replacement strips and painting??

[charlie tuna]

hi all,
need to replace the plastic stripes on my 1978 AS. the lower one is about one inch wide and blue. the upper one is about 1/4 inch wide and is clear to pink right now -- i assume it was red at one time?? where can i find these and also has anyone repainted the "international" inlayed area of red and blue on the back end of the trailer?? what kind of paint would be best to use???
thanks, tuna

[dwightdi]

Inland has the blue trim. About a buck a foot. Airstream was selling it for $5. for a 20 foot roll at International a couple of years ago. Once in a while I see a roll at Regional rallies at the garage sale. I went to Ace and bought small cans of ONE Shot alkyd based sign painting enamel to redo my logo.

[Frank S]

Hi charley tuna--I painted my blue and red stripes back in. Repainted the logo and the hubcaps with the same paint (along with some white). Worked for me.--Frank S

[garthbf]

my airstream dealer has it for about .30 - .40 cents a foot, I think.
They are Airstream of Spokane. and they will ship anywhere. I am not sure of the exact price because I have not order it yet. I have ordered the off white nosing for in the bath and it was .30 cents a foot. Inland wanted much more for it. Just goes to show that you need to shop around.

[juel]

I have an Argosy that needed the orange vinyl insert and ordered it from Inland RV for a total cost of $155.00 for both the large and the small. It did not hold its color and has turned yellow. I wanted to try again from another source. I now know that my local RV repair man can order from Airstream direct and he got me the replacement for all of the above for about $30.00, plus shipping direct to my home. Live and learn. If this turns yellow, I may try the Fusion paint and paint it to see if that lasts. The sun in Oklahoma is really hard on this stuff.

[charlie tuna]

thanks for the input. tuna

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by juel

I have an Argosy that needed the orange vinyl insert and ordered it from Inland RV for a total cost of $155.00 for both the large and the small. It did not hold its color and has turned yellow.

All vinyl insert material comes from the Airstream factory.

Andy

[nickcrowhurst]

The thin (about half inch wide) plastic strip insert round the beltline can have its color restored. I first did this about 40 years ago on a Bedford CA motorhome. I use a steel blade about the same width as the insert, and scrape it to remove a curled shaving of the bleached plastic as when using a wood plane. Yesterday when I did this I used the blunt end of one of those craft knives where one can break off a small section to use a fresh piece of blade. However, I used the broken edge, not the actual blade, as the broken edge was just the right width. Using this method the original color will be revealed. On my 1988 Excella I did this in 2000 and now again in 2008. Next time I will invest in new insert, as the plastic will get too thin. It's not always convenient to obtain the insert, or to pay for it, or to risk water ingress by drilling out rivets, so an hour of careful scraping is an alternative.
Nick.