. Great advice.

[goshawks00]

Hi guys been a while since I have posted. I have done a complete rebuild of our 54 Globetrotter along with building a 49 Trotwood. I am looking forward to getting back to silver spoon this spring after a winter of work and camping in Fla. Having polished a few airstreams I would like to have you consider using acetone for any and all clean up between polish sections. Take a hard look at what lacquer thinner is made out of. Just my .02
Barry

[Bubba L]

Originally Posted by goshawks00

Hi guys been a while since I have posted. I have done a complete rebuild of our 54 Globetrotter along with building a 49 Trotwood. I am looking forward to getting back to silver spoon this spring after a winter of work and camping in Fla. Having polished a few airstreams I would like to have you consider using acetone for any and all clean up between polish sections. Take a hard look at what lacquer thinner is made out of. Just my .02
Barry

Barry, please enlighten me. I thought acetone was the key component in lacquer thinner and a lot more evaporative by itself. Is lacquer thinner more toxic? Thanks for the heads up.

[goshawks00]

Acetone does not contain anything that prevents rapid evaporation. Lacquer thinner has waxes that slow down evaporation to allow it more active cleaning for breaking down lacquer, at the expense of leaving a wax film. There is another chemical which I can’t remember right now that is highly toxic. Educate yourself , find out the chemicals you are handling

[goshawks00]

Should have read there is another active ingredient in Lacquer thinner that is highly toxic but can’t remember it’s name right now

[rmkrum]

Methyl Ethel Keytone (sp). Also known as MEK. Really nasty stuff, flammable as hell and very toxic. Not something you even want to be around the vapors from it.

[goshawks00]

Third ingredient is methanol- it will kill you- even vapors are highly toxic.