A '63 for me!

[jcferguson]

Thanks Uwe, that helps...

When you say:

The front is connected with the sheet that folds over the front frame plate, and the rear is connected by the sheet that eventually ended up forming the floor of the trunk inside the rear bumper

Does "connected" mean these compound curve pieces are later rivetted to the frame and center piece after they are cut or are they one piece of aluminum?

Thanks again,

Carlos

[uwe]

Originally Posted by jcferguson

Thanks Uwe, that helps...

Does "connected" mean these compound curve pieces are later rivetted to the frame and center piece after they are cut or are they one piece of aluminum?

Carlos

Yes.No.
The wrap pieces are 4 individual parts. Left one spanning from the wheel well to the compound curve at the left front. The curb side is simiral, but is interrupted where teh step cavity is.
Left and right rear are the same concept.
The front belly sheet and the rear belly sheet connect the wraps, so to speak.
There is a second front sheet tucked under the very front one, which reaches the front tank frame. Two sheets cover the rear from the rear tank frame aft section to the bumper compartment.
One sheet is over the axles, this one was a challenge to install after the axles were in place, but it was flexible enough to sort of snake it in place.
The tank support sheets look like belly skin, but are actually plywood with belly metal under them. I made a small lip at the aft end of the front belly skin where it meets the fresh tank system, to deflect water and muck downwards, away from the front of the tank. The whole thing went together quite well, would have been even easier with some extra hands, but is possible to do alone. I used a floor jack and a 6in wide by 5ft long plywood remnant to support the skin, then jiggled it in place and secured it with clekos. I ended up with some very minor waves, but overall I'm very pleased!

[uwe]

Yesterday ( Fri) Murray ( forum id Creampuff) came to visit and help with the hydraulic brake line routing. We also got the brake and running light circuit worked out, labeled and tested. Big step towards towability......
Ran flexible brake lines from each caliper to junction brackets, bolted to the frame, and then ran the solid lines to connect everything. All in all not a terribly difficult job, just time consuming and tedious. I need to buy a brake line wrench today, my 10mm metric one is not a perfect fit, ever so slightly too large and ends up slipping over the brake line's hex just before getting tight enough. Off to Sears, I guess.
Bleeding the brakes is next. And then mounting a junction box somewhere under the tongue to clean up the wiring in the front.

[jcferguson]

Uwe,

One last (I hope) belly question. I see the "strategic" slots in the belly wrap that you mention and show in your photographs - are these slots just past the last outriggers towards the front and rear?

I am putting together my belly wrap without the benefit of the old piece - I am trying to make a pattern first with some thick acetate material and only realized today (after trying for a few hours to make my acetate follow the compound curve) that these "strategic slots" exist.

Thanks,

Carlos Ferguson

[uwe]

Originally Posted by jcferguson

I see the "strategic" slots in the belly wrap that you mention and show in your photographs - are these slots just past the last outriggers towards the front and rear?
Carlos Ferguson

Carlos, the slots are indeed past the last outrigger, or the most forward one in the front. They are not, however, really close to the outriggers.
The slots determine where the belly wrap eventually curves up to form the slight "boat" shape of the front and rear of 50's and early60's trailers.

[uwe]

Took the afternoon off today to finish the brake system install. I decided to shield the metal brake lines that run from axle to axle inside the wheel well with some 1/2in conduit. This way a tire defect won't rip the brake line apart. Or so I hope....
Then came time to bleed the brakes, which is a very easy thing to do with electric/hydraulic brakes. Just apply power to the blue wire and the actuator starts pumping, quite rapidly,I might add. I could hear the brake pads slap on the rotors when the actuator first started running. It builds pressure really really fast, even before bleeding.
First step was the bleed the actuator, which has a bleeder valve on top. Then the farthest brake caliper first, making my way back to the closest one. Had to refill the reservoir twice, and flushed out the new lines and calipers with some extra fluid, two more times. Now there's no more air bubbles, just a steady stream of clean, new fluid. I decided to use Pentosin DOT4 brake fluid, which has a boiling point of 500F.
I also finished the umbilical cord wiring and all the wiring related to the functions at the trailer's tongue. Such as breakaway switch and power tongue lift. This could be towed now, I guess.
Also, my cork flooring finally arrived from www.diyflooring.com.
Next step is paint prep, then interior paint, then flooring, then furniture. Window/door gaskets, polishing and seam sealing is last. There's light at the end of this tunnel, finally.

[uwe]

The interior of this 1963 Overlander is now officially primed, and ready for it's final coat of paint. After much obsessing, my wife and I decided to go with a matte finish coating by Sherwin Williams in a color called "glass of milk", which does not look like a glass of milk. It is basically a warm white, reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix's Stratocaster Guitar.
Next weekend I will again sport my respirator and painting suit and spray the paint. I tried brushing vs. painting, but the spray painted finish is much nicer. Duh, shoulda known.
I've procured an Airless sprayer, and will rent a high end spray gun for the weekend to do the finish coats. I sprayed the primer with a conventional spray gun, which caused severe overspray in a 2 block radius around my building. I am still coughing up little white balls of primer, one week later.
I also ended up with a few small sags and runs, since I had no practice spray painting in over 10 years. But all in all it turned out very good and I am confident that I can apply a nice finish coat this weekend. I will take some photos and post them, hopefully with my next progress report.

[greg176]

Hey Uwe nice going. What Sherwin Williams paint did you go with ?

[uwe]

Originally Posted by greg176

Hey Uwe nice going. What Sherwin Williams paint did you go with ?

I went with their top of the line primer, and a paint called Duracoat.
It is water based, about $ 40.00 a gallon, and is supposed to have excellent wear and washability quality, even in their matte finish.
My first choice originally was Zolatone, but the added hassle and expense of getting the specialty spray equipment, plus my lack of experience with it made me shy away from it. I am not willing to spend $ 140.00 a gal for Zolatone as an experiment. One of their gallons covers about 100sq ft, so at least 3 gal would be needed to cover the trailer's interior. And then, to repair a nick or scratch, you start all over....
Anyways, I will be atting the paint today, and spray it tomorrow AM, when it's still cool out.

[genearnold]

What an interesting thread. Uwe, thanks for being so detailed and so willing to post pics.

Uwe, Carlos, and Ken J,
Are you guys in vocations that have equipped you to tackle the big restorations?

Gene

[uwe]

Originally Posted by genearnold

What an interesting thread. Uwe, thanks for being so detailed and so willing to post pics.

Uwe, Carlos, and Ken J,
Are you guys in vocations that have equipped you to tackle the big restorations?

Gene

Gene,

As many have mentioned, trailers aren't like brain surgery. I am mechanically inclined, but by no means an expert, in my opinion. The thing that was very challenging was really only the welding and frame reinforcements. Took a while to get the hang of welding a solid seam. I am fortunate in that I have excellent working space in my warehouse, and an assortment of tools that make things flow easily.
My background is in sound engineering and most things electric. The fabrication skills were easily learned. My tank layouts are pretty much as straight copy of what Airstream did in the 70's trailer's fresh water tanks.
The rest just sort of fell into place.
I guess the real art here is to provide a certain level of quality, without cutting corners and delivering a final product that deserves the Airstream name plate, and then some.

[Ken J]

Gene

I'm a CPA - I spend my day putting little numbers in square boxes

Uwe - you came to the same conclusion I did on zolotone - too expensive to mess up.... you also came to the same conclusion as I did on paint - I plan to use Sherwin Williams too.

Ken

[uwe]

Originally Posted by Ken J

Uwe - you came to the same conclusion I did on zolotone - too expensive to mess up.... you also came to the same conclusion as I did on paint - I plan to use Sherwin Williams too.

Ken

Well, I've reached my limits on the paint job. Messed it up royally. Had a nice airless sprayer, but a bad spray gun to go with it. Went and rented a gun only from a local outfit. Well, that one sprayed a fan and 2 fingers of solid paint. Now I will have to sand off an entire endcap and sidewall of runny, saggy, disgusting paint. But at least the Sherwin Williams paint gets hard enough to where it can be actually sanded with a power sander. I tried a little area. Once I have cleaned up my mess, I will call a professional to spray the interior for me. I've had it with painting...I am the world's lousiest painter, I guess.
Funny thing, though, I seem to do fine with Auto paint. Did a pretty decent job on a 59 Mercedes many moons ago. Still drive it daily, and the paint still looks like new.
So, Gene, see how the glory ends in a pot of paint?

[greg176]

I went to the local auto paint store this weekend and asked what he thought I should use.He is now a Sherwin Williams Dealer and recommends Jetflex.Thats the paint I mentioned to you on chat night a few weeks ago.This is the stuff we are going through like water at work right now (15 Gallons per aircraftand 4 Aircraft per month).If I use it I would have lots of advice from painters at work.Still a long way away (haven't put any interior in yet).I am polishing exterior right now and doing rivet repairs on weekend (reriveting windows and some seams we didn't hit on skin replacement.

[Ken J]

Uwe

Those airless sprayers can be tricky - at least that is what I found out when I built my house 5 years ago - the rent place blamed the paint and the paint place blamed the sprayer - bottom line is you have to thin the paint a fair amount for it to work. I'm going to roll the trailer (and the new house). I like the texture a roller gives you - to me its a bit/reminder of the zolotone.

Ken

[Ken J]

Greg

I have not heard three different recommendations of Sherwin Williams paint - the one that Uwe mentioned, a while back someone used aluminum siding paint that was recommended by Sherwin and now Jetflex

So I wondering - what is Jetflex?

Ken

[greg176]

Jetflex is a paint designed for aircraft interiors.It is available in a solvent and a water base.They are able to spray it with a smooth base then a kind of blurped on overcoat.Gives a nice textured effect.We are currently doing a new image interior for all of Delta Airlines Boeing 757s and 767s and using a lot of it.I was thinking I might just bring in my end caps and tape a work order to them.You think they will notice?

http://www2.sherwin-williams.com/aerospace/jflex.asp

[uwe]

Last week saw the finalization of the interior paint job. I cleaned up my previous mess with 60 and 12 grit sandpaper, then re-applied white water based Sherwin Williams paint to the walls. A few days later after sufficient drying time, my wife and I applied metallic silver accent paint with a pair of sea sponges. We like the effect it gave a lot. One has to sort of imagine the interior built out to get the full effect, bit it does look very classy already.
I proceeded to install my 10 recessed spotlights in the ceiling, and replaced all electrical covers with stainless steel ones.
Also, the taillights are back on the trailer, and the license plate light bracket got painted metallic silver.
The water heater door got a coat of metallic silver paint as well.
Ah, and my refinishing expert completed the restoration work on the curved bath tub.
My plan for tomorrow is to install the cork flooring, before bringing in appliances and furnishings.
My plan for next week is to install the remaining plumbing and then start building cabinetry and walls.
So far so good!
I will post pictures soon.

[greg176]

Uwe, Way to go ,You're way ahead of me.I'm stuck polishing.Need to get interior in and painted before it gets cold out.Hope to see photos soon.

[uwe]

Greg, I still have to do most of the polishing, so perhaps you're actually ahead of me?
I am trying to go full speed for a while, my favorite camping season is comin soon. I am shooting for an October completion date. Yeah right.
Once this old bucket of rivets can roll, I will take it out. Finished or not.