Visit our Popular Forums

t.gray · 10-30-2005, 10:30 AM

Hey,
Falling in and out of love with my recent purchase of my first airstream. In my yard sits a 1953 Flying Cloud in pretty decent shape with a few dents and many original features. I've removed the interior paint and heading towards the brushed aluminum effect. My plan was to leave the interior intact but of course most has been removed and only the fixtures and one cabinet and sink remain. Now I plan to forge ahead and tackle the dents by removing the interior panel and massaging the dents - while keeping my fingers crossed. Definately learning quite a bit but needing some words of encouragement and words of wisdom. My plan is to turn this airstream into a working art studio I can move about with. Wish me luck and thanks for looking.
Theresa

safari57 · 10-30-2005, 01:33 PM

Theresa
Having just finished my FC this May I can tell you that it's sure nice to have it done. It was 5 months of many evenings and most weekends but it was fun to do. I left the little dents in the body on mine - I just figured they were each hard earned and I'm sure when they "appeared" the PO was not impressed, but to me they are all part of the character of our trailer. On my Silver Streak I've removed the inner panels and done as you are and although time consuming the results are well worth it. Good luck and look forward to update pictures.
Barry

jcferguson · 10-30-2005, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t.gray

Hey,
My plan is to turn this airstream into a working art studio I can move about with. Wish me luck and thanks for looking.
Theresa

Hey, moving studio, me too!

Welcome to the forum, that interior is looking great.

Perhaps someone else will chime in about how to remove the dents on your panels - It seems to me the two options are remove the interior panels and work from both sides - or remove just the dented panels from the outside leaving the interior skins in place and fix from the outside.

I would be interested to hear a comparison of these two plans - I had my trailer gutted and worked from both sides, but is there anyone out there that has replaced panels just from the outside, interior skins still in place?

My feeling is that if you remove the interior panels to get at the dents you might be better off just replacing the damaged panels - it will be a fair amount of work to get the interior panels on and off and not a huge amount more work to just replace the panels once you are there.

Keep posting, it helps make the work seem less solitary.

Carlos

A-Merry-Can · 10-30-2005, 04:28 PM

hey theresa! welcome to the forums. there's lots of advice on these pages! my trailer has plenty of dents on the outer skin, and since mine's basically a gutted shell with no interior, i plan on working the metal from both sides, with a dolly and a GENTLE tap of teh hammer. aluminum is quite a bit softer than steel, and will stretch if you hit it too hard. there's no such thing as bondo on a trailer! ha! (mine had it up until a few weeks ago... gone for GOOD, thank GOD!) you could consider using patches on really bad ones, perhaps?

post some pics of the dented panels. if they are small enough, or subtle enough, i would probably leave them as well. i call those "character curves" on my land rover!

jp

85MH325 · 10-30-2005, 05:14 PM

Hey Theresa! Welcome to the Forums! It's so cool to see the Flying Cloud! You have, in fact, jumped in with both feet! I'd wondered how far you'd gotten. Keep us posted... and post photos... LOTS of photos! Frankly, I think you'd be better off replacing the panels from the outside than trying to push the dents out, at least on the cap. On the cap, it'll be a lot of work to pull the inside panels off, and the final product on the exterior will look iffy anyway. In other words, it may not be worth the effort for the likely not so good results. If you're trying to do the front side segments, pushing them out from the inside may work as they're not too bad and they're fairly large but shallow. Pushing them out from the inside may, in fact, be the only way to do those.

Roger

CaptainJones · 10-30-2005, 07:43 PM

Welcome Theresa,
I am a new owner of a 51 Flying Cloud and also in the process of removing lots and lots of old interior paint. Big job. All of my original interior was already gone so I will be rebuilding mostly from scratch. Don't throw anything away. If you don't reuse it someone will want it. Finding 50 year old parts is not easy. Good luck.
Greg

t.gray · 10-31-2005, 02:47 PM

Gosh, thanks for the advice and support - I really needed it. A couple more pictures to check out (having a little trouble loading them). Today I shaved away old paint around the edges - love detail work. It's already looking better. Good to hear from you all.
Theresa

safari57 · 10-31-2005, 04:32 PM

Although there is a crease in that dent I wonder if you couldn't use something like a toilet plunger to suck most of it out. I've never tried it with aluminum but have used it on an occasional "oops" on a car when I was younger and it worked okay.

Gosh you have really gone at that front painted area. It's tiresome work. My friend has done his the same way and the intent is to polish it to a mirror finish. I have my Silver Streak stripped but not sure yet if I'm going to polish it or leave it the natural aluminum. It will be interesting to see how your turns out.

Barry

Ken J · 10-31-2005, 04:59 PM

A lot of dents can be hidden in creative ways..... that one I would try to pull out, then cover with a rock guard....

Ken

flyfshr · 10-31-2005, 07:55 PM

As for the corner dent/crease, I'd take off the inner skin now with the interior out and have a go at it from the the inside. There shouldn't be any structural support behind there and now is the time to do it right. Once the interior is in it will be too late.

Brad
FF

A-Merry-Can · 11-01-2005, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flyfshr

As for the corner dent/crease, I'd take off the inner skin now with the interior out and have a go at it from the the inside. There shouldn't be any structural support behind there and now is the time to do it right. Once the interior is in it will be too late.

Brad
FF

agreed... do it right... do it once!

t.gray · 01-31-2006, 03:50 PM

Back at it after staring out the kitchen window and thinking, oh my... what have I gotten myself into while seeing my snow covered airstream.
Today I spent my day sanding the front cap by hand with 320 grit and loving the look. Never got around to repairing the dents. The plunger idea almost worked but not quite. The next couple of weeks I expect to finish the interior walls and maybe even start on the floor. Feels great to be back at it.
Theresa

CaptainJones · 01-31-2006, 04:35 PM

Glad to see the pics again. Life has gotten in the way and slowed my progress as well. I wish my interior looked as good as yours. I have found way to many holes that will not polish up. Guess I will be painting again. Keep up the good work,

davidh · 01-31-2006, 05:16 PM

Hi that dose look really nice when you are complete with that project it will be one sweet trailer. I was reading a article the other day about dent removal and it stated that if you have a dent that is fairly large and you remove the inner skin to repair and once repaired if you are concerned that the dent might pop back inword, for this reason they said that aluminum will streach from the dent and will weaken that area where the dent was after removed, the method that they use is before you reinstall inner skin is to put styrofoam between dent and inner skin that way you can be rest assured that your hard efforts to remove the dent payed off. Just a little more of something to think about. looks good..

85MH325 · 01-31-2006, 05:18 PM

Oh, wow! Just plain wow!

Roger

t.gray · 02-01-2006, 11:57 AM

Thanks for the great support - Chief Rog it's good to hear from you.

Captain Jones I'm curious about the holes you've encountered can you post some pictures - not possible too patch?

David the dent idea I will try when the days become warmer here - But I have decided to work from the outside to repair the dents instead of from the inside for the front dents anyway. But as for the top probably replace a few panels not sure how to duplicate the rolled seam though. Brilliant to place Styrofoam - nice and light weight too. Since my new tow vehicle will only tow 3000#.

A few months ago I ripped up the flooring down to the plywood - yesterday I sanded a small section and it's beautiful - so that works for me but I need some ideas for trim around the edges - wood or metal.

A few months ago I ripped up the flooring down to the plywood - yesterday I sanded a small section and it's beautiful - so that works for me but I need some ideas for trim around the edges - wood or metal.
Theresa

jcferguson · 02-16-2006, 06:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t.gray

David the dent idea I will try when the days become warmer here - But I have decided to work from the outside to repair the dents instead of from the inside for the front dents anyway. But as for the top probably replace a few panels not sure how to duplicate the rolled seam though. Brilliant to place Styrofoam - nice and light weight too. Since my new tow vehicle will only tow 3000#.

A few months ago I ripped up the flooring down to the plywood - yesterday I sanded a small section and it's beautiful - so that works for me but I need some ideas for trim around the edges - wood or metal.
Theresa

Hi Theresa, what do you mean about around the edges - where the plywood meets the walls? If that's what you are talking about I think a 3/8"x1" strip of wood would be nice (that's what I will use in certain places). There must not be too many places where the floor/wall joint will even be visible?

The sanded front cap looks great. How is the rest coming? Once you get past this point it gets a lot more satisfying pretty quickly.

Maybe a metal shop would know how to make that rolled edge, you could take off the old pieces and duplicate them and have a shop roll the edge before installing the new... Then use olympic rivets to reinstall without having to remove the interior cap. This is where I get my alumiyum: http://www.airpartsinc.com/ (2024 t3 .032 aluminum sheet)

Carlos

t.gray · 02-17-2006, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcferguson

Hi Theresa, what do you mean about around the edges - where the plywood meets the walls? If that's what you are talking about I think a 3/8"x1" strip of wood would be nice (that's what I will use in certain places). There must not be too many places where the floor/wall joint will even be visible?

Carlos

Hey Carlos - yes you've got it - I'd like something clean either metal or wood stripping along the edge. The plan is to keep it sparse, clean and inspiring so that leaves almost one side of the trailer bare of furniture - although I plan to build a box around the wheel well for sitting and storing boots. - I do like your idea – how will you adhere the wood stripping? The trailer is almost completely sanded and I must say, looking quite lovely. It feels good to see it moving in a more visually pleasing direction. Thanks for the info - also Carlos where did you purchase your skylights? Thanks for the aluminum lead. I will check it out and get it ready for repairing in April.
Theresa

t.gray · 02-17-2006, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 65GT

Sometimes the light green under it comes up to -- sometimes it doesn't. I'm trying to figure out a way to accelerate the delamination WITHOUT the zolatone coming up with it. It's extremely frustrating though as I'm thinking this is going to take a VERY LONG TIME...

Yours looks great -- go after it!

__

Sounds frustrating - not sure what zolatone is - will you be painting over it or leaving it the beautiful light green? I put quite a few hours in before things started looking better - keep it up - any pictures of your process posted?

Theresa

CaptainJones · 02-17-2006, 06:44 PM

This is an example of the holes I was talking about. Most have been patched, but make such an ugly random pattern that polishing the interior is no longer an option.