Buckerooooo...

Time to buck the body shell to the new bellywrap and C channel.

Tim's skills are suited to more delicate equipment (he's an excellent sound recordist) but he volunteered to help buck a few rivets; complete with protective headgear (not sure if that's to protect from falling objects or preserve anonymity).

Of course he got the comfy end of the bucking...

... while I got the short straw.

But at least being on the backside, you get to control the crumpling of the rivet's tail. I found the most useful 'bucking bar' was a small heavy piece of Tungsten Steel; despite its size it was enough to absorb most of the blows and crumple the tail nicely. Though where there was more room this combined with the head of a 15lb railwayman's hammer helped save my knuckles.

... you just have to trust the man with the gun isn't putting smiley faces on the heads or the skin.

Luckily he did a perfect job (of course!).

... which is more than can be said of his rivet storage !

The skin fitted pretty snugly against the bellywrap.

But there was just enough room for a bead of Vulkem (or TremPro 636, as its now called - from Vintage Trailer Supplies ) - sticky stuff that gets everywhere !

Vintage Trailer Supplies have recently started to stock solid 5/32 rivets too. They are in a soft aluminium which cuts and bucks easily.

I'd ordered the longer ones and even without proper rivet cutters, found they trim nicely with some sharp snips.

... without leaving a burr or distorting the shank of the rivet.

Choices, choices...

So I had the choice of hard (AD) rivets from Aircraft Spruce or the softer ones from Vintage Trailer Supplies. Having drilled out all of the original rivets I'm pretty sure the original Airstream ones were closer to those from VTS and the some of the harder ones from AS had lettering on their heads.

So the compromise was to use the harder rivets along the ends where the rivets are hidden by the trim strip and the softer ones along the sides where they're more visible.

Outside, where it matters...

... and inside where it doesn't.

You can see the gold colour of the coating on the harder rivets (it polishes off easily). You can also see the wobbly path of Airstream's original rivet line !  While its tempting to drill a straighter line, it seems pointless to make more holes as they'll all be hidden by the trim, so we stuck with the wonky old ones.

And a big thanks also to Kelvin (who works with Pete Ritchie at Vintage American Trailer Co ) for stepping into Tim's shoes and bucking the rest of the rivets - its one of those jobs that really does need good teamwork. I'll catch him on camera next time.

The old gal, looking good and strong enough for at least another 50 years on the road...

Now to begin work on the inside... wiring, insulation and then new Zolatone.

... hurrah !