Tale of a '55 FC Whale Reno

[Bubba L]

Scott, I have a couple of sources for the tempered retainer clips. I have not seen any 3" shoes though.
Clips:
Barton Kramer
#149 Clearview s/s Glass Retainer
Allaboutdoors.com
#56627 Stamped Steel Spring Clip
I need to order a few myself. Good luck. Bubba

[Bubba L]

Originally Posted by goransons

Did you find a source for the glass retainer clips? I need 8 of them. right now I have a piece of the rubber used on hehr windows pressed in there but they don't hold as well because the ledge isn't as wide. I saw a Parlyn glass security clips but they are 3 3/8" long and the panes are only 3" long, the original clips being about an inch long.

Scott, have you been on Blaine Window's site? As far as the jalousie 'shoe' that supports the glass, can a 3 1/2" shoe be modified to work? I can't find any site
that has 3", just 4". But Blaine also has the spring retainer clips.

[goransons]

Yes, I looked at it this evening. Figured I'd call them and find out who around us carries their parts so I can order them. They appear to be wholesale only. I looked at the 3.5 clip, the shape is different enough I'm not sure it could be, but might be worth ordering a couple in when I order clips and see if I can do some careful trimming.

Hopefully one of our local glass shops orders through them!

[Bubba L]

The new 2024-T3 Alclad panels had a PVC protective sheeting on one side. When we removed the sheeting, it left a residue on the aluminum that we have not been able to remove with MEK, xylene, goof off, lacquer thinner, citrus strip, amonia and window cleaner. We did have minor success removing it with Aircraft Stripper, so we know it is a residue. When polished without removing the residue, Nuvite G6 and F9 had no effect. Using a brown Tripoli bar would eventually get it off, but would burn the residue and leave brown shadows.
The residue shows up as horizontal brown steaks in this photo. The only way to get them to show up on film was using my white shirt as a background:


Anybody run into this? Any suggestions?

[Trons4u]

Originally Posted by Bubba L

The new 2024-T3 Alclad panels had a PVC protective sheeting on one side. When we removed the sheeting, it left a residue on the aluminum that we have not been able to remove with MEK, xylene, goof off, lacquer thinner, citrus strip, amonia and window cleaner. We did have minor success removing it with Aircraft Stripper, so we know it is a residue. When polished without removing the residue, Nuvite G6 and F9 had no effect. Using a brown Tripoli bar would eventually get it off, but would burn the residue and leave brown shadows.
The residue shows up as horizontal brown steaks in this photo. The only way to get them to show up on film was using my white shirt as a background:
Attachment 294833

Anybody run into this? Any suggestions?

WD-40 or some kind of petroleum product, that might work I'm not sure

Edit: I guess Xylene is a petrol product, missed that.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Airstream Forums mobile app

[Trons4u]

Acetone or Nail Polish remover and there was some success

[Bubba L]

Originally Posted by Trons4u

Acetone or Nail Polish remover and there was some success

Thanks. Heading to Ace Hardware in the morning to pick up acetone and a few other trial and error items. I've just never heard of this issue before. It's disheartening to place new panes and find you have to strip a residue then polish. But, a renovation is full of challenges.

[Boxite]

Who was the supplier/manufacturer of the sheet?

[Bubba L]

Originally Posted by Boxite

Who was the supplier/manufacturer of the sheet?

Alcoa and Kaiser from Westbrook and Airparts respectively. It seems that suppliers purchase rolls of PVC and when a customer requests one side of the sheet to be protected, the supplier attaches the PVC. The manufacturer doesn't apply the protected sheeting in every instance. I will call today and see if I can get a manufacturer's name for the PVC. Thanks

[Aerowood]

There are two different kinds of MEK, The real stuff and now there is an MEK out on the shelves that has big MEK letters on the can but underneath that in smaller letters is the word Equivalent or Replacement or something to that effect. This stuff does not work well at all, it just doesn't have the punch of the original.

[cole3444]

I ran into the adhesive sticking to a sheet Friday when I went to rivet a piece I had clecoed to my underside for the belly pan in February prior to an injury. When I pulled the protective cover the adhesive stayed in spots, the other in the basement peeled off fine. It appears that weather causes the adhesive to stick if exposed to the changing conditions. I guess that's what happens when you get hurt and wait for 7 months. Let us know what works best to remove.

[Boxite]

A great many metal products are shipped with a protective film/vinyl sheet on them. It's important to remove the protective sheet as soon as practical and not to store a protected metal sheet in the sun or any excessively warm area, or the adhesive will not come off cleanly, nor will the plastic peel of completely/continuously... it may become brittle and uncooperative.

[cole3444]

I got my adhesive off Sunday with a 10 minute soaking of Goof Off and a blue scrub pad, looks as good as new.

[Bubba L]

Thanks for the product suggestions to remove the PVC adhesive residue on new aluminum sheets. We ended up using Goof Off and acetone. We still need to polish due to the horizontal striped shadows. I would imagine the faint striping is a result of the rollers during the extrusion process at fabrication. Just a guess. But still bothers me enough to polish it out. Thanks again for the input.

[goshawks00]

Acetone worked for us

[Bubba L]

It has been awhile since I last posted, but window work is slow.

I took the front jalousie window out, then apart to clean it. It was held together with 8 sheet metal screws (2 at each corner) and I replaced them with stainless steel sheet metal screws. I used Mag Wheel Cleaner and a brown Scotch Brite pad to do the initial frame cleaning. Then I switched to a green Scotch Brite pad and rubbing compound, then finished with the truck box polish.


Our jalousie window was stamped "Clearview" on the frame and "Parlyn" on the window controller. Robert, at vintagetrailershop.com in California, determined it was indeed a Clearview model window manufactured by Parlyn extensively for Airstream trailers from '56-'64. We don't think front jalousie windows were common on the 1955 FC; it may have been an option.

There is a weather seal along the top and bottom of the frame that could only be replaced with the window frame taken apart. Both vintagetrailershop.com and vintagetrailersupply.com sell the seal.

Two of the glass slats had previously been replaced with clear glass, which was not a very good match. We were told by the glass company that the original slats are a blue tinted glass, which is no longer sold. We replaced the 2 clear slats with green tinted glass, which was a better match (note on jalousie photo the top and bottom slats are green).

An exact replacement for the clips that hold the glass in place are available at blainewindow.com. Our Parlyn controller was shot, so we had to replace it with a controller from vintagetrailersupply. We also opted to add the jalousie window glass seal to the top of each slat for better closure. The glass seal fit loose enough that it had to be siliconed in place.


Due to the design of the jalousie window, the frame was proud of the skin by at least an inch. I had to borrow a longer rivet set to be able to buck in the frame.

And here is the final product:

[goransons]

looks great! I got the first water test of mine today. 3 of the 4 did great. I need to find some of that side metal to finish the top of the one that I had to build from scratch (I found a donor window that was 1 pane too short). It's amazing that little bit of pressure and how it keeps the water out. Driving rain found it's way a little into that top one. I'll have to put new glass in the 3 street side in the spring and finish polishing them up, but for now it's dry! Great work!

[Bubba L]

Thanks Scott.
We have the original rock guard for the jalousie. It was in fair shape with the original green corrugated fiberglass. I’m rebuilding that now with clear monogal instead of the fiberglass so I can see through the trailer while driving. The rock guard should help in keeping moisture out. Bubba

[Bubba L]

Here's the original green rock guard.


The polycarbonate sheet I bought will be clear once the wrap is removed. I did not want to rivet the sheet to the frame (as was originally done), so I will duplicate what was done on the windows. I'll use an angle to hold the sheet in place and go through the opposite side with pal nuts.

[Bubba L]

First, I tried to use aluminum wire with spline to screen the window; however, the spline didn't fit in the channel tightly. I then discovered that spline was not used originally because a stiffer screen wire would bend and hold without the need for spline. The stiffer screen wire is .009 and not typically available in box stores, but is sold by vintagetrailersupply.com.