1948 LINER - A 70 Year Journey

[Jim Schaal]

We have found 1119 in Roanoke VA looking to share info.

[pierrew]

Originally Posted by Jim Schaal

We have found 1119 in Roanoke VA looking to share info.

Very nice shape ! Bravo.
Do you have interior photos ?
Mine is Numbered #1121, so very close number to yours

[MrRivet]

Outstanding Find! I hope your planning a restoration and would love to follow along. We would be glad to share any information that we have on our Liner. Feel free to contact us through this thread or you can PM us as well.

We were able to resume work on ours yesterday after traveling for a couple of months out west. We have been back for a while but it always takes time to get caught up from being away. We will be posting our progress soon.

Safe Travels!!
Tim

[MsRivet]

With being back home and now cooler weather even a few rivets means progress …

[MrRivet]

We have been able to rivet a few more end segment panels this past week. We are getting close to closing in the rear then we will be moving on to replacing the side and top panels.

Safe Travels!!

[dbj216]

That is a lot of intricate, difficult, demanding aluminum sheet metal work. You'll be building airplanes soon. It's going to be a very special vintage Airstream. The main attraction at any rally.

David

[Disco Stu]

Beautiful job!!

[docflyboy]

Beautiful work. Do you use a sealant between the skins or does the rolled edge work to keep it dry through the lap joint?

[MrRivet]

Thanks! Yes we do use a bead of Trempro between each panel. I work the edge of each panel to fit to the previous panel to get a tight fit but we still use the Trempro to be sure. On MsRivet’s post #244, if you look closely, you can see the sealant pushed out from the edge of the panel. On the upper end segment panels there is actually a bead formed on both panel edges that should mate up but they still take quite a bit of hand working to get a good fit.

[Jim Schaal]

Mine is gutted at this point but we do have all the original pieces is storage waiting to be refinished, including stove, frig and furnace. It has new frame, subfloor and windows. We hope to have it completed by the international rally in July! Jim

[MrRivet]

It’s great that you have the interior components to complete your Liner. We only have a few original pieces and will end up fabricating the remaining. July is a good deadline and the International will be a great first event. We hope that you will start a thread here to show your progress so we could follow along.

Safe Travels!!
Tim

[dbj216]

I'll second that. Yes Jim, please start a project thread for your trailer. Many of us would like to follow along and learn in the process.

David

[MrRivet]

We made a little more progress over the last few weeks even though we camped for the Thanksgiving weekend and attended a TCT Christmas camping gathering the following weekend. We are down to the last panel on the rear reconstruction to fit and install. The end caps have surely been a challenge and we are looking forward to completing them and moving on to the rest of the trailer.

Safe Travels!!
Tim

[coloradoup]

That is just so cool looking! Great job!

[MsRivet]

Finally!!! We did it! The last middle segment was not only a bear to replicate but a PITA to install …

[dbj216]

Three cheers to you. A major milestone done. Just in time for Christmas. When a guy studies the complexity of the sheet metal work on those early Airstream liners; you gotta tip your hat to the sheet metal people in the factory. And to you for renovating one of these old beauties. Not easy.

David

[nelaH naV]

Wow MsRivet that looks nice. Very cool pictures also - ars gratia artis

[MrRivet]

After a thorough re-inspection of the ribs on the Liner, I have discovered a few stress cracks on 3 of the upper rib sections. I had originally intended to fabricate a “splint” section to be riveted into place over the area of the fractures but have discovered that on one of the ribs there are approximately 5 fractures over 20” of the curved section. I feel that with this rib’s condition, I need to fabricate a replacement.

I am in need of suggestions from the members on which aluminum alloy might be the best choice to form these assemblies. I believe that they were originally fabricated from 5052 alloy and shaped (hammer formed) over a manufactured wood or metal forming die. The hammer marks from their production are visible. The ribs have a thickness of .051 and have a different appearance than the other trailer components that still show the identifying ink markings from 1948. No ink markings were found on any of the rib assemblies. All other aluminum components were marked with 24ST which is the old designation for 2024. The thickness on those components ranged from .032 for the exterior skin and horizontal ribs, .040 for the belly pan and .051 for the subfloor frame cross members. It is my understanding that the 2024 alloy is not suitable for hammer forming due to its harder qualities and would be susceptible to cracking. The attached picture shows the rib with the most number of stress cracks indicated by the red ink marks.

My thoughts are to utilize layered plywood to create the forming die needed to fabricate the rib section and to use 5052 alloy aluminum with a thickness of .051. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[57Vintage]

I'm not confident that plywood would stand up to the forming you need to do. I would suggest using a hardwood. I would also suggest making a plywood form of the rib shape so you can check your progress in recreating the curve.

[Aerowood]

In lieu of forming with a forming die you could fabricate by using .063 6061-T6 X .75 or .5 angles. Shrink one and stretch one to the curve needed and then attach the two with a .040 2024 web.

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