refinishing emblems

[pinkflamingoes]

Hey everybody,

Well I'm out scraping out old caulking on the '67 and I realized I put the opened tube in the freezer! So while it's defrosting, I took off my emblems by the front door. Here they are. I got questions, you got answers.

For the record, they come out only from the back.

Here we go:

How do you clean them?
What were the original colors?
What are these made of? Aluminum?

Does anyone have good pictures of their emblem rehabs? I searched and couldn't find much on this.

[FreshAir]

Originally Posted by pinkflamingoes

Hey everybody,

Well I'm out scraping out old caulking on the '67 and I realized I put the opened tube in the freezer! So while it's defrosting, I took off my emblems by the front door. Here they are. I got questions, you got answers.

For the record, they come out only from the back.

Here we go:

How do you clean them?
What were the original colors?
What are these made of? Aluminum?

Does anyone have good pictures of their emblem rehabs? I searched and couldn't find much on this.

I want to do the same thing so I will wait with you for suggestions from out there, If I get mine cleaned up I'll show you how it was accomplished at Casini.

Neil and Lynn.

[Lumatic]

I used a combination of techniques on mine. I used hardware store sparay paint with good results. 1. masking tape and an exacto knife 2. painting an area with rubber cement to mask for pinting. There is also a product in art strores called liquid frisket designed for the same purpose that works a little easier. 3. for recessed areas spray the whole dang thang and then take some solvent and a rag and wipe the paint off the surface before it dries, leaving the paint in the recesses.

[ckeysor]

I was thinking about painting the entire emblem and then just sanding over the top to remove the paint from the top sections. I figuree the factory did something similar to that to save time.

[Boondocker]

This may be helpful VintageAirstream - The Nameplate

[flyfshr]

Its not an emblem but this method may work none the less. First, I polished it with the buffing wheel on the bench grinder. I bought new glass bottles of model car paint, shook them really good and put them in my pants pocket. This paint works better warm, that was the only reason for putting in my pocket. I suppose sunlight would work the same way. Once warm, I shook the bottle again and them applied with a small hobby brush, getting every nook abd cranny and not trying to be exact with the brush. Once the paint had dried to be slightly tacky, I used a wooden toothpick to scrape off the excess. I'm very happy with the results. This picture is slightly larger than actual size I may put a light coat of clear laquer from a spray to keep it from peeling off.

Brad
FF

[Aria]

Thanks for the information. Very useful.

[BIGED52]

Originally Posted by Gen Disarray

This may be helpful VintageAirstream - The Nameplate

Rodney, Does your TW have this type of nameplate? My '67 has individual letters front and rear. Ed

[Sugarfoot]

Originally Posted by flyfshr

Its not an emblem but this method may work none the less. First, I polished it with the buffing wheel on the bench grinder. . . . This picture is slightly larger than actual size I may put a light coat of clear laquer from a spray to keep it from peeling off.

Brad
FF

Brad, you did a great job with that, original colors and all. Have you attempted the Wally Byam ships wheel or the "Tradewind" emblems to the right of the door yet?

[flyfshr]

Hi Dacia ~

No, I don't have either one on my TradeWind. In fact, it doesn't say TradeWind on it anywhere. Only the Ohio plant put these on. I'm going to attempt to repaint the ID emblem by the door. I'll let you know how it goes.

Brad
FF

[Sugarfoot]

Oh yes Brad, I forgot. Yours is a California model and a lovely one it is. If I decide to get brave with mine, I'll share the info as well. I've been thinking about using liquid frisket or artist masking fluid like Marshall talks about.

[Boondocker]

Originally Posted by BIGED52

Rodney, Does your TW have this type of nameplate? My '67 has individual letters front and rear. Ed

That is pretty much what my front plate looks like, you can see mine here http://www.airforums.com/forum...56-post80.html

[InsideOut]

Originally Posted by BIGED52

Rodney, Does your TW have this type of nameplate? My '67 has individual letters front and rear. Ed

Ed - I believe in '67 the individual letters were on the International models and the older style placque was on the Land Yacht models.

Shari

[Motoman]

A little off subject but "Hey, I had one like that!". Brad will understand. California DMV was looking for a safety sticker or id plate. I didn't know if this plate was it but they finally decided the plates probably weren't put on 1959 trailers.

I need to kow how to restore the Land Yacht plate and the front and rear AIRSTREAM plates.

Originally Posted by flyfshr

Its not an emblem but this method may work none the less. First, I polished it with the buffing wheel on the bench grinder. I bought new glass bottles of model car paint, shook them really good and put them in my pants pocket. This paint works better warm, that was the only reason for putting in my pocket. I suppose sunlight would work the same way. Once warm, I shook the bottle again and them applied with a small hobby brush, getting every nook abd cranny and not trying to be exact with the brush. Once the paint had dried to be slightly tacky, I used a wooden toothpick to scrape off the excess. I'm very happy with the results. This picture is slightly larger than actual size I may put a light coat of clear laquer from a spray to keep it from peeling off.

Brad
FF

[pinkflamingoes]

I'm wondering about the original colors on my emblems. The top one isn't so hard to figure out; left side was grey with blue "AIRSTREAM" writing, and the right was blue background with grey, I'm guessing. What about the bottom one, was it grey with blue words also?

[SilverHoot]

Originally Posted by pinkflamingoes

I'm wondering about the original colors on my emblems. The top one isn't so hard to figure out; left side was grey with blue "AIRSTREAM" writing, and the right was blue background with grey, I'm guessing. What about the bottom one, was it grey with blue words also?

Ingrid,

did you ever get the answer to this question. I have mine removed and am going to renovate them. I already face sanded them and they look MUCH better. I can see no trace of color ...all lettering looks faded black.

[BIGED52]

Originally Posted by SilverHoot

Ingrid,

did you ever get the answer to this question. I have mine removed and am going to renovate them. I already face sanded them and they look MUCH better. I can see no trace of color ...all lettering looks faded black.

SilverHoot, I don't know what Ingrid found out but... I think the gray discolored areas were originally bare aluminum with clearcoat on them as a sealer. The UV damage to the clearcoat has made it hazy and gray. At least that's how mine appear! So I would guess the answer is Silver (aluminum) background with blue lettering on the Tradewind emblem. Sanding them back to shiny aluminum with A/S blue letters and a sealer would look great! The mfg serial number plate on mine has lots of faded blue paint on the right side lower background with bare aluminum on the raised areas and bare aluminum on the left. Again this plate has blue on the recessed letters and numbers. Hope this is what everyone else has found to be standard for these plates. The one lower on the panel for the mobile homes mfg association is silver with recessed background black and the recessed lettering around the edges looks black too, all the raised letters appear silver. The wagon wheel has traces of red or brown and the rays/wings on each side of it appear to be yellow or gold. When I get to them that's what mine will be "restored" to. However I don't know if this was all original, it seems like too much color on that RVIA badge. But then to each his own. Perhaps someone has more research on that badge. I hope this helps. Happy Trails, Ed

[SilverHoot]

Originally Posted by BIGED52

SilverHoot, I don't know what Ingrid found out but... I think the gray discolored areas were originally bare aluminum with clearcoat on them as a sealer. The UV damage to the clearcoat has made it hazy and gray. At least that's how mine appear! So I would guess the answer is Silver (aluminum) background with blue lettering on the Tradewind emblem. Sanding them back to shiny aluminum with A/S blue letters and a sealer would look great! The mfg serial number plate on mine has lots of faded blue paint on the right side lower background with bare aluminum on the raised areas and bare aluminum on the left. Again this plate has blue on the recessed letters and numbers. Hope this is what everyone else has found to be standard for these plates. The one lower on the panel for the mobile homes mfg association is silver with recessed background black and the recessed lettering around the edges looks black too, all the raised letters appear silver. The wagon wheel has traces of red or brown and the rays/wings on each side of it appear to be yellow or gold. When I get to them that's what mine will be "restored" to. However I don't know if this was all original, it seems like too much color on that RVIA badge. But then to each his own. Perhaps someone has more research on that badge. I hope this helps. Happy Trails, Ed

Ed,

Thanks for your reply, like you I may just do what I like since mine is a renovation and not a restoration project. I'll post my results.

[pinkflamingoes]

Hey everyone, I thought I had posted this a few days ago, but I found out that the recessed letters AND the ones in relief are white. I emailed VTS and also looked at the emblems they carry (VERY nice) and the lettering on stickers, emblems, etc. are white. The rest, yummy shiny aluminum, or that Rustoleum blue spray paint that matches perfectly. (Spray some of the paint into a little container and use a brush)

[Jezibels]

Any updates on this thread of people repainting their emblems? Photos?