Since the little tin can is a vintage 1971 trailer, the outside of it has the typical 'sun-burn' marks on top where the sun has baked it over the years. One of the unique characteristics of older airstreams comes to the forefront when they are polished to a mirror-like finish.
Now that we have mostly finished the inside and have gotten to use the Globe-Trotter this summer, it is time to fine tune the inside and out. I read many an article/forum regarding the process of polishing these trailers and they all say it is a lot of work. The first step in the process is to use a stripper to remove the clear coat finish on the aluminum (the 2nd step involves multiple iterations of polishing/buffing). This means applying stripper to the whole trailer and then removing the stripper everywhere such that it does not stay on there long term and do damage.
I decided to do a test run on a small panel to see if the CitriStrip product is effective. I had used CitriStrip on the vintage bike I salvaged this past summer and it worked really well. The best part is that it does not have those nasty nose hair burning smells - it is 'green' (ok, orange) so that makes me feel a little better when applying so that it does not destroy anything (like skin, clothes, or wherever else it might land).
One of the good things about Citristrip is that it is thick and so when you apply it, it does not run on you...which is good considering the curves on the silver bullet.
The conditions are not ideal for applying at the moment (optimal temps are between 65-85) but I was curious to see just how much work the stripping part was going to be (it is supposed to be the easier and faster of the 2 part process). I applied the stripper and then let it sit for about an hour. The crux was trying to figure out how to remove the stripper without making too much of a mess. I used the tough blue paper towels to remove most of the stripper and then repeated several times until all signs of the orange gunk were gone. This meant going through many many paper towels. I tried using cloth but quickly realized that once the cloth removed some stripper it was just moving it and rubbing it into the aluminum more.
I removed the stripper then wiped it down with water (with paper towels) and then did a quick spray of simple green cleaner to make sure it was all gone. For good measure I then did another wipe down with water to remove the simple green....time consuming, absolutely but there is no time crunch at the moment and it is in the garage so it is all good. I can see how stripping the entire trailer will take multiple days of work.
As I was puttering around the house a day later, the little symbolic light switch was turned on in my head and I heard the choir as the 'AHA' moment arrived...what exactly is this braniac idea? It dawned on me that perhaps the best way to remove the stripper in bulk (besides washing it outside which would entail hooking the car up, moving it outside and then washing), was to use a window squueegeeee thingie. This worked surprisingly well and did not make much of a mess - and also meant much fewer paper towels).
The temps might have shut us down for the winter in regards to continuing to strip but it seems as if stage 1 is doable...I do have a couple of concerns...
One is that there is one section where the stripper does not seem to be working - not sure if I just need to let the stripper sit longer so it can do its magic, or whether to get something a little more aggressive, or whether it is not the clear coat but something else that perhaps that has stained the top.
The other is that some panels on the tin can look newer and so I am not sure whether they will shine and buff out like the older panels...hopefully they will or else it will look a little inconsistent. There is one panel in particular where the furnace is that looks like it is thicker gauge than the other panels - almost like it might be stainless...if that is the case, no amount of polishing will get it all mirror-like shiny...
some pix of the testing:
the top part of the panel is where I am having a hard time removing whatever is caked on there....
panel after stripper has been applied and removed....hopefully you can tell the before/after
one panel down, many more to go....
Now that we have mostly finished the inside and have gotten to use the Globe-Trotter this summer, it is time to fine tune the inside and out. I read many an article/forum regarding the process of polishing these trailers and they all say it is a lot of work. The first step in the process is to use a stripper to remove the clear coat finish on the aluminum (the 2nd step involves multiple iterations of polishing/buffing). This means applying stripper to the whole trailer and then removing the stripper everywhere such that it does not stay on there long term and do damage.
I decided to do a test run on a small panel to see if the CitriStrip product is effective. I had used CitriStrip on the vintage bike I salvaged this past summer and it worked really well. The best part is that it does not have those nasty nose hair burning smells - it is 'green' (ok, orange) so that makes me feel a little better when applying so that it does not destroy anything (like skin, clothes, or wherever else it might land).
One of the good things about Citristrip is that it is thick and so when you apply it, it does not run on you...which is good considering the curves on the silver bullet.
The conditions are not ideal for applying at the moment (optimal temps are between 65-85) but I was curious to see just how much work the stripping part was going to be (it is supposed to be the easier and faster of the 2 part process). I applied the stripper and then let it sit for about an hour. The crux was trying to figure out how to remove the stripper without making too much of a mess. I used the tough blue paper towels to remove most of the stripper and then repeated several times until all signs of the orange gunk were gone. This meant going through many many paper towels. I tried using cloth but quickly realized that once the cloth removed some stripper it was just moving it and rubbing it into the aluminum more.
I removed the stripper then wiped it down with water (with paper towels) and then did a quick spray of simple green cleaner to make sure it was all gone. For good measure I then did another wipe down with water to remove the simple green....time consuming, absolutely but there is no time crunch at the moment and it is in the garage so it is all good. I can see how stripping the entire trailer will take multiple days of work.
As I was puttering around the house a day later, the little symbolic light switch was turned on in my head and I heard the choir as the 'AHA' moment arrived...what exactly is this braniac idea? It dawned on me that perhaps the best way to remove the stripper in bulk (besides washing it outside which would entail hooking the car up, moving it outside and then washing), was to use a window squueegeeee thingie. This worked surprisingly well and did not make much of a mess - and also meant much fewer paper towels).
The temps might have shut us down for the winter in regards to continuing to strip but it seems as if stage 1 is doable...I do have a couple of concerns...
One is that there is one section where the stripper does not seem to be working - not sure if I just need to let the stripper sit longer so it can do its magic, or whether to get something a little more aggressive, or whether it is not the clear coat but something else that perhaps that has stained the top.
The other is that some panels on the tin can look newer and so I am not sure whether they will shine and buff out like the older panels...hopefully they will or else it will look a little inconsistent. There is one panel in particular where the furnace is that looks like it is thicker gauge than the other panels - almost like it might be stainless...if that is the case, no amount of polishing will get it all mirror-like shiny...
some pix of the testing:
the top part of the panel is where I am having a hard time removing whatever is caked on there....
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