Chronology of Painting My Excella 25

[Bob Thompson]

Next is the front of the trailer, but it's a little tricky. The lower front has numerous small gravel dings I'll need to deal with and I want to put some type of protection on the front to minimize the impact of future dings. My first impression was to spray some truck bed liner material on the front, but then it occured to me most cars and trucks have a heavy textured materal sprayed on the rocker panels which might just be the ticket for this application. At the Auto Paint Company, I purchased a 30 oz. can of 3M Rocker Schutz #8874 for $19. This rocker guard material is applied with an undercoating gun and I have one from a different project undercoating my tow vehicle. Once the rocker guard is on, it will be painted with the metallic base and clearcoat.

After the Auto Paint Co. I went to PPG and purchased another quart of the metallic base paint and a quart of reducer for $36. That should raise my total expenditure to about $1150, and I now have enough materials to finish the project, and there will be some materials left over. It is nice to start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We have a wedding to attend in Waco in July and the trailer should be completed by then.

For those curious about the color sanding and buffing to follow you can get more info at:

http://www.gmtips.com/3rd-degree/dox...ools/tools.htm

http://www.abrn.com/abrn/article/art...l.jsp?id=88799

[Bob Thompson]

When Saturday morning arrived, so did the rain. I was anxious to get the painting completed, but the rain said no! It's probably just as well, so between rain showers, I polished some of the "eye brows" over the windows. The eye brows are heavy brushed aluminum and I want them to be super shiny, I would first wet sand them with 320 W/D sand paper, then with 1200 grit W/D, then 2000 grit, then I would polish them out with 3M polishing glaze. The painted body with the highly polished aluminum accents is going to be attractive. I gotta say, the 3M Polishing Glaze 05996 is a great product. It does it's thing very quickly and it does it very well, period.

After polishing 3 eyebrows, I decided it was time to work on other things, so I tried using the Meguiars Mirror Glase Sanding Block to remove a small run in the clearcoat. This sanding block is 2" x 1" x 3/4", so it is small, but it does a big job! After following the instructions and soaking it in water for 15 minutes, I then got to work. I found a small run, lifted the block from the water, applied it to the surface and gently started rubbing the block around in small circles. It took about 5 minutes and the area where a run had been was now flush with the surrounding surface. It seemed effortless. I wiped it dry, checked it, then used the wet block a bit more to touch things up. Then I put a couple drops of the 3M Polishing Glaze on a clean cloth and polished the area where the run had been. Two applications of the polish and hand polishing for about 3 minutes and it was hard to tell there had ever been a run at all! Truly amazing. So I fixed 3 more runs!

As for the rock dings at the front of the trailer, I decided to use J-B Weld Epoxy to fill them. The epoxy sets up quickly and is readily sandable and it is recommended for repairing aluminum castings. The dings looked worse than they were. About a tablespoon size amount of the J-B Weld was all that was needed to fill all the dings.

Sunday was suitable for painting, and I was determined to get the front painted. I wet sanded the front, applied the Alumiprep, then the Alodine, then I spent most of the day waiting for the surface to get cool enough to paint. It was nearly 6:00 pm before I could get started, but then it didn't take long to get the primer on.

Monday, I was back on task early. I want to protect the lower front from flying rocks, so I masked the primer in the area where there were already rock dings, and shot on the 3M Rocker Schutz. It was pretty easy but a bit tricky. My undercoating gun screwed right onto the top of the 3M can; I cranked the air compressor pressure up to about 70 psi and started spraying. The hardest part was getting it on evenly. After 4 coats, I could still see some of the spray patterns I used, and I couldn't make them disappear. Oh well. Others don't notice it, but I do.

The next tricky item is you must remove the masking immediately after shooting the texture on. Even doing it this way, you stand a chance of tearing the edge of the textured material. I had a couple small tears which I had to trim up with a sharp chisel Aaaargh! Again, others don't notice, but I do!

I spent the rest of the day waiting for the surface to get cool enough to shoot the base and clearcoat. At 5:00 PM it got real cloudy and it was time to paint. The paint and clearcoat went on easily and looked great (2 small runs, but very glossy)! I let it set for 2 hours then unmasked the whole trailer and took down the paint booth. Damn, its good to see the whole trailer painted!!!!!

Tuesday and Wednesday I've spent caulking and sealing. One of the pictures shows me tooling the Vulkem 636. I used the Vulkem above the window and door frames. It was silky smooth and very buttery compared to some other urethanes I've used. A truly great product!

[Stefrobrts]

You are just doing an incredible job. I would not have guessed a painted Airstream would look that nice. You're right, the polished eyebrows are really going to pop against that silver paint. Super!

[Bob Thompson]

Tonight is photo night. I've attached 2 photos of the front showing the painting look, as well as to show the textured "ding protected" area.

There is also a picture of the incredible SeamerMate sealant I've been using. This stuff is amazing. It guns easy, tools easy, is self leveling, extremely durable, UV resistant and it is amost a perfect match for the paint. Check photo 3 closely! See the sealant?

[Bob Thompson]

The next series of photos shows the use of the Meguiars Mirror Glaze Sanding Block. Photo 1 shows the run, photo 2 shows the block in action, photo 3 shows the area wiped down, photo 4 shows polishing with the 3M Polish, and photo 5 shows my arm reflected where the run used to be!

Bear with me, I'm having trouble getting the pictures in order!

[thenewkid64]

All I can say is WOW. What would you charge to do my 28 foot Motorhome??? It doesn't need to be stripped, just sanded. Just kidding, I can't afford you, I'm sure.

[Bob Thompson]

Sorry about having to split the pictures into 3 posts. These photos are a) using the block & b) wiping clean.

[Bob Thompson]

Then polishing and reflection showing the area afterward.

[bake315]

Heckuva job! I only wish I could have seen it in person. You've done some fine work, for sure. I hope on the next sunny day down there you'll take some more pics so we can see her gleam.

[53flyingcloud]

Yes Sir~ BOB`!
That's one mighty fine looking rig~!!
Back before I started to polish mine, I had done some researched on "painting" the A/S.
At the time, I think there were few choices as to what or where one could go.
You given people an additional method to think about.
Again Bob, just an utterly Fantastic job~!
You have done yourself "proud"~
ciao
53FC

[Bob Thompson]

Most of the past week was spent caulking and sealing. However, it isn't that simple! It started with replacing the caulk at the top of the roof gutters. While cleaning the joint, I discovered the caulk had failed around the sewer vent, so I started to clean it up only to discover the vent cover was cracked and had to be replaced. It had been leaking water directly into the interior of the trailer. The factory installed the vent pipe so close to the refrig vent that the cover from the refrigerator vent and the sewer vent cover were trying to be in the same place, so I had to trim the sewer vent cover big time to get it to fit.

While I was up there at the roof, I decided to inspect the skylight above the living room. The skylight is held in place by 8 screws. The screws weren't installed with fender washers or gaskets, and 6 of the 8 screws had popped thru the skylight flange. I read on another post on skylights about a guy who had stopped at a rest stop and was standing next to his trailer when the skylight blew off and landed at his feet. Mine was about to do the same thing. The skylight (like mine) had been installed without a metal mounting flange. Mine had cracked in the areas around the screws and would need to be replaced. After considerable searching I finally found a suitable alternative here in Corpus Christi. It was a lexan double dome self flashing curb skylight. I was able to remove the curb and just use the domes and mounting flange. The lexan double domes were clear and I preferred they be bronze in color, but you take what you can get. The installation was fairly easy and it was good to know the result is much much better than the OEM solution. I also had to replace the acrylic in the center rock guard on the front of the trailer. The panel had warped big time, evidently from the heat of the sun. Instead of replacing it with the same acrylic, I used lexan. The lexan was only $1 per square foot more than the acrylic and it is much more durable and protective.

The amount of caulking and sealing on one of these trailers is mind boggling. I find I don't like the Alcoa Gutter seal at all for exposed joints. It turns golden in color after it dries and it is very hard to get a smooth joint. Parrbond is better and easier to use, but not by much! I always mask every joint then apply sealant, tool and remove the masking. With Parrbond, you must work very very quickly otherwise, you'll get stringy pulls along the edge of the joint when you remove the masking.

In the caulking and sealing, the SeamerMate I found at Home Depot is far and away the clear standout! It guns easy, tools easy, doesn't stick to the masking tape, doesn't dry too fast, is self leveling, is UV resistant and has a very long life expectancy. One more time: this stuff is incredible! And it only costs $3.94 per tube. If I were starting all over, I'd use the SeamerMate in all the locations where I used the Alcoa Gutterseal and the Parrbond. As it is, I used nearly 4 tubes of the SeamerMate. Besides being easy to work, in is nearly a perfect match to the silver color!

Other than the sealing/caulking, I've been busy doing the color sanding and polishing . The original plan was to wetsand with 1200, then with 1500, then 2000, then polish with rubbing compound, and then polish with the glazing polish. I paired it down to just sanding with the 1500, then use the rubbing compound, and then the glazing polish. This system works well! The key is moderation. When wetsanding, you want to knock down the high spots, the orange peel, but not go thru the clearcoat. You watch the color of the sanding residue to see if you go thru into the base coat. It is supposed to change color if you break thru (so far I haven't). If you do break thru it just means you will need to spot shoot the clearcoat again. No big deal! Although my Makita polisher is variable speed, I almost always use it on the slow setting. Being an amateur, I would rather take longer and get reliable results. I probably have two days of color sanding and polishing left. It goes quickly!, but summer's here and it's hot!

I've ordered the blue striping tape I will need for the exterior graphics from Beacon Graphics in New Jersey. The tapes should be in within 2 weeks.

The attached photos show the wet sanding, the rubbing compound application, the glazing polish (grey), and the reflective qualities of the finished product. Enjoy!

[87MH]

Bob:

Do you have an approximate number of hours you have in the project to date?

[Bob Thompson]

Sorry, but I have no idea how many hours I've spent. When I retired, I gave away all of my watches. It seems like just a couple weeks ago, I was water blasting the paint stripper, and now, the trailer is painted and nearly complete. There's been other work going on as well! I've gutted the bedroom and living room and have been rebuilding both. I removed the twin beds that were there, and used the components to build a short queen island bed instead. From the rear, I've removed the drapes and some of the upper cabinets. I've removed and replaced the wall coverings, made new drape valences and cabinet soffits, and am just about ready to put down new vinyl flooring and carpet.

In the front, I've removed the couch and replaced it with a pair of Ekornes leather lounge chairs ( http://www.ekornes.com/usa/stressles...sless_stol.htm ). This involved putting the two batteries in one box in the middle, then building an end table around the batteries as a separator between the chairs. Part of this required replacing that noisy humming power converter with a new solid state one.

Doing the outside was a matter of necessity. The trailer's outside leaked like a sieve. I had to get it watertight so I could get the floor plywood to dry out so I could apply wood preservative before installing the new floor. Maybe new flooring will go in at the end of this week.

[Bob Thompson]

As mentioned earlier, I had a leaking skylight so I thought it might be helpful to post pictures of the OEM and my solution. In the first picture, you can see where the OEM screws were installed. The factory installed the skylight without a metal flange and without washers. The screws pulled right thru. The second photo shows my double dome lexan solution. It screwed directly to the OEM curb.

[Bob Thompson]

Tonight, the color sanding and polishing is finally finished! And, I gotta' say it looks pretty good! The color sanding has removed almost all of the overspray and orange peel texture and the polishing has brought out the lustre in the paint. If you look closely, you can still see a faint hit of orange peel texture is a few spots, but no worse than you see on most new cars. It's great to look down the side of the trailer and see very clear reflections in the paint.

As for the amount of the materials consumed, I used one each of the foam pads and they would still be in near perfect condition if I hadn't bumped each one against a sharp edge sticking out. The light colored rubbing compound pad, I bumped against the edge of the roof gutter and in the flick of an eye, the foam edge was slightly shredded. The grey colored glazing pad got bumped against one of the hinges for the rock shields and had some slight damage. Both are still usable. Part of the key to making the pads last is to rinse them out when they get loaded up with compound. To do this, I put the pad on the driveway, foam side up, spray it with the water hose until only clear water comes out, hand sling out the major portion of the water, then mount the pad on the polisher and spin it on high and the rest of the water will be slung out by centrifugal force, and it is ready to use again. Since the pads came in packs of two, I still have one un-used pad of each model. As for the polishing compounds, I used about 2/3 of each quart container, so I still have 1/3 of the rubbing compound and 1/3 of the glazing compound remaining.

The color sanding is pretty easy and fairly fool proof. When you are sanding an orange peeled area, you can feel the roughness thru the sandpaper, and you can hear the roughness being sanded. When you feel nothing but smoothness and you hear no roughness, it has been sanded enough. You can also tell by how the water sheets afterward. If it is smooth and the water sheets evenly, it is ready to polish. I was lucky to not break thru the clearcoat into the base coat so no touch-up was needed. With the polisher, almost as soon as you start to polish, the wet sanded look disappears and the lustre starts to come up. The polishing goes fairly quickly.

I read where swirl marks can be a problem if you're not careful. Evidently I was careful enough, because I never saw any.

In the next day or so, the graphics tape should be in and once I get the stripes on, I'll post a number of pictures. I must say, I'm pleased with the results so far!

[Tinsel Loaf]

Absolutely an incredible job !

[edselehr]

I was referred to this forum from a Vintage Shasta group, and have gleaned a lot of valuable information. In my situation, I have a '62 Shasta that is two-tone (white above, blue below) with a 2" polished aluminum "Z" stripe between. How do I proceed with prepping, masking, painting while two-toning the trailer and preserving the polished aluminum stripe?

[Khodabear]

I have a question reagrding Painting. What I have learned here is worth a fortune as I am about to embark on a respray of my RV. It is not , however,Airstream (they let just anybody in here :~)).

I have a 1970 Ultra Van (The Corvair Motorhome). It's skin is a mixture of Aluminum and fiberglass. The main body skin is rivited aluminum..the nose and tail sections are fiberglass. The surface prep and materials recommendations for Aluminum as found in this thread are good for a large lart of my job...but what about the fiberglass? Can I use the same materials to paint that or should I treat this as two separate jobs, prepping and painting the glass and aluminum areas separately with different materials.

Thanks for any input

Peter

[Bob Thompson]

Hi Everybody, please accept my apology for being away for the past month. My mother, who lives near Seattle, suffered a heart attach in early May so I threw the trailer together and made the 2500 mile drive to Seattle with trailer in tow to spend some time with her during her recovery from heart bypass surgery. She's not out of the woods yet, but she is making progress .

This was our first outing in the Airstream, and it was quite a shake down, but overall, we loved traveling in it, just need to make a bunch of revisions to suit our needs. Our route to Seattle was from Corpus Christi to El Paso, to Gallup, to Provo, to Boise, then to Port Ludlow, near Seattle. We spent a little more than a week there then returned via the Oregon coast, to Arcata, Ca. (thru the Redwood Nat. Park) then to Redding, Reno, Las Vegas, Phoenix, El Paso and home.

Back to the task at hand. As mentioned in an earlier post, I ordered the graphics tapes from Beacon Graphics in New Jersey. On the internet, I found the company "Universal Products" who make striping systems and ordered their catalog. When the catalog arrived, it had Beacon Graphics listed as an authorized dealer. www.beacongraphics.com When I stripped the clearcoat using the power washer, the water pressure blasted the chrome finish from the vinyl belt molding around the center of the trailer and I decided to put a dark blue tape back in its place. I ordered a 150' roll of #082 (dark) blue 1" wide tape, half of which I used to recover the vinyl insert for the belt molding. The other half I slit into two equal pieces 1/2" wide by 75' long for other pinstriping.

Redoing the belt strip was tough work. I first had to remove it from the trailer then remove the adhesive backing. To get the adhesive backing off, I coiled it in the bottom of a bucket, just covered it with mineral spirits and put it aside to sit for 3 days. The mineral spirits softened the adhesive and with an hour of cleaning, I was able to remove all residue from the vinyl insert. Next, I peeled off the old tape from the vinyl insert by loosening one end and peeling to the other end. With my wife's help I put on the new, dark blue tape. This was a tedious task and close attention had to be paid to the technique to keep air bubbles from being trapped under the tape.

To reattach the vinyl insert, I went to Ebay and found an auction for a 1/2" x 150' roll of 3M double sided molding adhesive tape which I purchased. Reattaching the vinyl insert went smooth.

In the same order from Beacon, I ordered a 2" x 150' roll of #057 Olympic Blue tape. The two rolls of tape came to about $165 with shipping. I installed the 2" tape just below the belt molding, then used the slit tape from above to complete the pinstriping. One of the keys to installing the pinstriping was to use masking tape as a guide to keep lines straight and parallel as seen in the first photo.

The other photo's are of the completed work. I hope you enjoy them!

There is still more details to take care of on the outside, like Zoop sealing the polished aluminum parts, but this concludes the chronology of painting my Excella. The work has been quite challenging and satisfying, and I must say, I am quite pleased with the results. To quote a phrase from a movie "what one man can do, another man can do!" And I did it!

[TomW]

Originally Posted by Bob Thompson

...There is still more details to take care of on the outside, like Zoop sealing the polished aluminum parts, but this concludes the chronology of painting my Excella.

Bob,

Thanks for sharing - Your Excella looks great!