I'm starting the think about how I'm going to do my interior. I really like the look of polished aluminum against nice, rich wood. As it's getting darker so much earlier these days, I'm finding myself running out of daylight to work on the trailer outside. I decided to spend some time inside the shop trying to get paint off the interior skins that I had removed. This is what it looked like. Original Zolatone covered with a
thick coating of latex. Pretty nasty looking.
Here's my "kit". I got the Aircraft stripper at the local autoparts store, used a sponge covered in a plastic mesh, a pair of my wife's old bluejeans, and a spatula for a scraper. The mineral spirits is used as a final wash to get the dissolved paint off after scraping and scrubbing.
Step one is to put a generous coating of the stripper on the panel and cover it with plastic to keep it from evaporating. I leave it like this for about an hour. Then I remove the plastic and scrape as much of the paint off as I can. Areas that got a light coat of the stripper are tough to remove. Areas where it's gobbed on slough right off easily, so don't skimp on the stripper. Once it's all scraped, I apply another light coat of stripper, wait about 15 minutes, and scrub with the jeans and mesh covered sponge to get the rest of the paint off. I finish by wiping the panel down with mineral spirits to remove all the stripper / paint / muck.
Finished piece ready to install and get polished. There is some oxidation on the panel, but that should come right off with polishing.
I'm starting the think about how I'm going to do my interior. I really like the look of polished aluminum against nice, rich wood. As it's getting darker so much earlier these days, I'm finding myself running out of daylight to work on the trailer outside. I decided to spend some time inside the shop trying to get paint off the interior skins that I had removed. This is what it looked like. Original Zolatone covered with a thick coating of latex. Pretty nasty looking.
Here's my "kit". I got the Aircraft stripper at the local autoparts store, used a sponge covered in a plastic mesh, a pair of my wife's old bluejeans, and a spatula for a scraper. The mineral spirits is used as a final wash to get the dissolved paint off after scraping and scrubbing.
Step one is to put a generous coating of the stripper on the panel and cover it with plastic to keep it from evaporating. I leave it like this for about an hour. Then I remove the plastic and scrape as much of the paint off as I can. Areas that got a light coat of the stripper are tough to remove. Areas where it's gobbed on slough right off easily, so don't skimp on the stripper. Once it's all scraped, I apply another light coat of stripper, wait about 15 minutes, and scrub with the jeans and mesh covered sponge to get the rest of the paint off. I finish by wiping the panel down with mineral spirits to remove all the stripper / paint / muck.
Finished piece ready to install and get polished. There is some oxidation on the panel, but that should come right off with polishing.
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3 comments:
Oh... um... from the title I thought this post was going to be about... ummm.... something else...
Nice work, thanks for blazing this trail, I'm probably going to do the same thing to the front half of my trailer when I get to that. I'll lean on your for expertise at that time. :)
Marcus,
I already know all about those other kind of strippers. I'll tell you all about it over a beer next Spring at the Cherry Blossum.
John,
I see what you mean on what you were doing. I can't believe that the stripper didn't eat that plastic away.
I will let you know how the removall does after 24 hours.
Steve
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