Hehr Hallmark 12 Glazing...

[AirSid]

Does anyone have advice with installing the plastic crap on VTS sells?

I can't seem to get it on the window and they don't sell the rubbery version anymore.

[Tim A.]

Warm it up with a heat gun. Assuming it is the stuff sold by Vintage Trailer Supply, it's stiff vinyl. Getting stiff vinyl quite warm usually makes it very pliable. First test using a heat gun on a short, extra piece of the glazing strip to see how it reacts to heat.

Tim

[AirSid]

Originally Posted by Tim A.

Warm it up with a heat gun. Assuming it is the stuff sold by Vintage Trailer Supply, it's stiff vinyl. Getting stiff vinyl quite warm usually makes it very pliable. First test using a heat gun on a short, extra piece of the glazing strip to see how it reacts to heat.

Tim

Heat up the whole thing? Interesting...I'll try it.

The wife won't let me just caulk all the windows. I'm a house painter.

[Bubba L]

We recently finished installing all the glass in a 63 Bambi. We purchased all the butyl glazing tape, vinyl seal and plastic glazing from Robert at Vintage Trailer Gaskets. Seemed to work well. Good luck

[Tim A.]

Originally Posted by AirSid

Heat up the whole thing? Interesting...I'll try it.

AirSid, I answered your private note. Reply if you wish to that. I would heat the glazing at a corner location, form that to the window glass (or frame), repeat at the next corner, and work all around the four corners. I would then warm the whole thing for insertion.

Tim

[mrdes8]

Hey, a few years back I did a '62 Ambassador, 8 windows! The amount of s*** layered on those things was unreal. I thought the clean up and prep was one of the most challenging, time consuming parts of any Airstream job I've ever done. Used VTS parts, bought glass locally. Trim strips only seemed to snap in and fit nicely on the top piece. After several go-rounds decided to just "glue" them in place with clear silicone adhesive, under the trim so it looked like I'd gotten it right. Would never know it until you went to take it off. Just one idea. BTW, 45 years in automotive work so I've spent lots of time putting trim on vehicles this was one of the worst jobs I'd ever done... until I signed up for a '68, yikes.
Good luck, Mark D

[AirSid]

Originally Posted by Bubba L

We recently finished installing all the glass in a 63 Bambi. We purchased all the butyl glazing tape, vinyl seal and plastic glazing from Robert at Vintage Trailer Gaskets. Seemed to work well. Good luck

Do the Bambi windows have a little opening where the lever exits so you can remove the window?

[Bubba L]

If you go to Vintageairstream.com and go to Airstream Restoration Resources, they have some instructions on restoring Hallmark 12 windows in the older entries. To remove the window, remove the two screws that hold the window operator. You’ll be able to remove the arm from the frame. If you remove the frame from the top rolled hinge, just remember that there is a set screw in the middle of the rolled hinge that keeps the window frame from sliding sideways on the hinge. That screw has to come out in order to slide the frame out.

[Scott S]

Just a thought...are you using safety glass? Originally it would have been single strength (not safety) glass. Safety glass would be thicker, thus keeping the glazing from fitting.

[Bubba L]

Originally Posted by Scott S

Just a thought...are you using safety glass? Originally it would have been single strength (not safety) glass. Safety glass would be thicker, thus keeping the glazing from fitting.

Don’t know about AirSid, but we used the 3/16” glass. We were able to get safety glass.

[goransons]

Hehr had several different versions of the extrusion, and I found on our 63 that the the VTS strips fell out of the frames. I LOVE VTS and support Steve every chance I get but I went with the strips from Vintage Trailer Gaskets. They are slighly wider so they cover the edge of the black glazing tape. They also fit different, much tighter, and you actually bend them slightly to snap them in. On a side note they have a lot of other gaskets that Steve hasn't reproduced that are worth a look.

[AirSid]

Originally Posted by Scott S

Just a thought...are you using safety glass? Originally it would have been single strength (not safety) glass. Safety glass would be thicker, thus keeping the glazing from fitting.

No clue what kind of glass it is, but the window is screwed into the frame in the middle of the rail and the screws are all rusty now. I can't take the window off until I get these out. God help me.

[AirSid]

Originally Posted by goransons

Hehr had several different versions of the extrusion, and I found on our 63 that the the VTS strips fell out of the frames. I LOVE VTS and support Steve every chance I get but I went with the strips from Vintage Trailer Gaskets. They are slighly wider so they cover the edge of the black glazing tape. They also fit different, much tighter, and you actually bend them slightly to snap them in. On a side note they have a lot of other gaskets that Steve hasn't reproduced that are worth a look.

Does Steve have anything softer? These plastic things are just not snapping in or fitting. The old silicone ones that are already on I can fit in and remove over and over.


I thought the window needed to be off the trailer but I don't think so anymore since the old silicone gaskets install just fine with vertical windows.

[65TW]

The original glass is 5/32”, which I couldn’t source. So, I went with 1/8” on my first window, but couldn’t get the new Vintage Trailer Supply glazing in. Then went with 3/16 glass and VTS’s window butyl tape and they fit perfectly. If you used an alternative tape that is thicker, same result as using glass that’s too thick and they won’t fit. I miter cut mine ever so slightly longer than the length of the inside frame, e.g. 1/32 to 1/16th longer, start them in each corner, snap the middle in, then do the rest. I wouldn’t heat them. I’ve actually had some uninstalled pieces twist and warp just sitting in the sun, rendering them unusable.

[VintageRV]

Hello friends,

This is one of those orginal Hehr designs that fits great on most 1961-65 windows but doesn't work so well on others. We believe the reason is that Hehr used two or more slightly different dies for extruding the frames. The vinyl rubber version that we used to sell worked well for most windows until it shrunk from the UV/sun and infuriated customers. So we went back to the original factory design.

We've modified it enough to get it to work with both single strength 3/32" and double strength 1/8" glass. We have not tested on 3/16" glass as that is very heavy and may cause opening and closing the larger windows difficult.

We generally suggest that the butyl bedding tape under the glass be 1/16" thick (again like the original). But if you want to go with thicker glass you would use a thinner tape and a thinner glass would use a thicker bedding tape.

We don't pretend to have all the answers and would like to help you technically when you run into trouble. After 22 years creating reproduction parts, we continue to learn.

Thanks for all your tips and feedback.
Steve Hingtgen, Founder
Vintage Trailer Supply Inc

Originally Posted by AirSid

Does anyone have advice with installing the plastic crap on VTS sells?

I can't seem to get it on the window and they don't sell the rubbery version anymore.