What did you do to your shasta today?

[kto17]

I got my tag today!!!! Long story short I had to tell them how and why to do there job.

Now to order tires!

[Deleted]

The Original Holiday stove that came with my camper was in rough shape. I decided to modernize a bit by going with a stovetop and a microware under. Today I modified the cabinets to accommodate the cool looking retro microwave I found.

Mobiltec, thanks for the polishing tips!

[schweetcruisers]

I was able to take it on its' maiden voyage I towed it around the block ;D!! I had to bring it from the backyard to the driveway, my seamstress(mother in law) is coming tomorrow to make the curtains and were suppose to get a foot of snow tonight, so I shorten the walk in the snow for her! It hadn't moved in a year!

[Deleted]

Scheet, Gotta love that sign that your almost there.

[mobiltec]

Smccusk I just saw one of those retro microwaves over at Cindy's house the other day. She is the gadget queen.... Looks really cool. Hope the polishing videos help you out.

[Hamlet]

Looking good!

[boandsusan]

Woohoo!!! Miss Frolic is finished. Well, our part is, lopo will do the rest herself. I tried to bring our thread up to date but for some reason I can`t seem to post pics?

[Hamlet]

Congrats on finishing Miss Frolic! Lopo, I bet you can't wait to get your hands on her!

[schweetcruisers]

Mar 8, 2013 17:55:42 GMT -5 @smccusk said:

Scheet, Gotta love that sign that your almost there.

It was the weirdest feeling seeing in my rear view mirror!

[paigenmarc]

Tore the backend off the Siesta. Again. I hope we get it right this time. Geez.

[schweetcruisers]

Spent more money, we bought our upholstery fabric today! Oh please stop the bleeding!

[Hamlet]

Hope the "bleeding" wasn't too bad, schweet. I looked for almost a year for exactly what I wanted. Finally found it on a website that deals in mill ends. Even at that it was more than $30 a yard. With the cost of the foam, the batting, the zippers, etc, it set us back hundreds of dollars. But it's just what we were looking for and in the long run, with active dogs, it's been worth it.

[layla]

This weekend we had the state inspection done, washed off the winter road muck from last weekend, and shined up and added wings!

[layla]

[mobiltec]

Oh that looks great Layla... Say you know I like the newer Shasta Shastas better than the new Retro Shastas. And I found something out I didn't know before. The NEW RETRO canned ham type Shastas are not made by Shasta. They are made by Coachmen... I like yours much better though.

[mobiltec]

Mar 7, 2013 22:32:55 GMT -5 Hamlet said:

Mobiltec - What did you spray on the brows at the beginning? Was it rouge of some kind? Also what type of wheel did you use? Short bristles? Hamlet looks good for now, but I'm thinking ahead a few years when the old aluminum shows oxidation. Thanks!

Update on Hamlet's question about the acid and the buffing wheels. I took some photos today while I was polishing. First off, here's the Acid I use. I use it with a regular little one gallon Hudson Sprayer. First I fill the sprayer half full with water. THEN I put in the Acid. If you do it the other way around you end up with a lot of foaming like with tap beer and it takes forever to get the sprayer filled up. So with the sprayer half filled with water, I then fill almost the rest with the acid and I leave a couple inches of air on top for presurizing the sprayer. So it's really about a 6 parts water to 4 parts acid mix that I end up using. 50/50 works fine. Bob uses 5/8s water to 3/8s acid.... I don't see any difference really. This acid can be bought at any Auto Detailing Supply Store. Runs around $15 I think.

Here's the acid I use.





Now the buffing wheels can be purchased at any polishing supply store. I only use one for aluminum but if you have other tougher metals that you want to polish you may want to use both. On harder surfaces you use the "cutting" wheel first and then the "polishing" wheel. The photos show the two. The Cutting Wheel has the threading much closer together. See how the threading circles are all closer and because of that there are more thread circles or lines if you want to call them that. Im not a seamster so I don't know the right name for that but you get the idea. That wheel is much harder and stiffer and actually cuts into the metal and will actually remove some of it. You won't see it because it is microscopic but that is basically what it does. I use Red Rouge which is a solid rubbing compound that comes in ingot form like you saw in the video. They are $10 a stick and one stick will do 4 trailers worth of brows and windows. Here are photos of both.


The one on the left with the closer thread lines is the cutting wheel and thats all I use on aluminum. The one on the right (smaller one) with the thread lines further apart and fewer of them is the finer polishing wheel that you would use on harder surfaces after cutting.

Here's some close ups of each.





Hope that helps. You can find these buffing and grinding motors at swap meets and yard sales for under $100. Use a tire rim and a 3 inch pole with 1'4 inch plate on top for a stand. Cheap and worth while having.

[Hamlet]

Too bad I didn't know this in 2009! I started with the buffing wheel and rouge on Hamlet's wings. What a disaster. Didn't think about using acid to take off the worst of the oxidation. At the end I wound up using 200, then 400, then 800, then 1200 sandpaper. They turned out nice, but still more a matte finish. Didn't get the window frames good enough, though. So this will help. Thanks!

[schweetcruisers]

Mar 10, 2013 19:13:20 GMT -5 Hamlet said:

Hope the "bleeding" wasn't too bad, schweet. I looked for almost a year for exactly what I wanted. Finally found it on a website that deals in mill ends. Even at that it was more than $30 a yard. With the cost of the foam, the batting, the zippers, etc, it set us back hundreds of dollars. But it's just what we were looking for and in the long run, with active dogs, it's been worth it.

We spent $310 for just the fabric, it was $24 per yard plus tax. We still have to buy the foam, zippers, piping, and poly fill! I'm guesstimating around $800 when it's all said and done and that's if I have my mini-sweat shop(wife and mother in law) doing the sewing.

[mobiltec]

Mar 10, 2013 20:57:31 GMT -5 Hamlet said:

Too bad I didn't know this in 2009! I started with the buffing wheel and rouge on Hamlet's wings. What a disaster. Didn't think about using acid to take off the worst of the oxidation. At the end I wound up using 200, then 400, then 800, then 1200 sandpaper. They turned out nice, but still more a matte finish. Didn't get the window frames good enough, though. So this will help. Thanks!

Once they have been sanded they are very hard to get shiney smooth again. I have tried and was not satisfied with the results. By the way, you end up getting the metal very hot when you are doing it right. I showed that in my Window Polishing vids. That's one of the reason for heavy gloves. And I have safety glasses on. A full face mask would be safer.

[paigenmarc]

In the middle of fixing the back end of the trailer and the air compressor goes out. There goes $400 for a new one.

[cowcharge]

According to the MSDS, that wheel cleaner is sulfuric and phosphoric acids, in case you want to mix your own or find a similar product.

[cowcharge]

Mar 12, 2013 14:05:41 GMT -5 paigenmarc said:

In the middle of fixing the back end of the trailer and the air compressor goes out. There goes $400 for a new one.

Can't be fixed? Did it give you a light show?

[universalexports]

I managed to get one more piece of wall up today, one more piece and all the walls pieces will be up!!! finally, I hate doing the walls.

[paigenmarc]

Cowcharge, we bought it used 20 years ago. It practically blew up today - sparks flew, it caught on fire, etc. Hubby said he could order a new motor, but the rest of it is in bad shape, too. We went ahead and got a new one.

We worked on the back end of the trailer the rest of the day and now I remember why I hated doing it the first time. That darned curve. The front is curved, but nothing like the back. The panel just doesn't want to bend that way, and then putting a rectangular, flat window on a curved back end is NOT fun. Nothing lines up right. Is it just us?

[mobiltec]

Mar 12, 2013 14:52:00 GMT -5 cowcharge said:

According to the MSDS, that wheel cleaner is sulfuric and phosphoric acids, in case you want to mix your own or find a similar product.

"I'm a carpenter Jim, not a chemist" (Dr. McCoy from Star Trek Voice)

I just buy the stuff for $15 a gallon. A gallon lasts quite a while.

I got the rest of the Brows on today and installed the locksets on the baggage doors. Using these type of locksets is quite different than the normal type that have a flag that flips up into a slot. I like them. They work great. I did a video on it which should show up soon.

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[mobiltec]

More Brows... The front windows are getting a rock guard so there is no brow going back on. It's not needed with the rock guard.

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[Hamlet]

Man, that is one sweet trailer!

[schweetcruisers]

Mar 12, 2013 21:57:08 GMT -5 mobiltec said:

More Brows... The front windows are getting a rock guard so there is no brow going back on. It's not needed with the rock guard.

I wondered about that! I'm getting ready to build a rock guard and also getting close to putting the eyebrows on...once they show up from VTS!!

[mobiltec]

Mar 12, 2013 22:32:23 GMT -5 schweetcruisers said:

Mar 12, 2013 21:57:08 GMT -5 mobiltec said:

More Brows... The front windows are getting a rock guard so there is no brow going back on. It's not needed with the rock guard.

I wondered about that! I'm getting ready to build a rock guard and also getting close to putting the eyebrows on...once they show up from VTS!!

Yep. The main mount spans the entire top and is made out of one inch L metal. Aluminum. It is putty taped into place and only shows when the rock guard is closed. No room for a brow when it opens. Looks fine and accomplishes the same thing as far as rain is concerned. Better actually.

Thanks Hamlet... I wish it were mine LOL...

[paigenmarc]

Oh my. That is one FINE looking trailer. Really nice, Mobiltec. I wish you had done the Siesta for us. I know we're not going to be happy with it when it's done. I know I'm going to be looking at all the things we did wrong. I had a little pity party last night, but I'm trying to get over it. When we remove a panel, nothing seems to line up right when we're done with the wood - it's all wonky. The window was a real pain - flat window on a curved surface