Shine Chummy Shine, Exterior Done!

[Chaplain Kent]

We have finished the exterior of our Chummy today and as soon as my wife is through with the cleaning the interior will be 99% complete. All I have left inside is to complete the dinette table but I lack inspiration as to what I want to build. I will post pictures when the interior is cleaned
The exterior had two decal scars on each front panel along with 23 years of wear and tear on the body and trim. There was one dent worth mentioning which I massaged and then drilled a small hole and filled the area with expanding insulating foam. Next I filled the hole with a rivet. I give the results a strong 6 out of 10. Chummy was built around mid 1982 right at the time AS was switching metals from that which would shine to that which would not. Is it possible to have had both on one MH? I was not going to find out; therefore, I did not strip off all of the clear coat only on the front panels where the decal scars were. Next I used a fine rubbing compound and three passes over the entire body to get it good and clean. This took out most scratches and evened most rough areas. On some panels if I buffed too hard with my 8" buffer it would leave a shiney spot so I had to be careful. Other panels would not shine regardless. Next I used Blue Magic metal polish and a 10" buffer with terry cloth pads, this brought out a real nice shine. The final coat was a synthetic called Nu Magic and a hand rub, this will prevent water spotting.
The next problem was the gray trim area below the aluminum metal. Some of this is plastic, some metal. Some was cracked, some rusted and pitted. I stripped all of it clean of paint, sanded it smooth and filled the holes and tried to fix the cracks. I found they look better cracked than with my patch method so I left them cracked. I removed the chrome locks and polished all of them, along with anything else chrome. Then I painted the bottom gray along with the wheel rims to match. I also painted the plastic trim around the bumpers. The black plastic trim on the bottom was missing so instead of replacing it I painted it black.
I am very happy with the results for this 1982 vehicle. I will be detailing the hinges, rusted screws, etc. but for the most part am finshed with my Chummy for now.

[balrgn]

Your doin GREAT!

[ALANSD]

Looks like a nice shine job. I find once its done you need only occasional maintenance to keep it up. I also repainted my grey last summer but only around the bumpers where its plastic. I stripped the grey off the lower aluminum areas and shined it up some, although its due for some more shortly.

[jrkeef]

Looks Great! I am really interested in your use of expanding foam insulation to fix a dent. My son is in the early stages of retrofitting a 55 Flying Cloud I bought several years ago. We had planned to use fabricated stone guards to hide some dents on the front. Maybe we can expand them out with foam. Thanks for the tip.