Is this clearcoat or did some paint?

[talnrd]

Started to strip my '76 LY. I thought that it was just the clear coat, but now I'm thinking maybe someone painted it. There seems to be 2 layers before you get to the bare AL.....a dark gray, and then this green layer.

Anyone ever seen anything like this? Could this be paint and primer?

I'm having a hard time getting down to the bare AL. I've used ElDoraldo, Jasco, and Aircraft Striper.

Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated!

[dbj216]

Hello and welcome to Airstream Forums. It's a good website on all things Airstream.

I have stripped two trailers with Aircraft Stripper, a 86 and a 66. The "junk" on your trailer is nothing like I've ever seen before. It rather looks like someone was going to strip it (without removing the Airstream letters) and then left the stripper on for a long time. Aircraft Stripper is removed after about 15 minutes on the surface. Or maybe someone tried some acid etch solution that "brightens" aluminum wheels or some other chemical. It it were automotive paint, it would come off with Aircraft Stripper. By the way, I "stained" my 86 trailer with Removal stripper by leaving it on overnight. I had a lot of work to do to polish these stains out. I don't use Removal anymore. But it was me, not the product. I left it on too long.

In severely corroded aluminum, I recommend Nuvite G or the other "coarse grit" compound (can't remember the letter grade) with your wool bonnet and polisher at about 2000 rpm. It will create lots of swirl marks, but you can work those out by progressing to finer grades of polish. You might experiment and see if you can cut this crud off. Your polish job is going to be harder than average.

Nuvite polish grit will "stick" in clear coat and turn it black. The black can't be wiped off with mineral spirits. So out comes the Aircraft Stripper.

There is a ton of information on these forums on stripping and polishing vintage Airstreams. Some very crummy looking trailers can be improved significantly. Nuvite is the best product and process in my view. You can't hurt the aluminum with Nuvite polishes.

Good luck with your project. Here is a photo of me stripping a section of my old 66 Trade Wind. You can see the Aircraft Stripper working on the clear coat, and you don't see much of anything on the bare aluminum.

David

[talnrd]

Thanks for the reply. It's not from acid or stripper. It was gray all over, these pictures are of me stripping through the process.

The green looks like it actually has brush marks in it. So, that's why I'm leaning on someone actually painting the trailer.

As the green comes off, you can see the bare AL shinning underneath. I'm just trying to figure out what the top two layers could be.

[cwf]

Really no telling... choose a spot.. attack there.. you will know how to address the process

[Boog]

The green looks like it could be zinc chromate primer.

[ggimlick]

Zinc chromate primer is my guess, it was used all the time on aluminum aircraft. I'd try googling how to remove that and see what you come up with. Great primer unless you need to remove it.

[bibbs]

I know this will make all polishers chringe. But my trailer was so badly pitted and stripper did not seem to remove any remaining clear coat, that I sanded it with 320! Then 600, then I could start using polish, looks ok now. Never going to be a mirror.

[mimiandrews]

I'll agree that it looks like zinc chromate primer. But, chromate should come off with Aircraft Stripper, no problem, and yours doesn't. Soak a rag with strong solvent, MEK would be my choice, and rub it hard. Chromate will come off fairly easily with that.

There are some epoxy-based aircraft primers (Google Stits brand) that come in that same ugly green. They can be stripped, but are much more resistant to strippers. Other than using repeat applications of Aircraft Stripper until the stuff softens, I don't know. Maybe the people at Stits can be of help.

Good luck. And welcome to the forums.

[talnrd]

Thanks for all the help!

So, came up with a strategy involving Aircraft Stripper and a non-abrasive pad. After applying the stripper, I was able to use the non-abrasive pad to "gum" up the mystery green layer. It actually came off fairly easy that way. Almost like an eraser. It gets me down to bare metal at least.

My question would be, was this a factory option? Being that it's around the Airstream lettering, and around the belly bands, it's almost too clean to have been down by a PO. I just wouldn't think that this would come out of the factory that way.

Anyway, appreciate all the feedback. Maybe this will help someone else.

[mimiandrews]

Never heard of a factory painted Airstream, only Argosies were painted. My guess is that one of you PO's was an aircraft painter by trade.

[dbj216]

Your "non abrasive pad" is a good idea. They are often used to remove vinyl pinstriping and the like. I purchased a 3M wheel. I tried it on my trailer's faded, sun cracked vinyl to no avail. Aircraft Stripper bubbled up the vinyl easily and I just scraped it off with a plastic scraper.

I'm glad the guys got you an answer and you developed a process to get the green stuff off of your trailer.

David