Fiftythree Flying Cloud

A little late but...

2012-01-02T16:24:00.004Z

Happy Christmas to all fellow Alumanuts out there in the Blogosphere.

Best wishes to you all and may 2012 be a particularly shiny one x

Happy Christmas

2011-12-06T16:15:00.001Z

Yes, I know - Where have I been ? You probably thought I'd chucked-in the alooominum towel & bought an SOB. But NO !

Despite running through a sticky patch when every decision I made seemed to be the wrong one and time slipped through my hands, I'm still true to the Airstream faith, and best of all

- the Flying Cloud is HOME AT LAST !

You'll know form my last (distant) post that after the VATCo meltdown, I moved her to near Tewkesbury

to the safe haven of Vintage Airstreams

So a very big thank you to Sam Harkness who runs Vintage Airstreams - he's been extremely helpful

and if you're looking for a fantastic restoration, I can highly recommend them, they do beautiful work.

So despite, having a haulier lined-up for the past two months, I waited & waited...

...and then finally found someone else who had an empty load coming back to Devon

... and off we went

The skin has only had the first cut with F8 but she still shines in the landscape

and on the M5 heading home

Nice shots by my son, Sandy, on the way home

Winter sun

and rain...

Even time to get ahead of the lorry & snap her from the motorway bridge...

It was just getting dark as we got home to Dartmoor

No Landrover this end, just the trusty, ancient Volvo

Overnight at our neighbour's farm

and then down the road to a secure storage unit

Now that's a view I've waited rather too long to see !

And that too !

So there she is, finally in Devon.

We're off to Australia to see family for Christmas, so she's safely locked away and the restoration will continue in the New Year.

Happy Christmas to you all.

And hopefully see you 'down the road' in 2012.

VATCo meltdown, the good, the bad and the ugly !

2011-06-26T11:14:00.002+01:00

Sadly there isn't much 'good'; its been a pretty bad & ugly week.

I turned up at VATCo last Wed, expecting to see the FC with her new axle, wheels & towhitch fitted only to find that Pete Ritchie had done a runner with his two showman trailers, ERF towtruck, all his tools and any deposits paid by Airstream or other trailer owners.

Luckily the landlord (also owed a lot of back-rent) is a really decent guy & very helpful, so we managed to get in and start sorting out the ugly mess.

We've managed to contact all but one of the owners of Airstreams in various states of restoration and they've all been moved off-site

Luckily with the help of Ron, the welder, and Mark, from Cats Hill Plant Hire, I've managed to get the axle, wheels and a temporary hitch onto the old girl. And while I'd much rather be seeing the view of her in my rear view mirror, I'm more than happy to see her out in front for now...

... and get her moved to a much safer place.

Despite this nightmare, I don't think Pete was all bad, he'd just seemed to have got himself into a mess financially and rather than stay & sort it, he's taken the cowardly option & run for it. I only wish I'd seen the signs earlier but its always easy to be wise after the event.

Window in a Window !!!

2011-05-19T17:19:00.002+01:00

Now you probably thought the Door in a Door is one of Airstreams coolest features but is this a first ?

A WINDOW IN A WINDOW !!!

Yes I'd stripped off the old backframe gasket and got rid of most of the glue & always had a sneaky feeling there was something odd about window No 3 (I'm counting anti-clockwise round from the door)

But I still hadn't clicked what exactly was odd about this frame

until I looked up to the top of the frame... its obvious there are two backframes

Once I'd realised, it was obvious. They'd just jammed an identical backframe into the original !

In places a clear mess...

... but in others a little more subtle

The curled window hinge at the top had been drilled off & re-mounted on top of the second backframe.

Quite when it was done, who knows

But unlike the Door in a Door, this one has to go !

Luckily the original backframe, apart from a few extra rivet holes, was in fairly good shape

Out she came...

Window in a Window no more !

Refit the window hinge (after a bit of gentle straightening)

Clecos hold it until its bucked in

Not the neatest rivet line but it seems pointless to drill even more holes

and all of these will be hidden by the drip cap when its refitted

And since these are just above an interior sheet line they're easy to buck single-handed

Now to polish the roof...

I'd already refurb'd the awning rail - unbelievably they'd fitted another more modern awning rail on top of the original (I think there's a theme developing here !). Luckily, like the window, the only damage to the original was a few extra holes

Unlike the vertical sides of the trailer the roof is rather more tricky

Slow & steady, gradually the shine appears

A variable speed Makita polisher & Nuvite F9

A second pass of F7...

... and we're beginning to get there

The central panels are a bit trickier to reach especially as the vents are too small to get through

But a rigid crawling board resting on the vents worked well as a solid platform, from which I could...

... lower my legs (just) through the vents and balance on some steps inside - sorry you'll have to imaging that one as even my photo skills couldn't manage to snap that one !

Its grubby work and there's no short cut... but you get there gradually, and the first F9 cut is by far the hardest to do.

Done - F9 & F7

Now just the endcaps with their original patina...

... but soon they'll match the interior ones.

Catch caught !

2011-04-28T10:04:00.002+01:00

Many thanks for all your suggestions & rummaging - I think I've found a couple of replacement catches.

To our (well, mine at least) British eyes, this is an unusual design but Stateside it is obviously more common & whilst I can't find an exact Yale version

I have found this IVES version in aluminium (or nickel-plated aluminium)

IVES 066 with mortice striker plate from American Locksets for $3.78

Thanks again for all your help. Chris

Help - there's only one catch !

2011-04-26T12:28:00.000+01:00

Help ! I'm after a duplicate screen door catch

They mount on the main door and held the screen door shut & my Flying Cloud only came with one rusty one surviving. Its cleaned-up nicely but would like a friend !

Its a cast iron twist catch made by Yale. Base measures 2" x 1"

Nice aysmmetric look to it & I believe it pre-dates the bolts used on later 50s trailers

I've tried googling & eBaying the Yale ref number but with no luck -

so I thought I'd throw it out to all you Airstream experts out there !

I'd love to find one if at all possible.

Thanks and Happy Easter to you all - Chris

Hehr Standard Window Restoration

2011-04-23T15:58:00.006+01:00

Time to start on the Hehr Standard Windows

Having taken out all the windows & brought them home to Devon

with a little help from Arthur (our 18mth old Lab)

it was time to make a start rejuvenating them

in my rather cluttered workshop

Luckily window restoration doesn't take up that much space

just a bench... and quite a bit of time !

Although they're broadly identical, I still tend to number every window as they come out (and have etched it onto the inside of the frame)

Dismantling isn't as easy

as it should be

The big problem is the steel screws & bolts which have accelerated corrosion having spent 55yrs touching the alloy of the windows.

Surprisingly with some WD40 and brute force, a few come free

... and there's only one option for those that don't ! Its a bit tricky but a wafer thin cutting disc & steady hands see them off

Once they're out the rust staining cleans off & the simple window construction is pretty clear

A few Airstream souvenirs I won't be keeping !

So the dismantled window is 7 pieces: The pressed & folded main frame, 4 x glass securing strips, a central strut and the Hehr catch.

I know we resist any sort of abrasive other than Nuvite on the trailer skin but the windows are a bit different (& I'm not even sure they are Alclad). I found the finest grade of Scotchbrite works really well for cleaning off the oxidation & the rust staining.

Voila - its more mirror sheen than mirror shine but I'm fine with that for the inside parts of the window

I tried some small felt heads for my drill

They worked pretty well but left quite a few swirls, so I went back to hand polishing the outside face

Ready to reassemble

First wash your hands - the new Hehr Glass Seal is very good at taking all that aluminium dust and grime off your hands !

It probably the easiest job - cut a square end and push it onto the edge all the way round.

I haven't glued it but could always run bead of glue in at a later date.

Another square cut...

... and the job's done.

I avoid silicone where possible

but here a small bead and dots in the corners helps hold the glass in firmly

Glass in - now to fix

4mm x 8mm pop rivets do the job nicely

and pull it all together tightly

One side done

Looks rather better ?!

In the corners I used small washers on the inside as the holes were rather larger than the 4mm rivets

Neater than the rusty bolts

Done

It took about an hour-and-a-half for each !

I found the Scotchbrite off eBay - 20 x 9inch pads for £11.

I found it easier to cut them into four smaller pads as its often that straight edge you need

You get through them pretty fast but it brings the aluminium up to a nice sheen

Knocking the dings & dents out of the sections takes a bit of time & need a bit of ingenuity for the slimmer sections

but its worth it when it all goes back together...

... and you'll never do it once the glass is back in.

A pleasing stack - ready to refit.

I used 4mm float glass - I looked into using a thin laminate but they all end up too heavy

The Bathroom window still had its original glass

... so I decided to keep it.

Cleaned up its like new

Vintage privacy !

The two vertically-hung front windows

One done

Clean & polish

Glass seal

Central strut

Done

Finish the door, start the windows...

2011-03-25T10:13:00.006Z

The door was hung but with temporary fixings.
Time to do it properly...

The new hinge rivets only came through the outer skin - I could have lined them up exactly with the old holes but they were so loose & worn, I'd have been fighting a loosing battle trying to get them tight enough to hold the door firmly.

So as they're the most crucial set of rivets on the hinge I'd already decided to beef-up the fixing with a small alloy plate (most of which will be hidden by the door seal rubber).

A simple right-angled plate which I can then pop-rivet to the side too.

Vulkem, Cleco spring clamps to hold it tight.

Bucked tight to the door skin...

... and popped to the side (the eagle-eyed of you will have spotted the pops in the door frame - they were drilled out & replaced with bucked ones later)

Yes, I know its a mix of bucks & pops (and I could always replace the pops with Olympics) but I quite like that - structurally honest !

The temporary fixings onto the body were 4mm pops.
Time to replace them heavier-duty with 4.8mm ones.

That shinier skin makes it a bit trickier to keep out of the shots !

Pschhhhh, pop, pschhhhh, pop, pschhhhh, pop - I love air tools.

You can see the sieve-like state of the skin from 50yrs of re-fixing the door. It looks awful but it would have been a major panel to replace & the very heavy alloy plate running up the inside will take all the weight of the door,

and the new hinge hiding the old evidence.

More Vulkem...

...and 9 x 4.8mm heavy-duty, long shank pop-rivets.

Pschhhhh, pop, pschhhh, pop x 9

Neat and solid

Inside and out.

Windows...
Now, I've said it before (and probably will again) but why oh WHY did Airstream use so many steel fixings when an aluminium pop would have done just fine ?! They're so rusted that most have to be cut, ground or drilled out - not an easy matter when all around is softer alloy.

First window out is the fixed central section of the front

The side windows next. The Hehr Standard Glass Seal is hard & has shrunk from its original length and was probably another source of untraceable leaks.

Luckily its available from Vintage Trailer Supply

The glass is also held in place with rusty old steel nuts & bolts...grrrrrrr
At least they'll be easier to deal with when the windows are out and on a bench.

The central cross-member, Hehr lever and spring mechanism are richly rusted too.

Bad though it looks it should clean up pretty well - you can see the spring plate mechanism for locking the window lever - not running quite as smoothly as it should !

It'll come off when I replace the glass but its nice to record the sticker
from her last inspection at the Stateside port.

Probably in an attempt to stop untraceable leaks, there was Vulkem exerywhere
- one plus; its still flexible after 50yrs.

All the window rubber is coming out too - not that easy as most of the glue is hard & brittle - the perfect tool is a blunt-ended knife.

Its tempting to leave it but when you look more closely...

... and compare it to a new section, you'll see its knackered.

As with the Glass Seal, the Hehr Standard Backframe Gasket is also available from the very helpful people at Vintage Trailer Supply - new on left, old on right (as if you couldn't tell !)

Drip caps are coming off too - I don't recommend drilling with one handand taking pictures with the other.

Its still worth centre-punching the old rivets before you drill them.
The originals usually have a tiny pin-prick of a hold on their headswhich makes it easier to locate a centre punch.

... and off they come

... all 8 of them.

They'll be easier to clean, polish & straighten on the bench & they'll go back on with Olympics

It will also make polishing the body that much easier - fewer things to snag !

More Vulkem to clean off.

With the drip cap off its pretty simple to get the windows out of their hinge-channels.

Just gently bend up the tabs and slide them up and out.

Gone.

Even 50yrs on, Vulkem still gets everywhere !

A brief note on Resto-Chic (not): I know none of us are in doubt just how cool our trailers will be once they're gleaming and rolling down the road, sadly the restoration process requires many weeks in rather less cool (and usually thermal) protective clothing !

The drip cap above the trunk - last to come free.

Am wondering whether Butyl Putty Tape is a better option
when refitting them - suggestions welcome !

If in doubt, rest the camera on the ground !

Vintage American Trailer Co has a couple of other 50s trailers in the shop - this medicine chest is out of one of them - The Omnichest !

Nice label !

So, the windows are all off & will head home
with me to be cleaned, polished and reglazed.

Streetside (though I suppose its reversed in the UK !)

The stern.

Window 8 (I've numbered from the door, anitclockwise)

Window 1

Streetside.

Windows 4, 5 & 6.

Windows 3, 4, 5 & 6

There - that's the 360 with everything removed.

Most of the skin has been polished with F6 - now for some finer grades.

Sadly the Zolatone franchisee in the UK has failed to materialise, so I'll be ordering the paint & getting a local spray expert to paint her once she's back in Devon - again, I'd welcome any Zolatone spraying tips.

The weather in the UK is decidedly spring-like... so thoughts are turning to camping. Our first outing will be in mid-July, so lets hope it not just in an alooooominum tent !

Door-in-a-door in...finally !

2011-02-26T17:12:00.002Z

The big UK freeze, lack of time & an unwelcome round-numbered birthday have all contributed to a complete lack of progress with the Fiftythree Flying Cloud but as the first signs of spring appear & thoughts turn to camping, I've finally got back into gear & started to tackle the badly bent door.

The old Door-in-a-door was hinged suicide style, so at some stage (probably on her journey to the port) had flung open, wacked into the side of the trailer & done its best to reverse its curved shape.

Doors of this age have all the internal sections made of bent aluminium, not cast as in later models. So with a bit of deconstruction and gentle persuasion it should be possible to reverse the damage. The trick is to gently anneal the aluminium frames. Use a soapy liquid (washing-up liquid is ideal) and smear it all over the area you want to heat. Keep the heat moving over the area and the liquid will boil, bubble & evaporate away, keep heating and when the residue turns black, STOP. If you don't you run the risk of the aluminium evaporating in front of your eyes.

Let it cool for a few moments & then start bending & shaping it.

Once you're happy with the shape the black residue will easily clean off with some wire wool

I'd removed the inner section to make it easier to work on but the outer one runs round both sides of the door, so rather than disassemble the entire door, I decided to rig up some support over the vice...

... a bit Heath Robinson but it did the job fine.

More heating

STOP

Into the vice for some squeezing, bending, hammering & cajoling

The trick is knowing when to stop. If parts have been stretched you'll never get them to unstretch & hammering will only stretch it more. Luckily my frames were bent but not too badly stretched.

Cleaned-up and ready to reassemble

The crucial thing is the curve of the door and most of the frame is hidden by the door skin, so don't worry too much about the odd ding & ripple.

I think I've said before that I see restoration as a balance between repair & replace. I don't want a trailer that has every panel replaced and every blemish removed - I'd have bought new if I did. The odd bump & bruise are the marks of her history, she wouldn't be the same without some of them. I draw the line at some things though, and this door skin where someone had added a lock hasp has to go.

A new flat panel needs a slight bevel on the edges - I used my C channel bender.

And once cut & bevelled, the old skin is used as a template for the original rivet holes

The door fittings & deadlock were beyond repair, so I marked their places but left them uncut for now.

Beginning to look the part

Armed with a battery of Clecos and Cleco clamps its a pleasing jigsaw to reassemble

Its worth checking the curve of the door, and err on the side of too much rather than too little.

Its one of those nice riveting jobs where you can sit down & get to both sides - comfy bucking !

I have to admit that since you need two hands to buck rivet it makes it pretty well impossible to do it and photograph yourself - I admit defeat.

Though if you end up with any smiley faces on your rivet heads, you've only got yourself to blame !

Next - the Deadlock. A modern RV one but looks part on a 50s trailer.

Use the template...

...measure twice

...and drill once !

Although most of the insulation wasn't filled with mouse runs, I stripped-out the old Rockwool

and replaced it with the same modern aluminium bubble-wrap that I used on the inside of the trailer.

The inside of the door was all pop-riveted.

Now the hinges.

My old set were bent & buckled, so I bought a new set from Vintage Trailer Supply .

They're not cheap but they are well made. But they do need drilling.

I pretty much copied the pattern of holes on the old ones as I'd added heavier duty plate behind the sieve-like skins & the new hinge would hide the old holes.

I initially drilled them @ 4mm, so I could fit the door but leave some room for adjustment before re-drilling the holes to take heavier-duty long-shank 4.8mm rivets.

The hinges are clearly bent differently, so it shouldn't be difficult to tell the top from the bottom - but I still mark them to make sure !

Popped into place

And ready to hang...

Here's where you need a spare pair of hands.

But once you have a hole drilled and clecoed top & bottom she'll hold nicely

From above you can see the need for the complicated bends & overlaps on the hinges.

Voila !

Remember, behind the outer skin is my heavier plate to take the weight (which isn't much) of the door.

A few more pops & she swings nicely.

The original hinges went under the door skin but the area was so pitted with holes I either needed to replace the whole skin panel or mount the hinges on the surface.

I went for the latter as they'll be covered by the outer hinge when the inner door is closed & since it too has them mounted on the outside, I didn't think it looked out of place.

Still need to fit the rubber seals but she's a good fit.

Done !

A little jiggling & the all-important (for suicide doors particularly) deadlock fits into the old mortice.

Yes you'll probably spot the three holes from the old hasp that would have lined up with those (now vanished) on the replaced section of door skin. Three Olympics should sort them out.

Door-in-a-door... Beautiful, and is there anything that says Airstream more than this ?

Starting to look her old self again.

Windows & wheels & we'll be rolling down the road... soon.

Wheel wells...

2010-10-25T14:42:00.008+01:00

The summer has gone, the mushrooms too. Its been a brilliant year for fungi in the UK - my freezer is full !

So as the temperatures cool & the leaves fall its time to get the old girl sorted.

Wheel wells.

The old ones were steel & rusted through, so time to to fabricate some new ones

Aluminium ones

With no access to fancy folding & bending presses, it was a case of cut, bend & rivet

Using the old ones for patterns

And adding perforated strips to attach to the inside skin

and panels to wrap round onto the bellywrap

Its a bit of a fiddle getting a tight fit, especially as the walls curve inwards at their base which means the covers are inside the inner skin at the base and flush with it at the top.

Then the even more fiddly task of trimming the inside to exactly fit the outer skin. The Cleco-type clamps are really useful to pull the two skins together before inserting the beaded trim and drilling for the rivets.

I found it was easiest to start in the centre and work outwards towards each edge.

I'd love to say the old beaded trim just slipped on but over the years it was dinged and kinked but eventually after a lot of teasing and tapping I got the line bucked...

And with the flaps folded round under the belly & riveted to the bellywrap the end result was pretty neat.

and stiffened the outer skin up considerably

... it would clearly withstand the odd bump from rounded objects !

One down, one to go...

This wasn't precision riveting but it was strong & will never be seen

One tip - when you're bending the tabs make a small curved section to bend against & you'll end up with a neat and consistent curve.

and bucking when you can easily get a hand to both sides is a joy.

The second one is always easier...

...but still a fiddle to get the old beading sandwiched between the skin and the outer wall of the well

Clecos and the Cleco spring clamps are indispensible... and a joy to use

Streetside wheel well done...

Yes, that line of rivets could be straighter... but as we all know, Airstream's quality control was pretty random when it came to unseen areas. So I'm just trying to keep up that tradition !

And the all-important outer rivet line is dead straight & should polish up nicely.

And on the subject of polishing Kelvin @ Vintage American Trailer Co has been busy getting the old girl's shine back. But still the finer Nuvite grades to go & no doubt I'll be hand finishing the windows & drip caps.

Inside, I've primed (with a grey aluminium-rich primer) the floor and with the wheel wells in place, she's starting to look ready to have her interior re-fitted.

Kerbside

Taped seams on the inside and sealant on the underside - should keep any road spray out.

Streetside

Now to tackle the door - it had made a suicidal bid for freedom sometime in the past & was severely bent on the handle side.

The old hinges were fairly bent too

Interestingly, the hinges on the Flying Cloud are inserted under the skin on the door.

I have a brand new set of hinges from Vintage Trailer Supply but they're fairly pricey ($199), so if I can straighten these, I may keep them & sell on the new set

Clearly there's a panel to replace here... and door furniture.

Another drip-cap with rusty steel screws...

They're coming out... and will be replaced with Olympics

Doors of this age have no cast aluminium parts, they're all made of bent sheet.

Its a double-edged sword, on the one hand, a lot weaker than the later cast frames but on the other hand a lot more fixable...

I'm always happy to learn from a pro - the buckle on the door frame is so severe that its too kinked to knock out, so Pete Ritchie of VATCO showed me a trick...

Aluminium naturally stiffens over time so needs heat to give it back its initial flex.

The risk though is that unlike steel there's no colour change to show how the heat is affecting it; it'll just look the same until it suddenly disappears, and then its too late.

Pete's trick is to paint the whole area with any soapy liquid (washing-up liquid) and heat, keeping the torch moving, until the liquid boils off & turns black. Then stop & allow to cool slowly.

Once cool the annealed aluminium will be much more flexible & easier to work.

Leaf springs are finally back - cleaned, with the odd leaf replaced, rebound and re-bushed.

Ready to refit.

More aluminium insulation on the inside of the wheel wells too.

And still to come, a plywood box to cover them

As you can see the VATCO workshop is quite a little slice of Americana - Pete has quite a bevvy of aluminum ladies in to keep mine company - a 54 Flying Cloud, just reunited with her rejuvenated chassis and new floor after a body-off restoration.

There's also a 60's Tradewind and a couple of 70's in the works too.

Check out his website for updates - still the best place to go for all your Airstream restoration needs

As usual my time ran out before we got the door sorted but I'll be back up soon. The plan is to get the Zolatone sprayed, new axles on, EU towhitch on and polishing finished... so she can head down to Devon for Christmas and begin the interior refit.

And thinking ahead to re-installing my interior, I can highly recommend David Winick's new book - beautifully produced and a great inspiration. Nice one David.

All back in...finally !

2010-08-17T11:19:00.000+01:00

Its been a while since I posted but despite the best intentions to get her ready in time for summer camping, work yet again conspired to get in the way at the wrong time. So we're just back from a lovely but aluminium-free fortnight under canvas...in our trusty yurt.

But before work kicked-in, I did manage to get this little lot done...

Finished running the colour-coded wiring for the 12v (Blue), 240v (Orange) and running lights (Black).all hidden behind the lower panels. Leaving junction boxes & outlets where needed.I re-used all the old panels as they were in pretty good shape

insulating them on the inside between the frames Drill...Rivet...Rivet...Drill...

Rivet... Repetitive but satisfying.Still using a depth-stop on the drill bit.I refitted in the order they came out (of course). Ends first...And then the sides...Now you see it......now you don't.Last to go in was the small one to the left of the door.Two repairs needed before she was sealed-up. First; another heavy aluminium plate in the inside of the sieve-like door hinge plate...Vulkem...Clamped...

... and riveted, ready to take the new hinges.Second; a very localised bit of corrosion above the door.I decided a small patch would look more obvious than a larger oneso removed a section that was the full width between two framesand lapped the new piece over the edges of the old onesso the rivet lines matched those already thereOnce its got a new coat of Zolatone, it should hardly notice.So finally the panels that came out in the autumn of 2008 are finally back where they belong.and structurally even stronger than she was in 1953 Now to prep the old paintworkand mask all openingsready for a new layer of Zolatone Cabinets too...

Just the endcaps to cover.and since Zolatone (UK) were offering a good deal, I've decided to get them to spay the new paint.

Wires and skin...

2010-05-31T21:33:00.002+01:00

Insulation on the inside of the outer skin, time to run some wires

We'll be boondocking more often than not, so no need for a monster dual system

Just a good 12v one

The old wiring (see older posts) was in a pitiful and dangerous state, so rather than rubber grommets or short lengths of tube (as Airstream used), I opted for rigid cable outlets

That screw tightly on either side of the C channel frames

A bit of colour-coding too - Blue 12v, Orange 240v, Black 7 core trailer hook-up cable

The plan is to have a 12v circuit for lights and using the 3 core cable will allow a dedicated line for the fridge. The 240v circuit will consist of maybe 2 double outlet plugs at either end of the trailer - since we'll seldom be in a full-hook-up site we thought it easiest to have plugs to allow us to plug in appliances if ever we are.

We have tried to plan ahead and with solar panel technology improving all the time (& prices dropping too)

and wired a dedicated charging circuit to potentially link with two roof-mounted solar panels

I've recorded where the two wire coils are, so, in theory, I should be able to drill through the roof panels and pick up the cable - well that's the theory !

To keep things simple, and to have as few breaks in the cable as possible, I'm sticking with the old system of having light switches on the light fittings, so cable loops are left at the matching holes in the inner skin.

Now to get the inner skin back in

First a layer of the Airtech insulation on the inner side of the inner skin

Its pretty clear where the rivet lines are on the skin, so I taped the insulation to the skin in sections, leaving a good strip clear where the skin touches the C channel frames as both the Airtech & the aluminium tape tends to grab and snag any drill bit.

Then up she goes...

a bit of a bit of a fiddle but with a couple of extra pairs of hands and a pocket full of Clecos

it was fairly easy to line up the original rivet holes

The double layer of Airtech should keep us snug, or should Britain ever have a scorching summer, cool !

Starting to look like the old girl again

Pop rivet-tastic...

4mm x 12mm with the odd 8mm - you get through a few hundred faster than you think

Although the inner endcaps aren't comletely polished

we had concentrated on the edges, where it joins the Zolatone (or what will be the new Zolatone)

- a nice juxtaposition of my inner endcap & the 54 Flying Cloud's outer endcap

Now just the lower panels to go back in

then prepping for the new Zolatone

... and a tad more polishing.

Silver Machine...

2010-05-22T22:50:00.003+01:00

While I'd been off in the ruins of Pompeii (BBC & Discovery - I'll let you know when they come out), Kelvin had been busy giving the bow endcap a bit of a shine.

There seemed to be no difference in the panels, so that ALCLAD script on the reverse of one made no difference. Unfortunately the Zolatone had etched worm-like pits into the surface.

Some were shallow enough to polish but others were too deep

Its worth getting out a magnifying lens and having look

and its soon pretty obvious that some are there to stay. They may look like moon craters up close

but I'm happy to think of them as beauty spots; a sign of her 57 years.

But back to work - Insulation

I'd opted for aluminium foil, bubble-wrap insulation.

There seems to be a wide choice out there. This was Airtech from Screwfix.

Easy to cut, easy to fit with a few dots of flexible mastic.

Although its only 1/2" thick its supposed to give the same insulation as 6" of Rockwool.

I plan to put another layer on the inside of the inner skin & run the wires through between the two

and I hope its a little less inviting to those uninvited, nesting critters

The polishing had brought one thing to light...

... that there's a central frame missing. So the outer skin flexes a lot when compounding with the polisher.

We debated putting in a new frame (as the 54 Flying Cloud, also in VATCO's shop, does have one) but instead decided to beef-up the cross-frames with another C-channel inserted & riveted to the old one.

We'd replaced the steel panel that ran up from the bellywrap at the front, inside the outer skin, with a thicker alloy plate so this was then riveted to the cross-frame

Other problems to sort before the inner skin goes back on - the hinge mounts and the bizarre tear (or cut) to the left of the door.

We can't work out how or why this scar is there, it almost looks like someone started to cut out a section as there's no creasing from a collision. But who or whatever made, it needs fixing.

Since we'd decided that the simplest way to fix the problem of how to strengthen the sieve that had been left by at least 3 sets of door hinge holes, was to put a heavy (3mm) plate behind the outer skin to take the weight of the door, it seemed sensible to run this plate up behind the tear too.

Short of replacing a vast panel the only way was to make an 'honest' repair. Its always a tad worrying drilling new holes in your outer skin but it has to be done...

... and the end result; an honestly stitched scar. And though it'll never heal perfectly as the skin has stretched a little, it should look even better when polished.

And speaking of polishing...

Kelvin's made a good start. This panel has had 2 cuts... not bad at all, even if the reflection leaves a little to be desired !

So she's starting to get a little of her former shine back...

And inside, definitely a Silver Machine...

Endcapitus...

2010-04-23T22:11:00.008+01:00

Yes the weather has finally swung and thoughts are turning to getting the Cloud back on the road.

Yes the more observant will have spotted that the 'Land Yacht' plaque isn't on the old 1953 gal.
Its from a 1960 Safari.
But in the evening spring sunshine it does shout wanderlust.

You'll also notice that I haven't posted for a wee while. Work has reared its head (two films for Nat Geo in Crete & one in Pompeii for Discovery/BBC - so I can't complain) which means not much happens on the Flying Cloud but on the plus side it has helped the restoration finances.

Time to strip that Zolatone off the endcaps...

Unfortunately the Zolatone was covered by at least two layers of white emulsion

I would love to say it was an easy job

... but it wasn't.

Though eventually with lots of elbow-grease & resisting the temptation to use something more abrasive than a plastic scraper, it all came off.

Oddly both endcaps have one panel with Alclad script on the outide (well, inside when they're back in)

As far as I can see there's no difference in how the panels look on the inside now the paint is off.

But only polishing will tell.

Before they go back in, and remembering the line; 'they all leak', I liberally applied some mastic to the seams

Without Vulkem to hand I used Tiger Seal - an automotive window sealing mastic.

Hopefully that'll help keep the rain out

Next, a little hi-tech insulation.

Multi-layered, tacked down with aluminium tape... we're going to be snug; even in Blighty

Ready for lift off !

Out

Originally the endcap had been secured to the window by self-tapping steel screws - presumably to draw the endcap, which naturally springs away from the window, in tight to the window frame.

I found that with a few Clecos it was easy to pull it in tight enough to pop rivet.

Its a tad unwieldy but the lazy pop riveter works well

And no steel to react with the aluminium

Starting to look the part again.

Other jobs were to refit the bead trim to the wheel wells.

Nice to be able to reach both sides of a panel

and buck your own rivets

The other endcap proved no easier but after 2 or 3 applications of stripper it started to shine...

... in the spring sunshine

Endcaps are surprisingly robust and hold their curve but a simple T-shaped brace helps to keep them in shape, especially in a strong wind.

I think someone had retro-fitted a bunk at one end as the stern endcap was riddled with pop rivets. Having it out was a good opportunity to drill them out & buck in some solid ones - nothing structural, just that as I (hopefully) lie back in bed and gaze at the dazzling, parabolic 13 panels, it'll bug me to see a line of pop rivets.

Not any more; another one man buck rivet job.

Time for another Space Shuttle helmet.

- In the background you can see the 54 Flying Cloud is a'flying on VATCO's (Vintage American Trailer Co) body-lifting gantry. She's also having the chassis repaired and a new floor before being reattached -

and Kelvin to help wrangle it in.

Before...

...and after.

No polishing but starting to look great.

Pop riveted around the window and the 12v wires for central and side lights.

The panels and their rivet lines show beautifully now stripped of their paint layers

A few more panels to refit but she's starting to look her old self again.

Pete & Kelvin taking a well-earned, tea-break - The VATCO workshop is pretty busy with two other 50s Airstreams to restore and a 70s in for conversion into a mobile bar. Check their site for a full list and I'm more than happy to vouch for the superb quality of all their work.

...British and American.

Me... I'm dreaming of that first sun-drenched trip.

Inside Out...

2010-02-11T13:04:00.004Z

I know its been a while but we had Christmas followed by heaps of snow and freezing weather. But at last things are progressing again...

Unfortunately, after the positive step of buck riveting the shell back onto the chassis, it was back to a wee bit of destruction; the inner sheets needed to come out.

So more rivet drilling and more mess.

Most of it was in good condition but there had clearly been some water pooling around the head of the door.

There is this misheld idea that aluminium will never corrode - wrong. It may do it a little slower than other metals but where you've got alloys in contact with other metals and/or water it will pit, bubble and ultimately crumble.

So this is one sheet that will need a new section let into it.

Leaving a few clecos in one side it was soon hanging by the few central rivets.

Fairly simple to roll it up - I'm sure it came in through the door but for now it can stay put.

The state of the insulation varied ! Some panels were fine while others had become homes to a variety of critters.

Not a lot of insulating power here !

... and even a 240V wire sandwiched between the skin and the frame. Amazingly the insulation had held up.

Insualtion out & just the stern end-cap to come out.

As at the bow the base of the 13 panel cap was drawn in tight to the window frame with self-tapping screws.

Of course I didn't doubt it would...

... but it was nice to see it did fit through the door.

Down to her outer skin and skeletal frame...

The tar-like paint was adhesive to stick the insulation to the skin and seal the seams.

It also revealed just how many self-tapping steel screws Airstream had used.

These held in the drip-cap over the door and had probably been the source of the advanced corrosion to the inner panels around the door head.

These were obvious but when you looked closely they'd used them all over the place...

... all the window drip-caps had them in the corners.

With every other rivet in the cap bucked, I can only think they screwed the two ends to hold the cap in place while they bucked the ones in between.

As we've got access to the inside of the outer skin, all the screws are coming out & bucked rivets put in their place.

Even on the roof the various vents had been screwed down, though this makes more sense as they were probably added after the inner skin was in place.

... Vulkem, still sticky and flexible after 55yrs.

Pete Ricthie had been busy while I'd been away & had removed the leaf-springs and old axle.

They'll be sent off for re-binding and rejuvenating and the new axle is ready for their return.

Removing the aluminium eye-level cupboards revealed...

The best patch of original Zolatone yet...

As it'd been hidden from light and wear'n'tear it gives us a great sample to match to the new Zolatone.

Someone had added a square section awning track on top of the original rope channel.

They'd also liberally stuck it and filled it with every mastic and filler known to man; a bugger to clean off...

... but worth it. Giving her back the fine line of her discrete track.

It was also time to order up some polish. So polishing supremo, Kelvin buffed a test section...

He found that Nuvite's Nushine II @ F7 was quite abrasive enough to clear most of the corrosion.

...and even someone in a dodgy hat managed to buff a passable shine.

One failure... trying to strip the inner end caps. Too cold - even for my hands.

Generally the skin seems to be in good nick; although you can never tell until you start polishing.

But its nice to see her start to shine.

Buckerooooo...

2009-12-12T14:28:00.006Z

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 !

Whole again...

2009-11-19T15:13:00.004Z

Pete had fitted the last two bellywrap sheets and flipped the chassis right-side-up (cheers, Pete). Now it was time to drill out those temporary pop-rivets, fit the last few bolts holding the frame supports & buck the bellywrap ends to the C channel... before reuniting the shell & chassis.

I'd marked the position of the frames supporting the body-shell and used a short section of right-angled aluminium which was bolted through the floor and outrigger, leaving an upright to rivet the frame end to.

I'd decided bolt up through the floor (rather than down) which made things a lot easier. Rather than bend the bolt ends to stop the nuts loosening I added a Nyloc locking nut on top of the normal nut.

Along with the Clecos, I found the Cleco spring clamps incredibly useful.

Surprisingly powerful for their size, they're perfect for clamping the wrap to the C channel before riveting.

A selection of rivets from Aircraft Spruce - all 5/32 AD (hard aluminium) but in different lengths.

The shortest was perfect for 2 sheets - wrap and C channel.

A small tungsten bucking bar was easiest to use and despite its size gives very little recoil.

And as a novice 'bucker' it was a good way to learn as you can see both sides of the rivet, feather the trigger on the gun & watch the rivet end fatten, flatten & lock the sheets together.

Before we tried to reunite the two halves it there was a lot of dried Vulkem on the lower, inside edges of the skin. A scrape with a putty knife and a light sanding (one area we're not going to polish) gave us a clean and keyed alloy surface that should slip over the bellywrap and bond to a new bead of Vulkem.

It dawned on me that I'd never taken the obligatory shot; standing on the ground inside the trailer clutching a optimistic bottle of beer - no beer to hand so my best James Bond 0.032, License to Buck !

One new toy - Einhell Air Shear.

Makes very light work of cutting shapes out of sheets.

The 1953 FC didn't have a steel plate at the front of the trailer, as later models do. Instead it had a larger aluminium sheet running up the inside of the skin.

I used it to cover the front frame & make a neat exit for the twin gas lines.

All ready to go...

Just a quick cup of tea (...its the law in Britain) before lining the two halves up.

I can't say the shell just slipped on like a knife though butter - it took a lot of 'up-a-bit, down-a-bit' and teasing the skin outside the wrap while keeping the frames inside. We got the rear on first and worked our way forward - thin putty knives are very useful to stop the sheets catching. But with a little gentle persuasion they eventually fitted perfectly - and tightly.

We decided to temporarily pop-rivet along the corners which was enough to hold everything in place.

As you can see she's a little hemmed in by a Safari & a Vickers, but now she can stand on her own two feet, Pete will rearrange the shop so I can get round and buck that join line.

Inside the frames lined up perfectly with the angle-brackets.

The front end-cap had come out to repair the dent.

But I'm pretty sure I'll take out all the interior skin to renew the insulation.

The well-padded beam hadn't made any marks or dents & I'd really recommend this way of lifting the body-shell - a central chain hoist through the centre vent allowed the shell to balance perfectly, retain its shape without the need for any bracing and the chain hoist gave us precise control of lifting & lowering.

... O3069 rides again, soon !

Upside-down...

2009-11-07T13:39:00.010Z

Time to ignore the airborne distractions outside & deal with the unseen areas; the underfloor insulation & the bellywrap. Look at the photo on the right closely.... No, its not a new low-rider Flying Cloud

... the chassis really is upside-down.

Thanks to Pete and his forklift @ Vintage American Trailer Co I had the luxury of working on the underside of the chassis from the topside.

We'd decided to use rigid, foil-backed insulation board.

70mm sheets fill the gap between the floor and the bellywrap perfectly. It won't absorb or trap water, so hopefully the rust associated with the original rockwool insulation trapping moisture against the steel of the chassis won't be repeated. Edges are easily shaped to fit with the curve of the outriggers.

The sections were glued to the underside of the floor and the joins taped with trusty aluminium tape.

We also taped over the chassis steel too - it'll hopefully help, along with the paint, to cut down on the corrosion problems of aluminium meeting steel.

... the central box is for a flexible water tank. We'd decided where possible not to maintain her strength & not cut through the floor if there was another option; so the water tank will be slung under the main floor.

Outside Pete's workshop there's always the pleasant distraction of the Harrier pilots training...

... not a bad backdrop for the 54 FC.

Time to make a start on that bellywrap... We'd saved the corroded old sections to provide rough patterns.

Mark, cut, bend, clamp...

... and finally a pop-rivet. In true Airstream style, we weren't too worried about neatness; the main concern was to get a nice neat curve on the sides.

The plan is to fit the whole wrap and then spin the chassis back to allow us to trim the edges and buck rivet them to the C channel. All of which will be hidden once the body-shell is dropped back on.

We used 4mm pop-rivets with a wide flange.

... and pretty soon she was starting to look like a worm's eye view of an Airstream.

At Pete's suggestion, I used some vintage car trim to protect the aluminium sheets from the abrasive edges of the outriggers. Our's came from Woolies in Market Deeping, Peterborough.

Its simple to cut, bend to shape and push on. It naturally grips and won't fall off, so should stop any chafing of steel against bellywrap.

To take the EU-legal tow hitch Pete has welded a sturdy box steel pole up the centre-line. We fitted right-angle aluminium to its sides to rivet the bellywrap to.

The bellywrap sheets fit up the sides of the water tank box, so should blend in nicely (if its noticeable at all).

A couple more days & she'll be ready to spin rightside-up again.

The Airmen and the Headhunters - on TV, Veterans Day, 11th November.

2009-10-29T10:34:00.002Z

When I'm not being idle with all things aluminium, my day job is as a cameraman, shooting documentaries for TV. We shot the true story of The Airmen and the Headhunters earlier this year in Borneo, Australia, the UK and Texas - where Dan Illerich, the only surviving airman lives.

A WW2, US Liberator crew, shot up over Brunei Bay, eventually crashes in the wild central highlands of Borneo. Captured by the local tribesmen the airmen fear for their lives. But since the local tribe, the Lun Dayeh, had suffered torture & killings at the hands of the occupying Japanese, they decide to side with the Allies and surprisingly enough, prove kind, welcoming and very generous with what provisions they have; meanwhile, the Japanese plunder the island's oil resources and subject any opposition to torture and worse, proving the terms "savage" and "civilized" to be quite subjective.

With the help of a local District Official and Lun Dayeh tribesmen, the airmen survived for over 6 months in uncharted interior jungles, avoiding capture by occupying Japanese forces. With the help of a maverick British anthropologist, Major Tom Harrisson, who was parrachuted in, with a small team of Australian commandos, to find them, they ran a very successful campaign of terror against the Japanese, which allowed the Lun Dayeh to return to their old headhunting ways, taking Japanese trophies back to their longhouses.

Its a great story of the meeting of two worlds, bravery, the resulting bonds of friendship and eventual escape thanks to an ingenious airstrip made of bamboo...

Hope you enjoy it.

Chris

I do like to be beside the C...

2009-10-23T10:49:00.001+01:00

Finally, I've got my arse in gear and blown the summer dust off the Flying Cloud. Time to fabricate & fit the all-important C channel.

I'm sure some of you have folding presses & guillotines but we went low-tech and got out the tin-snips.

Slightly thicker aluminium than the original - a 5" strip will give us a 2 1/2 x 1" channel with the all important inch and a half base.

Snip, snip, snip...

Now to bend...

Some plywood off-cuts from the floor with clamps at either end and a central bolt grip the strip along its length.

Then start bending. By hand to begin with...

... then with a little more force to tighten the corners.

Start with the inch...

... and finish with the two and a half.

Wally would be proud ! One down, ten to go.

Don't think my precision was completely spot on but then as we all know, nor was Airstream's !

More snipping on the corner sections. I was going to cut out triangles but overlapping the snipped sections worked perfectly well and saved more snipping & cut hands.

After a bit of trial and error - I ended up snipping about every 3/4 inch and putting in a bend on each.

This makes too tight a bend initially but it'll open out evenly to fit the corner line.

We used stainless steel coach bolts which pull in tight to the underside of the floor and make it easier to bend or lock the nuts on the topside.

And a dab of the dreaded silicone to seal the hole.

Starting to look the part again.

The shell slipped over fine, with enough breathing space for the belly-wrap between the channel and the outer sheets.

As we'll be flipping the chassis and fitting the bellywrap first we marked the position of each of the frames to bolt through the short sections of 1/4" right-angle alloy which Airstream used on key frames to anchor them to the floor or chassis members.

The beauty of having the shell on a chain hoist means its a doddle to lift it up and down to check the fit - thanks to Pete Ritchie @ VATCO - Vintage American Trailer Co, for that luxury. Can't recommend his company highly enough and I'm pleased to see that he may well be working on a newly imported 54 Flying Cloud too... Clouds rule !

Check the link to his site - http://vatco.eu/

I also got the chance to blow the dust off my second-hand Ingersol Rand rivet gun and bucked my first rivet. Hurrah !

... worked beautifully, even if I'd overcooked the first couple.

An Aluminium-free summer !

2009-09-30T17:25:00.005+01:00

Very sorry to report but this has been an aluminium-free summer ! We'd made great progress on the Flying Cloud in the spring with the chassis and fixing the new floor BUT my work piled in at the wrong time.

So the trusty yurt came out for the Larmer Tree music festival and for two weeks camping in deepest Cornwall in August.

Great time, great food (shore crabs, samphire & kofte kebabs...), sailing, canoeing and, of course, good old English summer weather - torrential rain.

With the odd sunny day...

I'm sure its of little interest to you alumanuts but our (homemade) yurt has done great service for the past 5 years. Its based on the traditional Mongolian yurt with a few helpful twists:

The door is much the same but has a tough, unstretchable rope of fixed (15ft) diameter attatched to it.

This rope sits on top of the lattice walls (khanas - which concertina down to 3, 2ft wide sections) and the roof poles have a slot cut in them which hooks over the rope, making it very fast to erect (20mins - yes really!). Everything is tied together with nylon cord and webbing - in Mongolia they use rawhide - which means everything is fixable with a knife, drill & more cord.

The whole structure is incredibly lightweight and strong. We then have canvas walls and roof. And over the hexagonal hole in the centre some clear, plastic stitched into canvas for those inclement summer days ! And it all fits in and on our trusty Volvo.

Hopefully the next post will be some much-needed progress on the Flying Cloud.

Measure twice... cut once !

2009-06-14T13:55:00.007+01:00

Sorry for the lack of posting. This work was done a month ago but other work has taken me off to Borneo to shoot a interesting documentary about the US crew of a 'Liberator' bomber, shot down towards the end of WW2, over central Borneo and captured by the Dayak headhunters. The Dayaks sided with the airmen and over the next 7 months looked after them and ran a successful guerilla campaign against the occupying Japanese army. The only survivor now lives in Houston, Texas. It should air both in the UK on Ch 4 & US on PBS.

But now back to more important work...

With £800 of Marine Ply secured to the chassis I rather nervously got out the jigsaw...

I started with the step. The old maxim; measure twice, cut once, was ringing in my head. At this stage a cock-up would be costly.

A good steel edge & a heavily scored line to cut up against is the best way to get a nice clean edge in plywood.

The chassis was pretty true but it made good sense to always work off and check measurements back to the centre-line.

I first cut a generous inch wider than the template.

And the beauty of having the body-shell balanced on a chain-hoist meant it was easy to wheel the floor in and out. Checking, measuring and trimming. Little by little.

I used the off-cuts from the best preserved curve to shape the exact same shape for the others.

Until finally the body dropped snugly onto the new floor.

The outer sheets overlapping the plywood and the rivet holes lining up ready to be re-rivetted to the C-channel which will be the next thing to fit.

Time for a new floor...

2009-06-14T11:57:00.005+01:00

Pete Ritchie (of Vintage American Trailer Co) had been busy prepping the chassis for the new EU tow-hitch. We'd decided to add a square-section steel running up the centre-line from the axle which will take the new hitch and add a little stiffness to the chassis.

5 Sheets of 3/4", 8 x 4ft Marine Grade Ply - pretty pricey at £130 per sheet - should last another 50yrs.

Using the hardboard templates taken off the old floor as a guide to the corner curves, laying the new sheets was pretty straightforward.

The chassis had been painted with rust-inhibiting paint & rather than use rubber strips we used a generous bead of silicone to provide a barrier between the wood & the steel. I know that just about anywhere else using silicone is seen as the devil incarnate but here its perfect.

The 8 x 4 sheets butted-up perfectly on each 4ft chassis cross-member. Sikaflex was used to bond the sheets together. The beauty of Sikaflex is that its a powerful bond that always remains flexible but once cured is sandable.

Sheets were fixed at regular intervals to the chassis cross-members.

We used large countersunk, stainless-steel bolts. Their heads have a hex key fitting and they pull in flush with the floor surface as they're tightened.

Now to begin the trimming off the excess for a perfect fit...

End-caps & dings...

2009-05-18T22:33:00.012+01:00

Sorry to have been off-message for so long - work (a lot of it Stateside, which has allowed a few orders from Vintage Trailer Supplies to be brought home in my luggage) has just got in the way.

Before we re-fit the floor, time to remove the front end-cap and look at that DING.

Mainly pop-rivets to drill out. But where the end-cap joins the front window they've used self-tapping screws.

Maybe to pull the end-cap tight into the window frame. Once those screws are released it pops back against the outer skin.

A bit of a fiddle to get the end-cap out as its riveted in place before the ceiling panels are put in. But with a bit of devious drilling those rivets can be popped & the end-cap will drop down leaving the ceiling panels in place.

Lots of tar and rockwool...

... and the inner bulge of the outer end-cap DING (not sure if DING is a word you use Stateside but here in Blighty it means a bit of an error parking up !).

Luckily, Pete Ritchie (Vintage American Trailer Co - see link) is skilled in the art of teasing out those blemishes.

Gentle work with a rubber hammer and the very occasional use of a metal hammer & dolly. The risk always is to use too much force & stretch the aluminium - as in SO much of life; less is more !

A few curbside scrapes are also teased out. Its a lot easier to get your arms to both sides while the body is in thin air !

The end-cap is in good shape, though interestingly there is one panel with the ALCLAD print lettering on the inside.

The end-cap removed is both naturally strong in one axis, though the curves of aluminium but also fragile in the other, so I think we'll brace her to stop any accidents while she's out.

Rivets...

2009-04-30T15:13:00.004+01:00

Its been a while since I posted but work has just conspired to get in the way. I'm literally back off the 757 from Newark, NJ with a few goodies from Vintage Trailer Supplies (see next post). But work was so plat out I didn't get it together to order the rivets from Aircraft Spruce in time to get them delivered to my friends in NY before I left. So I had them sent direct to the UK. Ordered on Monday - and they'd arrived by the time I was home today (Thurs) - pretty speedy service.

But the two shorter sizes (AN470AD - 5 - 4 & AN470AD - 5 - 5) have lettering on their heads !

As you can see I've ordered 5/32, Universal Head, Hard Aluminium (AD) in sizes 4, 5, 6 & 8.

The 4 & 5 size have the above lettering on them, while the 6 & 8s have only a very slight 'F' which is almost invisible.

I was expecting the central dimple but not the ' O1DC' - It looks too deep to polish off.

Looks more like it should be on a pair of Levis !

Have I ordered the wrong ones ?

Help !

The big frame clean-up...

2009-02-27T09:55:00.013Z

With the belly-wrap removed it was time to clean-up that frame - so we could see how the 55 yr old steel had faired.

The curved end-cap 'C' channels had been removed, leaving just the straight sections.

The rear cross member has suffered the worst & needs replacing.

We may replace some of the tattier sections of C channel but they all got labelled.

The central cross member is the same heavy, pre-formed, C-beam as the longitudinal beams. I know we've learnt not to expect perfection from Airstream but this has a weld - who was on quality control that day in 1953 ? Still, its held up well & the weld looks sound.

It may look like overkill but protective glasses and a face shield make sense with so much rust & hot metal flying around... and my eyes are my career !

The worst rust is on the top side, under the floor, where the moisture had been retained by the insulation but once cleaned off revealed steel in great shape.

Streetside wheel, leaf-springs & axle... no shock, though the round welds where it attached can be seen on the axle & upper cross member.

Curbside - the shock is taking it easy !

Off-set axles - they're prohibitively expensive in the UK, so we'll use a straight shaft and a pad to keep the ride height much the same.

Spiral-headed floor bolts all rusted solid. Grind them flat & then they punch out pretty easily.

Front section wire-brushed clean. Welds all very sound & great quality steel.

The Harrier Jump Jet trainers make an entertaining backdrop.

All cleaned and ready to weld. No nasty surprises, in fact we were pleasantly surprised; the rear cross member needs replacing, the step area needs attention and two outriders need strengthening but otherwise all very sound. We plan to move one cross member, just behind the axle to accommodate a sub-floor water tank and there'll also need to be some re-jigging to take the EU tow hitch. Floor next - marine-ply is ordered - ouch !

And now the chassis...

2009-02-19T14:04:00.011Z

Flying high & safely out of the way. Luckily the shell can stay on the hoist so no need to lower her onto trestles & possibly damage the edges of the outer sheets.

Out goes the chassis... ...hopefully when it returns it'll look brand new.

As is pretty evident the floor was in a pretty bad state, or rotted away completely.

The front & rear sections where the ply foor had all but dissolved were pretty simple to clear. Despite the rot in the wood most of the frame was in surprisingly sound condition. The step will need reinforcing.

Much of the central section of the plywood floor was pretty sound, though the fixings were very rusty. Unless this was a later repair (and there are no signs it was) it appears the sheets of ply were joined together with corrugated fasteners.

Once all the floor was removed, it was pretty clear that trailer had not just been home to wanderlusty humans... various nut-eating critters had hitched a ride too.

It was also clear that the subfloor insulation was laid over the steel frame and the floor fastened through it. The insulation had obviously acted like a sponge, retaining water and rusting the steel - we plan to use a flat rubber strip & Sikkaflex.

I cut templates (in hardboard) for both ends (bow & stern... after all she is named after a ship!) so the 'C' channel can go back in exactly the same place - with a few kinks removed.

All-in-all we were pleasantly surprised at the condition of the steel frame. A few outriggers and one cross-member will need replacing but otherwise its a case of repairing & strengthening.

The floorspace under the shell has now become useful storage for the sections and fittings removed.

We have lift-off...

2009-02-14T14:34:00.013Z

After a few false starts due to the heavy snow we finally had the 53 Flying Cloud in the workshop.

Pete Ritchie of Vintage American Trailer Co had rigged up a bespoke gantry & chain hoist. We'd both been doing our homework; looking at blogs & speaking to fellow restorers. There seems to be a split between the 'bracers' and the 'non-bracers', though I think a lot depends on how & where you're going to apply that lifting force.

We'd decided the best option was to lift from a single central point and then spread the load evenly by using a full-length timber beam (12ft x 4"x 4")... and we'd decided NOT to brace.

Its relatively straighforward to drill out all the rivets on the outside of the skin but, as I mentioned in previous posts, they constructed the chassis, floor & belly-wrap before attaching the frame and lower panels - I'm sure later years are different - so you get rivets joining the belly-wrap to the upright frames but inside the outer skin. You can knock off the bucked backs with a cold chisel but often they still snag in the hole. We found that a thin cheap (because you'll knacker it...!) chisel was the best to slide down in between the belly skin & the frame to knock the rivet out of the frame hole without damaging the outer skin. There's also a fair amount of Vulkem or adhesive between the outer skin & belly-wrap so a decorator's flexible scraper was the easiest way of breaking that bond.

Of course you think you've got them all out but as you start lifting, the body comes free in places & not in others. Taking the pressure off & freeing up those problem areas before lifting again worked really well & the very controllable force of the chain-lift meant we soon had her free all round...

... and up she went.

... enough room for the tallest Texan in his tallest hat !

The beam spread the load perfectly and, though we had a further line through the two other removed Hehr vents to keep her hanging straight, she balanced almost perfectly on that centre point.

With hindsight, I think the decision not to brace the shell was spot-on as it allowed a little flexing when one area came free whilst others stuck. Had it been rigidly braced it may have allowed too much pressure to build up on those bracing points.

And once up the shell is flexible but holds its shape perfectly. The beam had been carefully (& evenly) padded so not to mark the roof panels and now supports her comfortably.

... A Flying Flying Cloud !

Vintage plate...

2009-02-02T15:17:00.004Z

Of course she'll need a UK plate but its nice to give her a suitable US one too...

The only sign of a license plate was a rather Heath Robinson repair to a pipe hole in the floor.

So for Christmas she received a vintage Michigan plate (she spent much of her life in Ohio but came to me from Cassopolis, Michigan) - the nice touch is the 'Trailer 53' - something we don't do on our license plates here in the UK.